It was a disappointing season for Chennaiyin FC as they could only manage five wins in their 20 matches and finished with 20 points under their belt. Thus, the Marina Machans could not qualify for the semifinal stages and in fact, they were well away from being in contention for the final four spot, which must have been a major disappointment for their fans.
However, Chennaiyin FC interim head coach Syed Sabir Pasha stated they showed the character in their last league stage match against ATK Mohun Bagan despite suffering a 1-0 loss at the PJN Stadium, Fatorda on Thursday in the 105th match of the Hero Indian Super League.
Roy Krishna scored the only goal of the match in the 45th minute to give three crucial points to his club and help them qualify for the semifinal stages.
Syed Sabir Pasha said in the post-match press conference, “I think it was a draw match. The way we played and the boys showed the character. Even in the last match, we don’t have anything to do but they showed character. But it didn’t happen like that, we fought and made them work hard to earn those points. I think that those are the positives which we can take back.”
Pasha vowed to bounce back stronger in the next season for all the Marina Machans fans, who have supported the club despite inconsistent performances.
Pasha added, “We have disappointed them this season and we are very sorry for them. They have been very patient but if you see Chennaiyin FC fans, they are like something apart. Even not like the other ones. Even when we don’t do well or when we go down. I think we missed them. They are the one who lifts us up. But this year and last year also, like we were not able to come up but in those matches where we play in Chennai these fans lift us up even when the morale is down. We really missed them and we say very sorry to them. We promised them that next year we will come back very strongly.”
Pasha admitted that they don’t have the speed in the midfield and they would like to improve on this aspect of their game.
He concluded, “The club has a heritage, it has a big heritage. Unfortunately, we have not been clicking for years, or the players whom we have been selecting are not able to perform to that level. The squad needs some fresh induction of players in form of fresh talent coming in. The most important thing is that we lack speed even in today’s game if you see that we could have had a little bit of speed in our game, I think especially in the midfield like we could have done damage to them. We could have gone past their defenders but unfortunately, we don’t have that. if we have to go forward we have to bring speed into this team that pace which we needed. Once that is injected the team will again come back”.
