NorthEast United FC head coach Juan Pedro Benali called for his side to learn from their mistakes after they played out a draw with Kerala Blasters FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) on Sunday.

Alaeddine Ajaraie initially put NorthEast United FC ahead, but Noah Sadaoui, who was arguably Kerala Blasters FC’s most dangerous attacker in Guwahati, netted a stunning goal in the second half to earn his team a point.

While Kerala Blasters FC controlled possession, both teams had equal opportunities to secure the win. Benali acknowledged that his team should have capitalised on their chances and urged his players to adopt a more aggressive approach moving forward.

“Congratulations to Kerala (Blasters FC). They took a point from here. We could have won the game. We had many chances to win the game. I think we did a good game. We need to look forward to (the game against) FC Goa,” he said in the post-match press conference.

He further added: “We need to be a little bit more poised. We are very nice people, we need to be bad boys a little bit.. To show teeth and bite a little bit more. If we do it, we will arrive very far.”  

Ajaraie created numerous challenges for the Kerala Blasters FC defence in the first half with his dynamic movement along the left flank. The Moroccan forward ultimately broke the deadlock for the home team with a well-taken free-kick. However, despite a strong start, the momentum gradually shifted in favor of Kerala Blasters FC as the opening half progressed. 

Benali expressed disappointment over his players' inability to stick to the game plan, which allowed Kerala Blasters FC to regain their footing in the match.

“We keep repeating the same mistakes. At the moment, we need to be patient with the ball. Sometimes, we are in a hurry. When we have something working very well, we stop doing it. We were doing everything from the left side and we stopped going there and tried going from the right side. This is an example. Set-pieces, we were hurting them very well. We had to be patient and keep going but we just stopped. We tried to do something new and then we went out of the game plan and then we suffered,” he explained.