Punjab FC head coach Panagiotis Dilmperis shared his disappointment after his team suffered a 1-2 loss against Jamshedpur FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi in the ongoing Indian Super League.
Dilmperis urged his players to show more passion and focus after the loss. Jamshedpur FC took a 2-0 lead as Pratik Chaudhari and Javi Hernandez scored on either side of the half-time break.
Ezequiel Vidal got one back for the Shers in the 58th minute but the hosts could not find the equalizer. The home team had 53.9% possession and took six shots on target.
Dilmperis was disappointed to note his players’ lackluster effort in the first half and said they were flat.
“Basically, I think that we lost the game during the first half. When we don’t have to say excuses, the truth is that we were flat—no aggressiveness, no passion, no tempo. Everything that we were doing was really slow,” Dilmperis began.
“Even if we have 10 finishings to the goal and maybe the best player in the field is the opponent’s keeper with the saves, I don’t remember any opportunity of the opponent. These are, I think, cheap excuses for someone that doesn’t want to develop.”
The gaffer added that the team lacked passion on the field and they were not up to the mark.
“There’s a problem, there was a problem—huge—about the passion that we should have. When you’re coming back after this long time and you said that you would try to do a restart, you should get in the field and play like a lion. Not only do we say that we are lions, but there are possibilities for all of us.”
Punjab FC could not grab their opportunity to score goals and it led to their downfall in the end.
Dilmperis said, “Today, it was a different kind of lost chances. I mean, we have saves against Mumbai; most of them, they were out of the goal. But today, the ball went there. The first one that Lucas [Meetei], when he plays the ball, it’s a great save. Ricky’s [Shabong] shot is so hard that it bent his hands, and it could slide in, or even the others.”
Punjab FC will next take on Bengaluru FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi, on Saturday.
