The magic word in football is balance, says ATK coach Antonio Habas

Habas has returned to ISL after a three-year hiatus and the title-winning coach, who had also taken the Kolkata-based side to the playoffs in the consecutive season, has stated that he would be looking for the perfect balance in the team.

“The magic word in football is balance. The idea is to score goals and not concede any. My principal goal is to build a competitive team, which will strike a balance in attack and defence,” Habas said in his introductory news conference, reported Sportstar.

ATK, like Kerala, have had a great summer transfer window after a below-average season last time and has brought in star names like Roy Krishna, Michael Soosairaj, Jobby Justin, and more. However, Habas was quick to point out that that he would always look for a win in the next match rather than aiming for the title straight-away.

“We want to win every time we take to the field. We will progress from match to match and not think about the title or the championship,” said Habas.

In the likes of Soosairaj, Justin, Sehnaj Singh, Pronay Halder, and others, ATK have a good core of Indian players and the coach praised it. “We have very good Indian players. The Indian players with the ISL are more competitive because of the strong bonding with the foreign players. There is always good communication and a good opportunity for Indian players,” he said.

However, quite strangely, Habas was quite vocal about him not supporting the initiative of starting a reserve league for the development side players. He shot down the claims citing the immense financial muscle it would be needing o AIFF’s part.

“For me, it (a league for reserve teams) is absolutely not necessary. We have enough youth level and professional second division (I-league) for this purpose. So you don’t need another league as the clubs then will have to pay for 45-50 players which is crazy,” Habas added.