'Diego Mauricio is getting better' - Stuart Baxter confident ahead of Odisha's clash against Chennaiyin FC

Odisha are in a buoyant mood after finally picking up their first win in the 2020-21 Indian Super League (ISL) season in their previous game against Kerala Blasters. Now they are set to take on Chennaiyin FC and will be hoping to improve on that performance.  

Ahead of their game against Chennaiyin on Sunday, the Juggernauts' coach Stuart Baxter was full of praise for his team's belief in themselves. 

"It (the first win) is important to the degree that we needed to get those first three points to give the players the belief and confidence to continue on the road ahead. I think the players did a fantastic job in retaining their belief despite the results being against us, sometimes quite unluckily. Now hopefully, we can kick on," said the Brit.

Baxter effected a few tweaks in their lineup last game and admitted that the risk of using two forwards paid off. He played Daniel Lalhlimpuia and Diego Mauricio together up front while putting Gaurav Bora in defence and shunting Jacob Tratt to right-back in place of Shubham Sarangi who has been in poor form of late. 

"It was basically using the players that we had in a different way. So Jacob had a different role and did a great job with it and we got Bora into centre-back position. We wanted two strikers because we wanted to get further up the field a little bit more quickly and give ourselves the chance to run the combination that we have.

"We took a risk with two upfront but it was well done by the players in the two or three sessions before the game," he explained.

Particularly with respect to Diego Mauricio's role, the 67-year-old mentioned that he expects more from the Brazilian who has now scored half of Odisha's 10 goals including a brace against Kerala Blasters.

"Diego has been dangerous and clinical when we get him in the right positions. He is still learning the way that we want him to play. Sometimes, with players like Diego, you have to be careful not to put him in a little box and ask him to do the things the more average players would do. There are certain things that we expect from him to allow the other players to function. So I think Diego is in that process and doing a decent job. If he continues to score goals while he's learning, we are all happy."

The Odisha gaffer meanwhile feels that Chennaiyin will be a tough opponent.

"If you look at every team in the league, every game that I've seen could go both ways. All games are tight and can be turned by inconsistent refereeing decisions, big mistakes by one or other players or a little bit of momentum. Small things have a big impact in this league. So we can expect that Chennaiyin will be smart from their results and we will have renewed vigour after our result. It will be a tight game and we will have to play well if we're going to take three points," Baxter stated.