Kerala Blasters FC head coach Ivan Vukomanovic wants his team to portray a winning mentality as they approach the final stretch of matches in the league stage. 

The Blasters travel to Bengaluru to face arch-rivals Bengaluru FC with the team having their sight set on the League Shield. The Yellow Army are fifth on the table, six points behind leaders Odisha FC but have a game in hand. 

Vukomanovic though will have his task cut out as he takes his team to Bengaluru, a place where the Blasters have never won. The Serbian expects another tough match for his team in a fixture that always favours the home side. 

“In this fixture somehow it happens that the home team is always the favourite,” the Serbian said during the pre-match press conference. 

“But we are in the last phase of the competition and every game whether home or away is going to be tough,” he added. 

Vukomanovic feels it will be the players’ mentality that will make a difference with a lot of teams having to deal with injuries and fatigue in the final part of the season. 

“In this league, we have seen that the position on the table doesn't matter. So, it is now all about the mindset and we want to have the mindset of winning every game, a mindset of wanting to stay at the top end of the table,” he said. 

“It's a weird period where teams are trying to recover injured players and even the Indian players who went to the Asian Cup aren't in their best rhythm. So, anything can happen. So, we have to improvise and find a way to get points,” he added. 

Kerala Blasters FC have never won in Bengaluru but Vukomanovic feels the support his team is likely to enjoy at the Sree Kanteerava stadium could push them to give their absolute best. 

“Of course, we would like to see the fans come in huge numbers. We always have their support. When we see them we want to fight for the fans. Let's hope we have a nice game and let the better team win,” he concluded. 

Will try to win all our matches: Karanjit Singh

 

Veteran goalkeeper Karanjit Singh accompanied Vukomanovic in the press conference ahead of the Bengaluru FC match and spoke about how he has seen the team develop during his three years with the team. 

“We are doing well in the last three seasons. We reached the final two years ago, last season the playoff and this season too we are playing well,” he said. 

“There are many young players who are coming from the reserves team and are doing well whenever they get a chance,” he added. 

Karanjit who is into his seventh season in the ISL feels his team now need to be almost perfect to have a chance of finishing the season on top of the pile and that’s what the players will try to achieve in the coming month. 

Having come in for the injured Sachin Suresh, his experience will come in handy in this crucial period. 

“You are always happy when you are getting a chance. It's my job to perform whenever I get a chance,” Karanjit said. 

“We have six more very important games. We will try to win all the matches and see where we can finish,” he concluded. 

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Kerala Blasters FC2023-2024 Karanjit Singh