I asked Khalid Jamil why he wasn’t a sportsman: Ashley Westwood
Bengaluru FC manager Ashley Westwood has revealed what had transpired during the verbal spat between him and Mumbai FC manager Khalid Jamil after their I-League encounter. The Englishman also insisted that matches between these two teams should be considered a derby, given the history between them.
“After the game I do what I always do; went up to shake hands. He (Jamil) didn’t want to and I asked him why he wasn’t a sportsman,” Westwood told Goal.com.
When asked whether matches between Bengaluru and Mumbai should be considered as a derby, he said, “Obviously, if you’d look at managers around the world, there are derbies outside derbies. Manchester City versus Manchester United, yes but there are games like Manchester United versus Liverpool. It doesn’t always have to be a neighbour which makes derbies. We’ve got a history with Mumbai; before the games, the shenanigans if you’d like. We’d never beaten them which added extra spice. The fans were in fine form; they were loud and vocal but never overstepped the mark.
“This is always a good place to come; if I was an away coach it would actually spur me on because you like to be involved in such games. Hopefully we can continue and build more rivals and more competition throughout the seasons”.
Westwood also praised midfielder Eugeneson Lyngdoh, who came back into the team, after a long injury lay-off, against Mumbai. He also insisted that skipper Sunil Chhetri will be back for their next match against DSK Shivajians on Wednesday.
“Eugene was good. I wanted to take him off after 65 minutes but his fitness was good and he carried on. Sunil’s(Chhetri) injury is not serious at all. I’ll be surprised if he isn’t fit for Wednesday’s match (against DSK Shivajians). I’m sure he’ll be fine by then. Obviously he didn’t play for India but there was a risk in playing him against Mumbai and so we decided not to risk him. Just giving him few more days in rehab so that he will be strong and fit for Wednesday”.
When asked about the reason behind benching Udanta Singh in the last game, he explained, “He’s good and he enjoyed his time with India. It’s a big lift for him to make two appearances in the week - one against Iran and the other against Turkmenistan. But when he came back, he was little bit tired which was the reason he didn’t start the game. He’s a young boy, travelling to Iran, coming back home to play Turkmenistan and then back home again which makes it three games in 10 days which would have been too much for him.
“So we decided to give him a bit of a rest. But we know he’s a good player and he’ll make a good impact. The front four, including Daniel (Lalhlimpuia) makes it five, can make an impact and hopefully they’ll keep doing that till the end of the season”.
Westwood was rueful about the number of the chances his team missed against Mumbai, especially in the second half, and felt that they should have won the game more comfortably.
“Physically it was okay as the lads gave everything they had and so no complains about that. We had a decent game plan that worked; we got down the sides easily. We were wasteful in front of goal, wasteful in the final third but it was one of those games that we should have won easily and if we hadn’t we would be kicking ourselves in the dressing room right now. It’s the reverse of that and the lads are in great spirit,” he added.