“We had many chances to win the game”: NorthEast United FC head coach on draw against Kerala Blasters

Guwahati (Assam) [India], September 30 (ANI): NorthEast United FC head coach Juan Pedro Benali opened up on the Highlanders’ performance and said that they need to learn from their mistakes.

NorthEast United shared points with Kerala Blasters FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) on Sunday after they played out a 1-1 draw.

At first, it was Alaeddine Ajaraie who put NorthEast United FC ahead in the game, but Noah Sadaoui equalised for Kerala Blasters FC from a stunning goal in the second half to earn his team a point.

While Kerala Blasters FC controlled possession, both teams had equal opportunities to secure the win.

Speaking after the end of the match, Benali acknowledged that his team should have capitalised on their chances and urged his players to adopt a more aggressive approach moving forward.

“Congratulations to Kerala (Blasters FC). They took a point from here. We could have won the game. We had many chances to win the game. I think we did a good game. We need to look forward to (the game against) FC Goa,” Benali was quoted by ISL as saying.

“We need to be a little bit more poised. We are very nice people, we need to be bad boys a little bit.. To show teeth and bite a little bit more. If we do it, we will arrive very far,” the head coach added.

Ajaraie created numerous challenges for the Kerala Blasters FC defence in the first half with his dynamic movement along the left flank. The Moroccan forward ultimately broke the deadlock for the home team with a well-taken free-kick.

However, despite a strong start, the momentum gradually shifted in favour of Kerala Blasters FC as the opening half progressed.

The Highlanders’ head coach expressed disappointment over his players’ inability to stick to the game plan, which allowed Kerala Blasters FC to regain their footing in the match.

“We keep repeating the same mistakes. At the moment, we need to be patient with the ball. Sometimes, we are in a hurry. When we have something working very well, we stop doing it. We were doing everything from the left side and we stopped going there and tried going from the right side. This is an example. Set-pieces, we were hurting them very well. We had to be patient and keep going but we just stopped. We tried to do something new and then we went out of the game plan and then we suffered,” he concluded.