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Jamshedpur FC head coach Scott Cooper faced the media after a narrow 0-1 defeat at the Fatorda Stadium against FC Goa.
On tonight’s performance…
Well, possession-wise, we had more possession, we had more passes, but that doesn’t win you football games, does it? I think congratulations to Goa, they’re a good team, you have to respect that. They surprised me a little bit, I thought they would build from the back a bit more but they were a bit more direct than I thought. I think overall, probably they deserve to win the game. We can say we had more possession, we can have more passes, but we have to look at the final third. We had two chances early on to score. We hit the target one time, it’s not good enough, right? So there’s a lot of decisions being made by our players in the final third. You see, the assist or the shot, it’s the wrong decision, it didn’t come in at quality. So our quality in the last third didn’t help us. We decided then to play with more enthusiasm when Goa scored. Then we woke up a little bit and then we started penetrating more. But probably that energy and aggression and quality in the last 10 minutes if that’s present from the start, we’d probably win the game because we control the possession, we had more passes. They took the chance when it came. We’re a team that likes to keep the ball. My philosophy is to possess the ball because people say, oh, Jamshedpur, they’ve got a great defense, right? If you’ve got the ball and conceded a goal. So isn’t that the best medicine for defending if you’re in possession, right? So we keep the ball. You know, I was surprised with Goa, they went so direct. So I hope that the possession is good. We advanced the ball and when we were getting into the attacking third, then the possession was poor. Therefore you only see one shot and a goal because the last-third-half decision-making wasn’t good enough. There were shots from ridiculous angles or distances or crosses that were too high against two center-backs that could win the headers. You know, just the decisions in that last third cost us. So people can see we’re a good team. We possess the ball, we pass a lot, we make chances, but unless we improve the last third, It’s going to be a difficult season.
On the goal denied by the referee…
I believe the goal is good. I think the ref, the linesman could have done better. I believe anyone who can make a call across the field and say that a striker impaired the goalkeeper’s vision from across the field, just doesn’t know what you’re talking about if that’s what that’s where you are. Because was our player offside? Yes. Did he impair the vision of the goalkeeper? Look at it. No, because the keeper can see the ball. He can see the entire ball. And the goal comes from this side. Our player is here. But the linesman, who’s 45 meters away, decides that, yes, that player impaired the goalkeeper’s vision. The goalkeeper is looking this way. The linesman is looking this way. How can he see that? How can he see that? It’s such a big goal that this guy takes the point away from us. Now, I’m not happy with our performance, but this linesman, I can’t believe a referee will accept a linesman’s opinion that a player impaired the vision of a goalkeeper from across the field. If he stood in the field, he could see it. But how do you see from 45 meters? You can’t see that. If there was VAR tonight, that’s a goal 100%. And I know that because staff and players from Goa even spoke to me about it. But what can we do? But the referees in this league have a hard enough job as it is. It’s a difficult job without VAR. This guy over here decides he’s going to make a call like that across the field. He has no angle. He can only see bodies. How does he know who’s in front of the keeper from that distance? Impossible. This is a catastrophic decision by a linesman. He’s flagged for offside. Was the player offside? Yes, he was offside. The referee goes over and then he tells him that that player impaired the goalkeeper’s vision. How does he know that from that angle? Impossible.
On FC Goa’s performance tonight…
I think they’re a very good team. I think they have a very good coach. The two center-backs are strong. They won many second bowls. I think they are a solid team and they have a good structure. They’ve got some quality in the Spanish players and Noah on the left side is a very good player. They’re a strong team but we had more possession and more passes and therefore I’d like to think if we can improve our last third play we’ll pick up much more points. I think the referees have got a hard job and the referee tonight did a good job I just think some decisions could have gone either way but this is a key decision. At the end for a linesman to think he’s going to be able to do a good job and he’s going to be able to make that decision from 50 meters away when he doesn’t have the angle. All he can see is a cross it’s ridiculous that this guy’s allowed to make such a call and says it’s obstructing vision.
On the result…
No, I’m not satisfied with the result because I think in every game we’ve been we could have won or drawn. We’ve lost games by a single goal and in those games we’ve either had more possession or more shots. We played seven games and we could easily be set with five wins. We’ve had seven games in total this is our fourth loss but every loss could have been a draw or could have been a win but the trouble is some of the decisions that have been made are subjective and it made it difficult tonight. If you look at our games, it’s the same story. We defend well, we get good possession, we get into the last third but we cannot finish. It’s the decision-making in the last third. It’s the same story we’ve been seeing. So we need to have some players who bring the composure that we’re showing in the two other thirds of the field. It’s a rush or people are snatching shots or making efforts on goal that are unrealistic. So we have to get to the training ground and make things a little bit simpler to bring the composure in the last third.
