Proud of the performance and to lead the table: Hyderabad FC head coach Marquez

Hyderabad FC head coach Manolo Marquez was delighted with his team’s performance against FC Goa as the defending Hero Indian Super League (ISL) champions reclaimed the pole position in the standings, extending their unbeaten run to four games in Hero ISL 2022-23.

Javi Siverio found the back of the net in the first half to hand FC Goa their first defeat of the season. Marquez applauded his team for a strong performance against the Gaurs and demanded more from the players after securing another three points in yet another exciting game.

The Spanish coach was also impressed with the determination of FC

Goa, and complimented them for being a solid team.

Here are the excerpts from Marquez’s press conference:

How does it feel to be on the top of the table? Do you think that your strategy to defend the title is working in the initial games?

There are reasons to be satisfied and happy. It's true that the team is not conceding goals. Today as well, we did not concede any goal. Even today, they (FC Goa) missed a penalty. I think we defended with a lot of order and organization. But we need to create more chances with the ball. If we play like this we can win, draw, or even lose. We did not control the game, we scored with a good move and we need a lot more order and a good attitude, but both of things have to be consistent. We won, but we need to improve in a lot of aspects. The season started very well for us. We need to improve if we want to fight for the title.

It was Javier Siverio's first goal this season. How important is it for your other strikers to start scoring?

Javier Siverio is very important for us. Javi scored some very important goals for us last season too. He scored the goal (against ATK Mohun Bagan last season) that put us on the top of the table, for the first time in Hyderabad FC's history. He scored the goal that helped us to qualify for the top four against Kerala Blasters FC in the league fixture, he scored seven seven goals last season while playing only half of the available minutes.

I know him from my time at Las Palmas. Javi and Borja (Herrera), they were my players. I know him perfectly as a very hardworking player. Today as well, it is clear that he did his job brilliantly. Bart Ogbeche is great but Javi deserved to complete the ninety minutes on the pitch.

How is the partnership of Siverio and Bartholomew Ogbeche working?

The partnership is working great for us. Last season we played a lot of games where both of the players were playing together, even in the semi-finals last season as Joel (Chianese) got injured, Javi and Ogbeche played together. It's true that for Ogbeche, as an attacking midfielder, it's difficult for him to arrive in the penalty area as he is a number 9. Both of them are number 9s so it's an advanage and a disadvantage for us. One advantage is that in some moments, if the opponent is in control of the ball in the midfield, we have two players who are very offensive. For the opponent, it's a threat as we have two players who can score in any moment.

As you mentioned before the game, Carlos Pena's side was one of the standout performers this season so far. How big of a result is this mentally going into the next match?

We are very happy with the result! We are on the top and we have ten points, these ten points will help us for the rest of the season. We need to understand that every opponent is going to be difficult for us and we need to improve in some areas. I'm very happy, for example, with the performance of my center-backs. Both of the center backs played a fantastic game, Odei (Onaindia) and (Chinglen)sana (Singh). But we need to create more with the ball, because we can do it. The other day against Bengaluru FC, the first half was the same. We had a lot of chances but we need to play more like how we played in the second half. We will play against some strong sides but we can do more and I expect more from my team.