Punjab FC head coach Staikos Vergetis expressed dissatisfaction with the results as his team suffered a humiliating 4-0 defeat against Jamshedpur FC in Matchweek 15 of the Indian Super League (ISL) 2023-24 season at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi on Thursday.

Jamshedpur FC dominated the game from the beginning and found an early lead in the 11th minute through the feet of Daniel Chima Chukwu. Mohammed Sanan doubled the lead for the Men of Steel in the 63rd minute while Jeremy Manzorro’s extraordinary late brace sealed the fate of Punjab FC to a 4-0 loss.

Disappointed with the result, the head coach believes that the scoreline doesn’t justify their performance.

I believe that we have a bad result, very bad result. But we did not give a bad performance. It's from the days that you say, today, it's not my day,” stated Vergetis in the post-match press conference.

Shedding light on his tactics during the match, the Greek tactician felt that he tried everything possible but missed chances cost them the match.

He said, “We tried a lot of ways, especially in the first half, to score. We should have done two or three goals to say, more than it's the reality. But we did not score the goals and the opposition, with few attacks, we conceded. And after we made the team very offensive, I put very offensive players, changed the formation, freed spaces in our back.”

Acknowledging Punjab FC for their excellent transitions and praising Manzorro for his free-kick brace, Vergetis added, “The opponent was good in the transition, a very good team. They killed us. And the free kicks of Manzorro. The two free kicks gave the result a big dimension. But as I said, we had a bad result, but not as bad a performance as the score shows.”

The 47-year-old was full of praise for defender Nikhil Prabhu and appreciated how he helped the team build their attacking movements. The 23-year-old has been instrumental in the backline of the Shers with 32 successful tackles, 36 clearances, 27 interceptions, 12 blocks and a goal to his name this season.

“Nikhil Prabhu has changed position. He was a central defender in the previous years and now we have put him in front of the defence, as a defensive midfielder who cut the attacks of the opponents. I think that he is having an excellent season, good season, he is doing good games generally and with the ball, he helps with the first pass so that the team can go and attack. I am satisfied,” said Vergetis.