Kerala Blasters’ head coach David James was undoubtedly a happy man at the end of the opening night of the Indian Super League as his side rallied in the second half to beat former champions ATK 2-0 only for a second time in the history of the competition. He added that he was happy to have beaten the former champions.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, James said that he wasn’t really surprised with the way Kolkata played given the fact that they’ve got new players in the side.
“ATK have brought several new players. It takes time. I wasn’t surprised with their game,” James said, after the match.
“Happy to beat a team like ATK,” he stated.
Kerala began the match well with a flurry of attacks but couldn’t find the back of the net until the 7th minute when Matej Poplatnik scored the opener with a calmly-finished header.
Nine minutes later, Slavisa Stojanovic scored through a curling shot into the corner of the net with an outstretched Arindam Bhattacharya failing to contain the shot.
The former England goalkeeper admitted that he was a bit frustrated with the style of play in the first half but also praised the team for putting up a much more disciplined effort in the second.
“I was slightly frustrated in the first half,” James said.
“(I) didn’t like the style of play. The second half was much better. The wing-backs were disciplined. I thought we were the better team. Tough first half overall but we came back in a great manner.”
James also said that it wasn’t just CK Vineeth, whose introduction in the match got things going for Kerala but attributed the win to the entire team who collectively performed well to fetch their first points this season.
Explained James, “Vineeth didn’t change the game but the team overall did. In the second half, the changes we made paid off after we got back on track. Vineeth is, of course, a good player. He had a positive contribution of course.”
“We started playing in their pace which was slow. It was frustrating. We had a conversation at halftime. The players are fit, they did good pre-season so they came back stronger in the second half. It is a great feeling,” he added further.
The Kerala Blasters head coach also reasoned out his move of going in with only four foreigners, saying that he chooses who gets to play based on the training sessions.
“I have said this before that five foreigners or six Indians do not matter to me. I select players on the basis of performance on the training field. I am happy with how the Indians played. Thankfully the score was 0-0 at halftime. The decision paid off,” he said.
Kerala Blasters’ next play Mumbai City FC at their home ground on October 5.
Image credit-Goal.com