Intercontinental Cup 2019 | Igor Stimac promises to back Narender Gahlot after Sunday debacle
Igor Stimac has stated that he realized debutant Narender Gahlot had lost much of the ground in the second-half of the match on Sunday, but has vowed to the back the defender having talent akin to European players. Meanwhile, the manager rued individual errors in India’s 22-4 loss to Tajikistan.
After putting an unparalleled display in the first half of the match against Tajikistan in Ahmadabad, when India were leading 2-0 and looked in full control of the game, the Blue Tigers succumbed to a 4-2 defeat in a second half that was horrendous, to put it mildly.
Stimac, who fielded an inexperienced back line for the match, pointed out that things went surprisingly well for India in the first half and his side didn’t follow the plan that resulted in the calamitous outcome.
"Our plan was going too well and I was afraid of how well everything was going. The players were well concentrated and we had prepared well. We knew their most dangerous players are in the middle, the three midfielders who have great passes and create spaces. It was really important that we followed those move an stop crosses.
"It was brilliant in the first half, except for one mistake from Narender (Gahlot), but the rest was fantastic. With a third goal, we could have finished the game in the first half. I told them at half time that this is a dangerous game because they (Tajikistan) are in the competition form and we are not. In the last 12 days they played three competitive games," said Stimac, reported Goal.com.
Gehlot was the culprit on a couple of occasions as the Tajikistan team just ran through the Indian defence in the third and fourth creating chances almost at will and with Stimac having to play without Sandesh Jhingan and Anas Edathodika, the side looked out of sorts.
The coach, however, didn’t seem to go hard on his player and heaped praise on his physical attributes stating that he would improve massively in future. "After a few mistakes, it was normal that such a young player (Gahlot) would lose a bit of ground. But I need to back him up because we don't have great defenders yet in this country. I need to use his abilities - he has fantastic physical abilities.
“His endurance level is phenomenal like the top European players. He has good speed and his resistance is fantastic. If we teach him how to compete and how to concentrate for 95 minutes, we will have a great defender. But we need to suffer until then, that's it," he added.
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