ISL 2018 | Two assists are same as one goal, says David James praising Seiminlen Doungel

10/30/2018

Kerala Blasters manager David James has heaped praise on winger Seiminlen Doungel, who came on in the second half to change the entire course of the their match against Jamshedpur FC. Cesar Ferrando said he believes that his team didn’t keep the ball enough that led them to lose two-goal lead.

Kerala had a horrendous start to their match at the JRD Tata Sports Complex with the hosts putting in two goals in the first half and the visitors getting outplayed completely. James had made changes to his first team that lacked the likes of Doungel and Abdul Samad with CK Vineeth and Keziron Kizito taking their places.

It backfired terribly with the manager had to change players as soon as the half-time. James revealed that he had asked Doungel to go and score a goal, but the winger exceeded his expectations.

“We made a couple of changes in the first half but it didn’t work. After the second goal I feared that the result for us might have been bad. We needed to make a change. I did tell Doungel that he had to score a goal. He gave two assists and, in my book, two assists are the same as one goal. He did very well. It was a tough decision not to play him. But we felt we needed to make a slight change,” said James after the match.

If it was Jamshedpur who ruled the first half, it was the Blasters who replicated it in the second half, and in a manner that could have even seen them scoring enough to not only level but win the match. But, James admitted that his changes didn’t work and JFC took advantage of it through Tim Cahill and Michael Soosairaj, and stated that he was pleased with the draw.

“We tried to change the way we play but it didn’t work. Tim Cahill scored against me with a header a few years ago so I’m not surprised to see him score today. But you know, in the second half we changed our approach and our mindset was very different. We stopped Jamshedpur from getting three points today, so I am quite happy with the draw,” he said.

This was also the fourth draw for Jamshedpur FC, the most by any team in ISL this season so far. However, if Jamshedpur had one chance to break that streak, it was yesterday where they were leading by two goals in the first-half and could have controlled the game without any pressure. However, they let Kerala have more possession instead and it brought the end of their dominance.

“We made two mistakes again, a third one with the penalty. In the first half we played well. Tim gave us a great start with a good header. In the second half we lost the ball a lot and we didn’t keep the ball enough generally. Because of that the team suffered a lot. We could have scored more goals in the first half because of the way we played,“ said JFC coach Cessar Ferrando.

ISL has been stronger than ever this season so far, with most of the teams stronger on paper with a wealth of experience. And 59-year-old Ferrando pointed out the same citing the reason why his side has found it difficult to pick up a victory

“It is very difficult in this league to win matches, because there are many strong teams. Kerala Blasters FC is a strong team and our next match will be against a strong team. Our aim is always to win games and we look to do that against FC Goa. We are at least getting points and that is a good thing,” he added.

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ISL 2018 | Two assists are same as one goal, says David James praising Seiminlen Doungel

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