ISL 2019-20 | Odisha played a very good game, claims Josep Gombau

ISL 2019-20 | Odisha played a very good game, claims Josep Gombau

no photo

Odisha FC head coach Josep Gombau has claimed that Odisha has played a good game against Bengaluru despite losing 1-0 at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune for their third loss of the season. The Spanish coach also shared his thoughts on the number of chances his team had against the reigning champions.

Despite dominating the game against champions Bengaluru, Odisha could not end Bengaluru's unbeaten run in ISL and the home side had to watch as a Bangalore star Juanan scored in the 36th minute at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex Stadium. The Kalinga team had better ball possession and created many chances but could not convert it and that saw them struggle.

However, Odisha FC head coach Josep Gombau has claimed that Odisha played a very good game and has expressed his satisfaction with his players’ performance.

“I am satisfied with the performance of the players. The result is not the best and as a professional coach, you want to win because that’s the way people will evaluate your job, with the wins and losses. (But) I think that we played a very good game.” Josep Gombau told reporters at the post-match press conference, ISL website reported.

Gombau went on to further analyse his team’s performance against Bengaluru and talked about the chances they had.

“I think that we had our chances to win the game also. I think the first half was equal, they scored from a set-piece. They are a strong team and work a lot at this. Their coach does very well in this aspect. In the second half, I think that they were just trying to launch the ball. We had more of the ball. We had some chances from set-pieces (as well).”

“We hit the post, we had two more chances for Marcos (Tebar) and Aridane (Santana). I think that we are going out with no points, but the way we played was very good. We have to (consider) that we played with a lot of young players,” Gombau added.

Sharing his thoughts on the number of chances his team had, the Spaniard expressed, “It is football. You have to put the ball in the net. At the end, the team that wins the game is the one who puts the ball in the net. As a coach, I can’t say anything to any player. I think that everyone worked very hard and our game plan worked because we had a few chances and I think that we competed very well against Bengaluru. We will take the positives from this and start to think about the next game.” The Spanish coach said.

Odisha FC are unchanged in the table with loss and have six points in seven games. The 43-year-old then shifted his focus to Odisha’s next match against Hyderabad and stated, “The game (against Hyderabad FC) will be on next Wednesday. We are going to Mumbai. We will have three-four days of training there and will come back here. I am sure we will be ready to play that game and win.” the coach concluded.

Get updates! Follow us on

Open all