Jamshedpur FC head coach, Aidy Boothroyd, stated that his team are not champions anymore and are undergoing a rebuilding phase after the Men of Steel went down to a solitary goal during the dying minutes against ATK Mohun Bagan in the latest fixture of Hero Indian Super League (ISL) at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, in Kolkata, on Thursday.

The match was heading for a draw until Jamshedpur FC conceded a penalty late in the game. Hugo Boumous converted from the spot to secure the three points for ATK Mohun Bagan. Jamshedpur FC faced their seventh defeat of the season and they remain in the ninth spot on the Hero ISL points table.

Two debuts were handed tonight by Aidy Boothroyd as he introduced new signings, midfielder Rafael Crivellaro and goalkeeper Vishal Yadav. The latter is a product of the Tata Football Academy, whose performance was applauded by the head coach.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, the Englishman expressed how the team had a terrific plan and how it was working really well, only for the penalty to change the game. Boothroyd believes his team is in a rebuilding phase and new players who will come in during the ongoing transfer window will help the team.

Here are the excerpts from Boothroyd’s press conference:

What are your thoughts on the penalty?

As you can tell by my reaction, I didn't see the incident. I've tried to see the incident but couldn’t. What do I think about it? I can't understand why we have a terrific game plan, two really good debuts, everything that was going really well to throw it all within seconds and it was seconds to the final whistle. I will have a look at it and I'll deal with it when I look at it. I'm getting conflicting views, from him and other people so I need to repeat myself.

Last year your team won the League Winners' Shield, but this year, the team is not performing. What do you think is the reason?

The reason is really simple, the reason is we lost two of the best players from last season, Greg Stewart with 10 goals and 10 assists and Pronay (Halder) played here. They were very very good. There have been lots of changes. We are not the champions anymore, we are in a rebuilding phase as far as I look at it. That means we need to get new players in and we will be doing that in January, adding to two great debuts tonight, Rafael (Crivellaro) and Vishal (Yadav).

Do you think making a lot of changes in the playing eleven is causing the problem?

I think looking at tonight, we need to manage to get Rafael (Crivellaro) in the team on a regular basis, and keep the back four the same on a regular basis. I felt the goalkeeper (Yadav) was outstanding tonight and I’m really pleased. So there are positives from the game clearly but overall, there’s a cloud over us and I need to get to the bottom of this, it’s not acceptable if that’s the case.

Why did you use Jay (Emmanuel-Thomas) as the defensive midfielder?

Because he is a good player because he can get on the ball, doesn’t panic when he gets it, keeps it, and had a great link-up with Rafael which he did in the early parts of the game.

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2022-2023Jamshedpur FC Match 46,ATK Mohun Bagan vs Jamshedpur FC