Punjab FC head coach Panagiotis Dilmperis feels his team should have scored more goals despite their 2-0 win against Hyderabad FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi on Wednesday.
Argentina’s winger Ezequiel Vidal scored the opening goal for the Shers in the 35th minute whereas Filip Mrzljak scored his second goal of the season as he found the back of the net in the 71st minute.
Punjab FC dominated the match as they took seven shots on target as compared to Hyderabad FC’s one attempt on goal. Furthermore, the hosts took a dozen shots off-target.
Punjab FC have got off to a dream start in the ongoing ISL 2024-25 season as they have won all of their three matches.
“Today’s performance is not the one I expect from my players. It is obvious, they tried hard but we are missing a little freshness because of the continuous games and the same eleven players were starting. But it’s important that we were humble. We respect the opponent. We knew that it wasn’t a bad team,” he said in the post-match press conference.
“The only problem in the first half was that our actions were slow and we couldn’t make them open their distances so we found middle spaces, this way or another, everything worked good for us since we unlocked the opponents with the foul on Vidal and then we had to manipulate the situation. In the first eight minutes of the second half, we were only defending. But the players that came from the bench, they helped us a lot and we created a lot of chances. We should (have) score more goals until we scored the second half and after the red card, it was a simple process to guide us to the win,” he explained.
This was the first clean sheet for Punjab FC in the league and the head coach showered praise on the defensive line.
“They (Hyderabad FC) have good players. I want to be fair with Hyderabad FC, they have some great players, especially the strikers. They created a lot of problems for us, it’s the structure of our team that didn’t let them make clear chances. They went from left, right, a lot of overlapping, trying to force the ball into the box but we were solid. We are working on this and this is the reason (we won). At the same, as a coach you cannot tell them all the time that the opponents are good. We saw their weak points that we could go and take advantage of,” the Greek stated.
Punjab FC will next face Bengaluru FC at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, Bengaluru on 18th October.
