High-flying Goa locks horns with Jamshedpur

The Gaurs finished on top last season, but this year, it has struggled to get desired results despite dominating most of its games. Ferrando’s men conceded the first goal in 8 out of its 10 matches. Lapses in concentration are not doing justice to its defence which, overall, has performed decently. 

“Our target is to get three points every day. Of course, my dream is 50 points, to win all games and to get three points. We are not completely happy but now it’s important to take it step by step and in football, every game matters. We have to take each game at a time and tomorrow we have an important game,” said Goa coach Juan Ferrando. 

In its away leg, FC Goa was lucky to walk away with three points. However, the Spaniard seemed confident that he had addressed the issues in the concerned departments. “It’s (Jamshedpur) a good team and have very good players. For us, it’s a new chapter and we are working every day to improve some details in defence and some details in attack. We are not going to repeat the same problems against Jamshedpur.” 

Jamshedpur is yet to find a player who can get it goals apart from Nerijus Valskis. The Lithuanian has scored 8 out of 12 goals for Jamshedpur this season. But Ferrando chose to plan out for the entire team than just prepare to play against one man. 

“I believe in my squad and I believe in my players. For us, it’s more important to play as a team and to prepare the plan against one team — Jamshedpur,” he added. 

Jamshedpur coach Owen Coyle is well aware his side cannot make any mistakes against FC Goa. “We have to eradicate individual mistakes and continue to move forward, continue to improve. We have to do it against FC Goa, who are a very good side. We have to continue working hard, working together and continue to get better,” stated Coyle.