It has been a very difficult start for NorthEast United as they suffered a 5-1 defeat against Hyderabad FC in their latest Indian Super League clash. The Highlanders have now recorded four defeats from six matches this season and things are gradually getting out of hand for their head coach Khalid Jamil.
NorthEast United are only a point away from wooden spooners SC East Bengal. Hence the pressure is on Jmail to pull a rabbit out of his hat. The Indian tactician also ran out of luck as his talisman Federico Gallego was ruled out of the season due to injury.
The Highlanders have to find the answers from somewhere before it turns too ugly for them. After the 5-1 mauling NorthEast United head coach Khalid Jamil spoke to the media.
Jamil hardly had any answers to where his team lost out against the Nizams. He felt that his team tried their best but were not good enough. “Everybody tried hard, but sometimes it happens in football. I don’t want to blame anybody, they worked very hard and we’ve to think about the next game,” Jamil began at the post match press conference.
The Highlanders missed the services of two of their foreigners players- Deshorn Brown and Khassa Camara. Both the players were injured and did not make it to the matchday squad against Hyderabad FC. Jamil confirmed that they were injured and hence did not make it to the team.
Northeast United were in the game at halftime having pulled a goal back through Laldanmawia Ralte’s strike. But a second-half mauling from the Nizams ended all their chances of coming back in the game. Jamil felt that they conceded silly goals and after the third goal their morale went down. “We gifted them silly goals in the last 10 mins. After that, they scored the third and then the fourth goal and everybody went down,” he explained.
Northeast United have shown promise in patches this season. However, they have lacked that cutting in all departments of the field. Losing Gallego so early on in the season was a huge blow for them. Now even Brown and Camara are also struggling with injuries. Australian defender Patrick Flottmann has been way below par in whatever matches he has played for them. So it looks like a tough road ahead for Jamil and his men. They will have to use the January transfer window to bring in reinforcement or else it will be really tough.
However, Jamil feels that the team should not think about the losses as they are in the past and look forward to the upcoming games. “We lost four games, that is true. But, we must forget that and focus on the next game, ” Khalid Jamil concluded.
