Sports Correspondent: Dhaka Abahani Limited head coach Mario Lemos blamed their ‘too deep defense’ strategy for the fatal 1-3 goals defeat against Mohun Bagan Super Giant in the single-leg South Asia Zone play-offs round match of the AFC Cup 2023-24.
Coming from 0-1 goal behind, the Bangladesh Premier League runners-up conceded three goals in the hosts-dominating match at Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on Tuesday.
“I think we started well, 1-0. We blocked Mohun Bagan who created a lot of chances in the game. But then we got a penalty and conceded an own goal. I’m not blaming the defense. I’m blaming what we did in the second half. We defended too deep,” Lemos told The Daily Sun on Wednesday.
“We defended too deep so we could not make counters because we were so behind in the pitch. When we were defending and we won the ball — that was the transition moment, the counterattack moment — we should go for counters,” he said.
The Portuguese coach also said that conceding the penalty – which helped the home side to return to the match equalising the margin – was also a mistake from his side.
“The penalty is doubtful, but I think we should be calmer during that situation because that wasn’t any goal-scoring opportunity. The players were going towards the corner flag … that is our mistake,” he further said.
“But we sat back and Mohun Bagan continuously pressed us. We didn’t go for counters; we just defended, defended and defended. The plan was not to defend too deep; the actual plan was to defend on mid-high and try to attack. If you don’t attack, you don’t have a chance to win,” he concluded.
