Hyderabad FC head coach Manuel Marquez warned his players of Bengaluru FC’s attacking threat and urged them to be consistent in their game, as his side faces the Blues in their fourth game of the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2021-22 season on Wednesday at the Athletic Stadium in Bambolim, Goa.

Marquez admired his Bengaluru counterpart, Marco Pezzaiuoli’s style of play and hinted on a compelling game on Wednesday. Hyderabad FC have drawn, won, and lost a game apiece in their last three matches. Taking positives from the draw against Jamshedpur FC in the last match, the 53-year-old praised his team’s efforts in the second half and wants them to put more effort in the upcoming games.

Ahead of his team’s battle against Bengaluru FC, head coach Manuel Marquez addressed the media during a pre-match press conference.

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

Bengaluru FC have some big names in Indian football in their team. How do you look at the challenge tomorrow?

[It will be] very difficult, like every game. Of course, they have some big names in Indian football and personally, they have some young players that will be significant in the future. I like their style of play; they play quality football, and their coach is brave too. They attack with a lot of players, and I believe it will be an interesting game for sure.

Do you have any specific plans to beat this Bengaluru FC side?      

Every team in ISL is unique. For example, we played the first game against Chennai and in that game, we were ten men behind the ball all the time. Mumbai is a team that wants to play every ball. Jamshedpur is fight, fight, fight, and fight.

Bengaluru are threatening when it comes to attack, they arrive with several of their players to the opponent’s box, but then again, every game is going to be a difficult one. So, we have to find our consistency and not change our plan specifically because we’re playing against Bengaluru.

With three different results in three games, what does Hyderabad FC need as a team to find consistency in the games that follow?

There are different results because the teams are very strong. I think against several teams we need to find consistency, but we can’t say anything now, we’ll look after this towards the end of the season, in the last five-six games.

You said your team didn’t play well in the first half of the Jamshedpur FC game, but they fought back in the second half. What are the positives that you’ve taken from this game?

The positive thing is the reaction of the team in the second half. Usually, when you play a decent first half, you don’t play at the same level in the second half, usually you are angry at the end of the game. We can react well, like when we won against Mumbai and also when we drew against Jamshedpur, so for me these are the positives.

They played a good game against NorthEast and had doubts against Kerala and now they lost their last game. But I agree with their coach that it was their best game. In my opinion, they deserved to win in the first half but then again if you’re playing against Mumbai and you are playing a good game, but you are losing, it’s difficult.

What can we expect from a striker like Ogbeche [Bartholomew] in this season?

Goals. Ogbeche has scored close to 40 goals in the four seasons that he has played with four different teams. We can expect goals from him. Two goals in three games are great figures for a centre-forward.

Hyderabad FC have conceded the first goal in all three games and have conceded only one goal in each game. So, how does the first goal shape the outcomes of the matches?

Usually, I prefer to score first because then you can play with order and the other team has to attack. During the game against Mumbai, they scored first, and we quickly equalised. Against Jamshedpur, they scored close to half-time, we spoke in the half-time as to how we could play in the second-half. But it’s football, you have to continue playing even if the opponent scores, let’s hope we score first tomorrow.