Lobera apologies to Goa fans after disappointing loss to Jamshedpur FC

FC Goa head coach Sergio Lobera took responsibility and apologised to the fans for his team’s chastening 4-1 loss to Jamshedpur FC on Thursday evening in a pulsating Hero Indian Super League (ISL) encounter. 

The Gaurs’ unbeaten start to the season was brought to an end by a dominant Jamshedpur FC who saw a brace from Michael Soosairaj and goals from Memo and Sumeet Passi power them to a much-needed win.  After the game, Lobera was in an apologetic mood as he sought to make sense of an uncharacteristic performance from his usually swashbuckling team.

“We congratulate Jamshedpur as they played better than us in every department. I apologise to our fans. This wasn’t the best game of ours. This was a game which the fans didn’t expect,” he stated. The Spanish coach went on to term the defeat the worst he has suffered since taking charge of the Gaurs back in 2017.

“This is possibly the worst defeat of Goa under my coaching.  We have to work hard and Improve.” FC Goa appeared to miss their topscorer Ferran Corominas who had picked up a red card in the previous game against FC Pune City. However, Lobera took the responsibility for his team underperforming in attack upon himself.

“It is my responsibility that the team didn’t play well. I can’t say we missed a single player (Coro). The team didn’t do well overall.” What irked the 41-year-old, however, was the fact that he had expected Cesar Ferrando’s men to play the way they did on Thursday but still could not thwart them.

“We knew how Jamshedpur FC plays. I told my players they will attack. But we couldn’t play our game tonight and so we lost.”

FC Goa are normally a team which takes the attack to the opposition and enjoys the lion’s share of possession. On Thursday night, the tables had turned and it was Jamshedpur FC who were doing all the attacking, leaving Goa’s players frustrated. In fact, the possession statistics were pretty much even. Lobera did share his disappointment at his team not staying true to their philosophy but also credited the opposition for making it difficult for them.

“I don’t think we started defensively. They pressed well and so we had to defend. We were neither good in attack nor defence. We were far away from our philosophy.”

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