NorthEast United FC Coach Juan Pedro Benali Reflects on 1-1 Draw with Kerala Blasters FC

Guwahati (Assam) [India], September 30: NorthEast United FC head coach Juan Pedro Benali opened up about his team’s performance after a 1-1 draw with Kerala Blasters FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) on Sunday. Benali emphasized the need for his team to learn from their mistakes and adopt a more aggressive approach.

NorthEast United initially took the lead with a goal from Alaeddine Ajaraie, but Kerala Blasters’ Noah Sadaoui equalized in the second half with a stunning goal. Despite Kerala Blasters controlling possession, both teams had equal opportunities to win the game.

Speaking after the match, Benali said, “Congratulations to Kerala (Blasters FC). They took a point from here. We could have won the game. We had many chances to win the game. I think we did a good game. We need to look forward to (the game against) FC Goa.”

Benali also mentioned the need for his players to be more aggressive, saying, “We need to be a little bit more poised. We are very nice people, we need to be bad boys a little bit.. To show teeth and bite a little bit more. If we do it, we will arrive very far.”

Ajaraie created numerous challenges for the Kerala Blasters’ defense in the first half with his dynamic movement along the left flank and scored a well-taken free-kick. However, the momentum gradually shifted in favor of Kerala Blasters as the first half progressed.

Benali expressed disappointment over his players’ inability to stick to the game plan, which allowed Kerala Blasters to regain their footing. He concluded, “We keep repeating the same mistakes. At the moment, we need to be patient with the ball. Sometimes, we are in a hurry. When we have something working very well, we stop doing it. We were doing everything from the left side and we stopped going there and tried going from the right side. This is an example. Set-pieces, we were hurting them very well. We had to be patient and keep going but we just stopped. We tried to do something new and then we went out of the game plan and then we suffered.”