New Delhi: Punjab FC head coach Panagiotis Dilmperis acknowledged that his team’s performance could have been better, despite their victory over Hyderabad FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) match on Wednesday night.
Goals from Pulga Vidal and Filip Mrzljak in each half helped Punjab FC secure their third consecutive win, propelling them to the top of the table.
This victory also marked Dilmperis as the second coach in the league, after Clifford Miranda, to achieve a perfect win record in their first three matches.
Dilmperis revealed that his starting players were not fresh due their recent schedule which impacted their performances and called for the team to improve.
“Today’s performance is not the one I expect from my players. It is obvious, they tried hard but we are missing a little freshness because of the continuous games and the same eleven players were starting. But it’s important that we were humble. We respect the opponent. We knew that it wasn’t a bad team,” he said in the post-match press conference.
“The only problem in the first half was that our actions were slow and we couldn’t make them open their distances so we found middle spaces, this way or another, everything worked good for us since we unlocked the opponents with the foul on Vidal and then we had to manipulate the situation,” Dilmperis said.
“In the first eight minutes of the second half, we were only defending. But the players that came from the bench, they helped us a lot and we created a lot of chances. We should (have) score more goals until we scored the second half and after the red card, it was a simple process to guide us to the win,” he explained.
Hyderabad FC enjoyed more possession than the hosts but failed to create significant threats, forcing Punjab FC keeper Ravi Kumar to make only one save.
Thangboi Singto’s team managed just one shot on target, while Punjab FC recorded seven attempts and had the better scoring opportunities overall.
This marks the first clean sheet for Punjab FC in the league, and the head coach praised his team’s defensive efforts despite the pressure from Hyderabad FC.
“They (Hyderabad FC) have good players. I want to be fair with Hyderabad FC, they have some great players, especially the strikers. They created a lot of problems for us, it’s the structure of our team that didn’t let them make clear chances,” Dilmperis said.
“They went from left, right, a lot of overlapping, trying to force the ball into the box but we were solid. We are working on this and this is the reason (we won). At the same, as a coach you cannot tell them all the time that the opponents are good. We saw their weak points that we could go and take advantage of,” the Greek stated.
One of Punjab FC’s standout players was Vidal, who opened the scoring with a stunning long-range free-kick. He was integral to every significant play the Shers generated, creating four chances in addition to his goal before being substituted around the hour mark.
Dilmperis praised the Argentine, noting that there is still room for him to improve and make an even greater contribution to the team.
“Vidal is the original football talent that coaches shouldnt try to put them in some limits because then football is losing the smell of surprise or the unexpected. So Vidal is doing this. It’s one action. He did it. He did a couple of shots as well. Other than that, if we can develop his defending, positioning basically, then he will find more runnings.. He will give us points like today,” he said.
