A spot in the play-offs will be the only thing playing on the minds of the NorthEast United FC players when they host Delhi Dynamos FC at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati on Thursday. The Highlanders have had a mixed set of results of late but are still in contention for qualification to the next round. Delhi, on the other hand, are virtually out of the running for the top four but are in the midst of a small resurgence of sorts.

At the pre-match press conference, NorthEast head coach Eelco Schattorie claimed that the team's recent dip in form can be attributed to a few crucial decisions going against them, but lauded the players for keeping their chins up amidst the slump. “In the last three games, I can point out five penalties, where three of them were in the Bangalore game, which should have gone our way. These decisions hugely influence the game and they are painful. We have to put that part aside. I think we should have won the game against Bengaluru. We lost the game from two set pieces. In the end, the players are positive and full of confidence,” he said.

Schattorie also spoke of the difficulties he is facing due to the numerous injury concerns NorthEast have had to deal with over the course of the campaign. "The biggest pressure that we have is that out of the 14 games we played, I could only play seven of them with my strongest formation. In the other seven ties, I had to adjust, simply because of losing a defender. All those seven times, I had to find a solution. I have full of confidence in my players, but I do have problems with injury replacements. I am trying to solve this problem. But as a coach, it is not an easy period," he said.

Asked about his opinion on Delhi’s chances in the encounter, he said, "We have more rest than Delhi, so hopefully we can take advantage of that. The less rest you have, the less you can prepare. From what I saw, I have a clear idea on how they play. They can play without any pressure. We need to win, and we need to get the result. Their mindset is completely different. The pressure is on, that is for sure."

From Delhi’s end, assistant coach Mridul Banerjee took questions from the media. He briefly touched upon Delhi’s recent resurgence and said, "We got time during the international break. We practised a few things regarding our goal-scoring ability. We worked on this and now we are seeing the reward."

Despite being out of contention for the knockout phase, Banerjee addressed the importance of winning the remaining matches to maintain the team’s motivation. "If we win the remaining matches, the team will be more motivated. We are working on that. In the first leg, we drew with Kerala, we lost to Goa. After the interval we defeated Kerala and we drew with Goa. If we win against NorthEast, the team will have a boost," he said.

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