Manolo Marquez expresses disappointment after draw against Hyderabad FC

FC Goa head coach Manolo Marquez shared his disappointment after they played a 1-1 draw against Hyderabad FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Goa in the ongoing Indian Super League on Sunday. 

After no goals in the opening half, Armando Sadiku scored for the Gaurs in the 52nd minute. When it seemed that the home team would bag all three points, the visitors bounced back to steal a point as Allan Paulista scored in the 92nd minute.

The Spaniard head coach reckons they played well in patches but could not bring their best throughout the game. The hosts had 50.9% possession and took five shots on target.

“I think we had the best minutes of FC Goa in the game. Even we could score the second goal at that moment. But, you know, 10 against 10, in the last minutes, the draw can always be there. Because if you are winning only for one goal, the options are there,” he said in the post-match press conference.

With this draw, FC Goa extended their unbeaten run to nine matches and they are in third place in the standings with 26 points after 14 games.

“One more point, and that’s all. We can do nothing but self-criticism, even for me with the substitutions. In every aspect of the game, if you win 1-0, everything seems fantastic. Now it seems that maybe there were some things wrong,” Marquez acknowledged.

“But this is football. We need to keep going. Obviously, we lost two important points today. But finally, it’s very difficult in this league to win every game. We are nine games unbeaten, and this is very, very difficult,” he continued.

When asked about utilizing McHugh as a defender, Márquez responded, “No, obviously Carl is a defensive midfielder, but we were thinking that if we put one foreigner in every line in the beginning, maybe we could control the game better, but it was not like this.”

“And then, I think in the second half, playing with (Sahil) Tavora and Ayush (Chhetri) as centre midfielders and Borja (Herrera) as an attacking midfielder, until the moment of the red card, I think the team was better,” he explained, shedding light on their second half performance.

FC Goa will next take on NorthEast United FC at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati on Tuesday.