Jose Molina warns Atletico against complacency as they face winless Goa
Atletico de Kolkata will be looking to stretch their unbeaten start to the season when they take on bottom-of-the-table FC Goa in the Indian Super League on Sunday. Whilst history is on Kolkata’ s side (FC Goa who have never succeeded in defeating Atletico in their six meetings), Zico’s winless side will look to capitalize on Jose Molina’s men who have been hit with a string of injuries.
After finishing runners-up last season, Goa haven't had the best of times this year round, with a fresh set player yet to gel in. And zero points on the board, reflects the same.
Even though Atletico have been hit with a series of blows, their coach Jose Molina remains upbeat about the situation. "I have confidence in my team and my players. We know Goa has lost thrice. And that makes them dangerous. They will be looking for a win desperately and we will have to be on our toes," said the former Spanish international.
The Spaniard also preached a need for being confident but not overstepping the mark. “It will be an important match for us since we are playing at home. We are not being overconfident,” advised Molina.
Helder Postiga, who just had a 72-minute appearance last season owing to a hamstring injury, is yet again down with an injury to his rib this time round 18 minutes into the second game of the season. Whilst the management remain hopeful that the former Spurs man will make a comeback this season, it doesn’t look likely that it will happen anytime soon.
“Postiga is still not at his best. We are waiting for him to recover as soon as possible,” head coach Jose Molina said at the pre-match press conference.
Postiga had a separate session at practice and It's still not clear whether Postiga will be playing even ATK's next home match on October 22. However, after a detailed MRI, Postiga's injury had been termed "minor".
Also read: Whatever happened to Iain Hume?
With the Spaniard out, Ian Hume, the Scottish-born Canadian stepped up last season becoming the second highest goal scorer with 11 goals. However, he too has failed to find this season.
Kolkata further suffer injury woes with center back Tiri getting injured along with the Botswana midfielder Ofentse Nato. Henrique Sereno has been brought in to fill in for the injured and now departed Pablo Gallardo and is likely to get the nod to make his ISL bow.
Many might count Kolkata to be lucky after coming back from their last two away games with four points with two goals from Javi Lara in both games coming via deflections. However, going into the match, they will be termed as favourites against a team that has yet to find any sort of rhythm so far.