ISL 2019-20: 'We won a bad match,' says Antonio Habas after ATK edge out ChennaiyinÂ
ATK emerged victorious on Wednesday evening in the Indian Super League with a hard-fought 1-0 win away at Chennaiyin FC.
The only goal of the game came from ATK's Australian forward David Williams, just 3 minutes into the second half, after capitalizing on a faulty clearance from Chennaiyin skipper Lucian Goian off the original shot from Javier Hernandez.
The goal aside, ATK had to withstand large spells of pressure and especially in the remainder of the second half, Chennaiyin almost held them under siege. But ATK held on to keep out the hosts and register back-to-back victories.
After the game, ATK coach Antonio Habas wasn't too happy with his team's overall performance, but was willing to take the three points.
"We made many errors today and did not find our football," opened Habas. "We won a bad match."
Asked about if ATK consciously chose to sit back today and play on the counter as opposed to using their potent forward line more, Habas said,
"We wanted to adapt according to the situation of the game. Some days you can play fantastic and not win the game, but some days it can be not such a good game, but we end up with the three points. We have to improve a lot from today's performance. My players today didn't show their best form, but the defence was very solid in the second half which helped us get the win."
Habas once again went with his 3-5-2 formation which the Spaniard has used in every game this season, with Michael Soosairaj and Prabir Das as wingbacks. Soosairaj had another excellent game, but was withdrawn in the 68th minute after a clash with Eli Sabia left him floored.
Habas said about Soosairaj, "I'm very happy with him. Every match he is growing. He is supporting in defence when needed and giving us the attack when we have the ball."
Asked on what he would focus on going into the international break, Habas said he wanted his team to get into the game quickly and despite having 6 points from their 3 games, there was much to do.
"The pace of the game and the control we can work on. We can work on how quickly we get into the game. Today Chennaiyin didn't score, but if they had it could have become a problem. There will be more such tough games and we will plan for those," concluded the ATK coach.