NorthEast United FC travel to the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex Stadium in Pune to take on FC Pune City in Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 on Saturday. The Highlanders are on a poor run of form, having managed to win only one of their six encounters this season and are currently reeling from three consecutive defeats.

Speaking to the media during the pre-match press conference was the visitor’s head coach Joao de Deus, who was clear about what needed to be done.“I’m looking to win this,” he stated. “More importantly, we need to first score and second, not give the bonus that we gave in the last three games.”

He further explained how different his team is when compared to the others, “You saw our games. If you saw, you see an organized team. You see a team that defends well. If you remove the game in Chennai, in that game we played with a guy with fever. He was in a very bad condition and one of the goals was an own goal. Other than that match, you can see a team that generate a lot of chances because this is an organized team. It is an organized team because the players grasp the concepts.”

The Portuguese was also wary of the threat Pune posed and highlighted their counter-attacking and defensive abilities. “This team (FC Pune City) is a team with quality,” he said. “We have two guys who do counter-attack well, which is the strongest point of the team. It is easier to counter-attack away than home. If you pay attention to the last game, they were brave, they defended well. They took two-three counter attacks to score. So, that can be an explanation for that performance.”

Before concluding, Deus was asked whether NorthEast were paying the price for not retaining Emiliano Alfaro, who will be playing against his former team for the first time on Saturday. “That is the question that I cannot answer,” he replied. “The media knows the cost of Alfaro. Alfaro is a quality player. My job is to develop my players and make them play well and score goals.”