Chennaiyin head coach Csaba Laszlo was left disappointed by his team's performance following a goalless draw against East Bengal in the Indian Super League clash at the GMC Stadium in Bambolim on Monday.
Laszlo believes that his team had control of the game but failed to make it count. He mentioned that his team did not create enough chances to win the game.
"We had control of the game. But we did not win the game. Not that we did not control the game but we did not win the game. 11 against 11 you have to win the game. Sometimes it is not easy to play against 10. If you play 10 against 11 it's easier to win the game if you create chances which we did not have. I am disappointed about it," Laszlo said.
Chennaiyin created a couple of chances but lacked intent in front of goal. Laszlo, however, defended his players and said that his team needs to pick themselves up and keep going in the competition.
The Marina Machans lacked a link between the midfield and defense. Laszlo pointed out that lack of creativity in the midfield cost his team two points. He, however, backed his players and said that there are bad days at work everywhere.
"This is a question about the midfield. If we have more creativity in the midfield then we had the possibility to score more," Laszlo said.
"No one in the central midfield showed his best performance today, But then you have days like this," he added.
The Chennaiyin head coach had no clear update on Enes Sipovic and Anirudh Thapa's injury.
"Sipovic. I can't tell you. Thapa had a small pain in the hamstring. We have to talk to the doctor," he concluded.
East Bengal played most of the match with 10-men but managed to register a goalless draw against Chennaiyin FC in the Indian Super League clash at the GMC Stadium in Bambolim on Monday.
The Kolkata giants were reduced to 10 men in the 31st minute after Ajay Chettri was shown a second yellow and subsequent red card for bringing Anirudh Thapa down with a rash challenge.
East Bengal head coach Robbie Fowler was disappointed with the result as he believes that his team maintained enough possession to win the game. He, however, said that he will take the one point due to the circumstances.
"No. I am disappointed. We still got enough to control the match. There are a few half chances. We did enough to win the game. I'm disappointed we haven't got the three points. We will take the one point obviously due to the circumstances," Fowler said after the game.
East Bengal did not field Matti Steinmann and Fowler revealed that it was a tactical decision. He revealed that the Finnish-German picked up a bit of problem in the previous match and it would be unfair on the other players to say that his absence had an impact on the result.
"Well it's a tactical one. Matti played every single minute. He's played more or less every game. Against Bengaluru, he came with a little bit of a problem. We look up to players. The players who played tonight did a superb job," he said.
"It's an irrelevant question. We haven't lost the game. I think even with 10 men we played better football. It would be massively disrespectful to the player who played in," he added.
Fowler, however, downplayed his team's finishing woes as he mentioned that his task is to defend his team.
"Every single day it's a different question on the defense and attack. It feels comedic. Some of the questions and answers we have got to give. Its every single game. I have to defend my team for the way they are defending or attacking," Fowler said.
East Bengal goalkeeper Debjit Majumder made consecutive saves to keep Chennaiyin FC away from scoring. Fowler, however, said that this kind of performance is much expected from him.
"Yeah. I think he's been brilliant. I don't think he was the man of the match tonight. He had got few good saves. He's a goalkeeper who is playing really well. We expected to make save," Fowler said.