After a draw in their first match of Hero Indian Super League 2017-18, NorthEast United FC succumbed to their first defeat of the season at the hands of Chennaiyin FC, who thoroughly dominated proceedings to register a 3-0 win at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai on Thursday. Having dominated Jamshedpur FC in their opening fixture, the Highlanders looked below-par in front of a solid Chennaiyin side.

In the post-match press conference, NorthEast head coach Joao de Deus painted a dejected picture after his team’s insipid performance. On being asked by the reporters where he thought NorthEast lost the plot, Deus said, “We lost because the opponents scored three goals and we didn’t score. They scored because we lacked concentration at the start of the match. We lost one game but for sure we are going to improve in the next game.”

Deus had previously heaped great confidence on his forwards who failed to show their class in Thursday’s fixture. “First of all, it’s not because we lost by so much and because we didn’t score that I am going to change my opinion (about my forwards). (This is) because I’m the one who worked with my boys. I think we created six or seven good opportunities to score, but the problem is when you don’t create opportunities. It’s true that Chennai had more opportunities today, but I am not concerned because we created good opportunities of our own,” he added.

While Chennai put on a solid display in midfield, NorthEast quite visibly missed the presence of an experienced midfielder in the middle. Rowllin Borges again missed the match due to his lingering injury but Deus put all questions to rest. “Let’s tell you the truth now that the match is over. Rowllin is going to be in the first eleven for the next match. And I am not joking. He is recovering, he had a knee injury last season. But now I can tell you that he is okay, he has recovered and he has recovered well. Our medical department did a great job and the boy also worked hard.”

Even though Chennai dominated the 90 minutes, NorthEast put up a resolute fight with a number of hard tackles and a couple of injuries. The Highlanders lost Odair Fortes just before the half-time mark to injury but Deus believes football is ‘not for kids, this is for men.’ “This (Odair’s injury) is something that can happen. Odair received a hard tackle and he got injured, so I had to take him off.  Nothing we could do about it. The only problem is that I didn’t’ have any more wingers so I had to change positions,” he concluded.