Kerala Blasters FC's interim head coach, TG Purushothaman, expressed his disappointment following their 3-0 defeat at home to Mohun Bagan Super Giant in the Indian Super League (ISL) on Saturday.

The Blasters, riding high on their recent victory, started strong but quickly fell short, with Jamie Maclaren putting the visitors ahead early in the game. The Aussie forward doubled the lead before the break, while Alberto Rodriguez extended it further in the second half.

Purushothaman was asked about what went wrong with his team's defence. The Blasters played with high intensity and aggression in the first half, pressing high while managing to keep possession of the ball.

"Yeah, it's all our teamwork, and what we created was not converted into goals. It will happen when we try to go for the win sometimes, and against the quality strikers they have, it is difficult to defend them. It's not a defensive mistake or a defensive lapse as such, because when we go all out in attack to win matches, this will happen sometimes in some matches like this," he said during the post-match press conference.

Not our night in Kochi.#KeralaBlasters #KBFC #YennumYellow #ISL #KBFCMBSG pic.twitter.com/96UFsevYoi

— Kerala Blasters FC (@KeralaBlasters) February 15, 2025

"So yeah, if we lose, we all lose as a team, and if we win, we win as a team. It's not a defending problem or an attacking problem. The loss is ours as a team, and we take responsibility for that. Hopefully, we will come back very strong in the next matches,” he added.

Purushothaman was asked further about the tactical plan and where it fell short against the Mariners today.

He said, "Yeah, it is what I said before, we didn't convert the chances that we created—that's the problem. When we get the chances, we miss them, so they have more energy to come up and score against us. They also have the quality players to finish the chances like that. So, congratulations to Mohun Bagan Super Giant for playing counter-attacking football.”

The Blasters remained eighth with the defeat, with 24 points from 20 matches, seven points behind the playoff spot. The coach remained optimistic about rectifying their mistakes in their upcoming games and winning to stay in the hunt for the playoffs.

"We will study all the mistakes, and we have to come back very, very strong for the next matches. Hopefully, we will make up for everything, including the mistakes that happened in this match. We will try to avoid them in the next matches,” he concluded.