SC East Bengal head coach Manuel Diaz put behind the result of their last match and suggested that his team is focused on the next game, as Diaz’s men take on Odisha FC in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2021-22 season on Tuesday at the Tilak Maidan Stadium in Vasco da Gama, Goa.

Diaz’s side are struggling to find the rhythm, with their gameplay not being up to the standards set by the 53-year-old. A victory against Odisha FC will be vital in boosting the players’ morale ahead of a long season for the Red and Gold Brigade.

Prior to their clash against Odisha FC on Tuesday, the SC East Bengal head coach addressed the media during a pre-match press conference.

Here are the excerpts from the coach’s press conference:

‘Remontada’ [a comeback] is a quite common word in Spanish football. Do you think the heavy loss to ATK Mohun Bagan can lead to a Remontada for your team?

Remontada is when you are losing a match which you eventually go on to win, but in this case, Odisha FC is another opponent. It’s an important fixture against them because we want to gain those three points.

SC East Bengal has been lacking the creativity of a proper striker in the last two matches. What’s the next plan of action in order to fix that problem, will an Indian striker get a chance upfront against Odisha FC?

Our strikers didn’t have enough opportunities because our team didn't play so well, by our standards they didn’t have enough opportunities. In the first match, we had chances, we could’ve won that match. With respect to the Indian strikers in our squad, we have Singh [Naorem] because Balwant [Singh] is injured and in the last match Singh [Naorem] had plenty of opportunities, and will have more in the next games for sure.

Odisha FC are coming into the game on the back of a win against Bengaluru FC. Will it be difficult to get back to winning ways against such a strong team especially after such a heavy loss?

Our focus is completely on the next match, we are not thinking about the results in our last match. We are not thinking about Odisha’s win in the last match, we are concentrating on winning against them.

Adil Khan played well after coming on as a substitute in the Kolkata derby. Will you hand him a start in place of Tomislav Mrcela in the Odisha game?

Everything is possible. In our squad, everyone will have opportunities, we’re looking for the best for SC East Bengal.

How are you planning to rebuild the team for the Odisha FC clash after a setback in the Kolkata derby?

We must make changes because today is only for the recovery of the starters from the last match. We need to repeat our performances from our first match and avoid the mistakes committed in the second match.