NorthEast United FC currently lie in mid-table with a win, draw and loss from their first three matches of Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18. The Highlanders face table toppers Bengaluru FC at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati for their fourth game of the season and Swiss defender Jose Goncalves spoke exclusively to indiansuperleague.com ahead of the clash on Friday. Here are the excerpts.

You have four points from the first three matches, are you satisfied with the start NorthEast has made?

Not satisfied, of course. You want to take all the points that’s possible, but sometimes you must realise that it’s not possible. So you do the best and so far we’ve been trying to improve and last few games we did that and that’s very important.

Bengaluru have the most goals as well as shots, how do you plan on stopping them?

We have the same approach to every game. Defend as a team and score as many as we can. We are focused, we’re playing at home with our supporters. We want our first win of the season at home.

Anything in particular that you’ve stressed on in training?

No, like every week we try to improve on the mistakes and try to do better in every situation in every position, that makes us very strong. We’ve have been doing that week after week.

Coming to your teammates, which player do you think has the potential to make it big and why?

I think we have a very good team with many young players, also internationals like Borges (Rowlin Borges), Hali (Halicharan Narzary) and other young players. It’s a matter of coming together and playing together. I’m sure they’ll be very successful, not only those two but the others also.

Anything in particular that sets NorthEast apart from other teams?

I think our group is very strong together. With older players and younger players, they don’t come together. But our group is very well mixed, that’s one of our strengths.

Any message for the fans?

Yes. I’m very thankful for the supporters. I wish they can always support us in good times as well as bad.