Hyderabad, Nov 26 (Representative) Hyderabad FC head coach Thangboi Singto described it as one of the worst defeats of his career after his team endured a heavy 6-0 loss at home against Odisha FCin the Indian Super League (ISL) match on Monday night. The Yellow and Black were outplayed by the visitors throughout the match. Although Singto’s side registered more attempts on goal and shots on target, Odisha FC displayed exceptional clinical precision in front of goal, scoring six times to secure a remarkable victory and return to winningways. Singto suggested that the poor performance might have been due to ineffective utilization of the international break, or perhaps a lingering sense of complacency following their previous away win against Kerala Blasters FC, contributing to a poor display against the Kalinga Warriors. “There are two things here, maybe the break was too long or maybe, you know, we were dwelling too much on the win against Kerala Blasters FC,” Singto stated during the post-match press conference. “I think the break planning, in terms of the few days of break and then we came back to training, maybe, you know, whether the players were fresh or not fresh, whether the training was wellplanned in terms of intensity, all those things I need to go back and study myself first.
Today I think, maybe, it’s the worst defeat in my career, whatever I had. So, it is a tough, tough day,” he added. Singto opted for a double foreign striker setup, with Allan Paulista and Edmilson Correia both starting together for the first time this season. The latter made his first ISL start and took full advantage of the opportunity, causing significant trouble to the opposition’s defence on the counterattacks. “Today we were not sharp enough, today we were not quick enough, but I won’t say we were not hungry. But the goals we conceded, it was sort of out of the six goals, maybe at least three or four were just given away,” he said. “So, we have to do better, we have to do better as a team, you know. But (we had) seven shots on target today, I think, is one of the highest in terms of target shots attacking-wise, okay, we have created,” Singto said. Hyderabad FC remained in the bottom half of the table with seven points from eight matches. They now face a challenging away fixture against Mumbai City FC on Saturday. Singto emphasized the importance of moving on from this defeat quickly and focusing on regrouping to prepare for the upcoming match. “We need to learn from this game and then move forward. Another tough game is coming up, so we need to pull up our socks—me, the staff, even the players. It’s going to be tough, but we have to keep looking forward and hope for the best,” the head coach commented.