Jose Molina lauds team’s defensive game after win against Bengaluru FC

Mohun Bagan Super Giant head coach Jose Molina hailed the team’s defensive game after a 1-0 win against Bengaluru FC at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Stadium, Kolkata in the ongoing Indian Super League on Monday.

The Blues dominated the game in the opening half with possession and also created a lot of chances. However, the Mariners took the team as Liston Colaco scored from a volley in the 74th minute. The hosts had only 36.5% possession and took five shots on target.

In the first half, Sunil Chhetri had a golden chance to put his team in front whereas Rahul Bheke also could not find the back of the net towards the fag end of the game.

“The match was similar to what we expected. We tried to be more aggressive with the press. In the first half, it was not enough and they could move the ball and have the possession, combinations and create some chances to score. But I think we had some good actions overall to attack, long balls and create more space with Manvir (Singh), Liston, (Jamie) Maclaren. We had some chances. In the second half, we were more aggressive in defence. They are a really good team, we know. They move the ball fast and they put a lot of players inside (the box) to make combinations and play forward. But we defended really well,” Jose Molina said in the post-match press conference.

The Spaniard added that the home support helped them take all three points against a tough opposition.

“To play at home with our fans in our stadium is one player more. They are pushing us and helping us. But we are a whole team. Enough though we have fans in other stadiums who can support us.. But it is not the same. From my point of view, only in one match away we were the worst team inside the pitch. It was the Bengaluru match. They deserved the victory. Even though we lost in Goa, in my opinion it was a 50-50 match. We were not the worst team than FC Goa inside the pitch. To win matches you need to score goals. We didn’t (score) in Chennai. We did in Jamshedpur but not at the level we needed. But we could have scored a lot of goals in Jamshedpur and the other matches,” he said.

Molina wants his team to keep up the good show in the upcoming matches of the tournament.

“We still have games to play. Still a lot of effort to do. We have to fight. There are some matches we have to win. We are closer today, but the job is not done. Here in Mohun Bagan SG, there is never less pressure. The pressure is the maximum we can have. And we know and we understand. It’s not a problem for us and we know how to deal with that. And the pressure will be there until we can win. But it’s not less pressure right now. There will be pressure till the end,” the MBSG head coach said.

MBSG will next take on derby rivals Mohammedan SC at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Kolkata on Saturday.