Jamshedpur FC head coach Scott Cooper expressed disappointment in his players after they were defeated by Bengaluru FC in Matchweek 10 of the Indian Super League (ISL) at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday.

The Men of Steel continue their run of unfortunate results as Bengaluru FC edged past them through a Javi Hernandez goal from the spot just before the half-time whistle. With this defeat marking their sixth loss of the season in the opening ten fixtures, Jamshedpur FC have found themselves in a challenging situation, significantly jeopardizing their chances of reaching the playoffs.

The head coach expresses his disappointment with the ongoing string of negative results, even though he has implemented the right tactics. He believes that certain players are lacking the necessary desire to succeed, and this is another matter of concern for him.

“What's missing is probably some players with a real desire to win this. It's not a question of tactics, because we're in this every game. It comes down to the nitty-gritty of how much you want to win and whether are you willing to do it right. And so, part of football teams and successful ones I've been on, it's not always been (having) the most blessed players, but they have a real desire and a drive to win. And I'm searching for those players in our football club. We've got some, but we don't have enough. And with the January transfer window looming, some players should be very concerned,” Cooper stated in the post-match press conference.

The 53-year-old believes there weren't many positives from both teams, and the penalty goal ultimately decided the outcome in favour of the opposition.

He shared, “I was expecting a bit more football from them. I didn't see any of that. I just saw long ball, long ball, long ball, long ball, and they got second chances from some of those. So I didn't really see much football from them and they didn’t see much from us. Two poor teams, one got a penalty.”

The Irish-English tactician is eager to secure a win in the upcoming match against Hyderabad FC away from home and intends to pose challenging questions to his players regarding their performance.

“From my perspective, (what we need) is ruthless, aggressive fixing. That's what has to happen here because the players, can't complain. They've had 10 games, and 11 games to do something right. So the evidence is right there. So we have to ask hard questions. We go to Hyderabad FC next. And no denying, we have to win that game, not even draw. We have to win it to stay in contention, keeping in touching distance of fifth, sixth place in the league,” shared Cooper.

Cooper further iterates his frustration with losing games by a small margin consistently.

He said, “I think that goes without saying that you don't lose five out of six games by a single goal, by chance, you can't be unlucky in five of six games, losing by a single goal. At some point, there's got to be a reason for that. And it's not footballing reasons. It's not that you're blown away. It's not that you’re dominated. It's just running that way.”