SC East Bengal head coach felt that better defending from set-pieces could have avoided their 0-1 defeat against Kerala Blasters FC on Monday evening in their Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2021-22 match at Tilak Maidan Stadium, in Vasco.

Enes Sipovic scored the only goal of the match in the 49th minute to secure crucial three points for the Kerala Blasters. SC East Bengal tried to get back into the match and found a couple of good chances which it failed to convert, thanks to the alertness of the Blasters goalkeeper Prabhsukhan Gill.

Match Report: Kerala Blasters FC edge past SC East Bengal to regain top-four spot

With this defeat, the  Red & Gold Brigades' winless run got extended to five matches. SC East Bengal find themselves in the tenth spot with 10 points from 17 matches.

Rivera addressed the media after the game.

Here are some excerpts from his press conference:

Do you think it was a very close game? Could you have got points out of this?

Yes, of course. We did very well today, we defended well. We attacked well and created chances. They didn't create chances, we stopped all their counterattacks. But once you get a set-piece, you can lose a match. This is football for you. The goal came from a set-piece.

Do you need to hold better on set-piece to avoid such results?

Yes, maybe. You always have to be better in the set piece. We’re not bad in the set-piece, we defended well and scored goals from the set-piece as well. But you can always improve in the set piece.

Why were Darren Sidoel, Marcelo Ribeiro, and  Arindam Bhattacharja not included in the squad today?

Marcelo got injured in the last match so he didn't recover on time to play. But for Arindam and Darren, they are on rest as they are down with fever and are sick. So they couldn't play. They are in their room and isolated because we don't know if they can pass the virus to the players and so we’re taking care of that.

You have a seven days gap now. What will be the plan for the remaining three games?

Yeah, it's always the same we will try to win the next match. We are not thinking if three or two matches are remaining. We want to win the next match, we will come stronger.  Hope we will be a little luckier next time.