ISL 2019-20 | I take full responsibility for loss, says Eelco Schattorie

After a successful opening campaign against ATK, Kerala Blasters could not continue that momentum against the Mumbai City FC. They were struggling in every filed. Blasters conceded a late goal by Tunisian Amine Chermiti as the team from Mumbai registered a 1-0 win. Kerala coach Eelco Schattorie accepted the full responsibility for the loss at the post-match press conference.

“I take full responsibility for the loss. I made two perfect changes and my third change was not a good change. I was hesitating to make that substitution. My other two changes were perfect. Messi (Bouli) changed the game. (Rahul) KP changed the game. Overall, before the game, I would have signed up for a point,” said Schattorie, the ISL website reported.

Kerala Blasters have a lot of injury concerns. They had already lost Sandesh Jhingan for the entire season while Spanish midfielder Mario Arques was injured in the game against ATK. The foreign defenders were also not fully match fit and Schattorie complained that they were no fluidity and he does not like the football displayed by Blasters.

“We have a lot of problems regarding my left centre-back (Jairo Rodrigues). He played with two injections. My other centre-back (Gianni Zuiverloon) is not fully fit. The fluidity was not there. We didn’t play the football that I like to play. But I give the boys full compliments for wanting to fight. They still want to go forward. It’s a very painful loss. I went for the three points in the end, but that cost me,” said the Dutchman.

One thing Schattorie did was not to forget to support Blasters 6 foot 4 inches giant Bilal Khan in the goal. The Blasters goalkeeper once again struggled between the posts and was always nervous when the ball was near.

“He is a giant, a mountain at the back. If a player needs to play, I give him full confidence. He is with the team and you support everybody. The problem is Shibinraj (Kunniyil) and Bilal have never had any goalkeeping coach before. I think (tonight was) a good experience for him,” the 47-year-old said.