Michael Chopra was a disappointed yet highly optimistic man as he spoke exclusively to indiansuperleague.com post his side Kerala Blasters FC’s 0-1 loss to NorthEast United FC in Guwahati. The former Newcastle striker admitted that he and his side could have done a lot better, “I trusted myself to score goals today but couldn’t do the job. I’ve just come back from injury as well, and played 60 minutes in the last three weeks. I had pulled my hamstring. It’s just nice to be back playing. Credit to NorthEast United - they’ve done what they needed to do in the first game and they beat us. We switched off for 30 seconds and they punished us.”Chopra was also amazed at the atmosphere he had witnessed inside the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium. “Brilliant atmosphere! If that’s what it’s going to be like for the rest of the tournament, then we are in for a treat. Credit is due to all the football fans in India because tonight in the northeast was special and yesterday in Kolkata was special. To hear the fans chanting, the music, and basically everything was fantastic. It was such a special occasion and I’m very lucky that I’ve been able to play in the very first Hero Indian Super League. We have probably got another four or five games on the road, but I look forward to playing in Kerala and listening to our fans sing.”"Credit is due to all the football fans in India."Michael ChopraWhen asked if he had noticed the away support chanting his name when he made his appearance, Chopra broke into a wide grin, “Yeah, it was brilliant! I could hear them when I came on. They were singing “Chopra! Chopra!”, and I showed my support after the game. I went and clapped for them, because travelling from Kerala all the way up to the NorthEast is a tiring task and you’ve got to show the fans appreciation because they’ve travelled so many hours to come watch us play, and we didn’t get the right result for them. We’ll work on a few things on the training ground and make sure that we win the next game for them.”Chopra readily acknowledged his side’s lack of concentration that led to the game’s opening goal and his inability to make a telling contribution to the game, “I think, for that goal we switched off for about 30 seconds from the throw in, and Koke capitalised on it. When you’re playing a good set of players, you know that any mistake can get punished. I’m disappointed with myself because I know with my standards and my goal scoring ability, I should have equalized, but I’ll be working hard to put that right and when we play I’ll try my best to score.”He also lauded the Indian players in the squad and admitted that he was impressed by their performance. “They’ve done brilliantly. They deserve the ISL in their country because it’s going to be brilliant for them. It’s probably the best thing that has happened to Indian football and hopefully it can continue.”When asked about the outstanding save that his player-manager, David James, had pulled off, Chopra was quick to lavish praise. “The gaffer pulled off a brilliant save. Someone’s had a shot from 30 yards and he tipped it onto the post. That just shows you that he’s still a terrific goalkeeper and when called upon, he pulls off good saves.”Before signing off, the English footballer shed some light on his personal feelings with respect to the ISL, “When I woke up this morning, I was very excited to be playing in India; because you watch the IPL on TV and see all the cricket fans going wild, and you wonder how that’s going to be in football. You think to yourself: How is football going to come along in this country? Are there going to be many fans there? You know what? From what I have seen over the past two days, I know there will!”
