ISL: FC Goa wary of bottom-placed Delhi

Panaji: Coach Manolo Marquez has asked fans to show more love towards FC Goa and promised to “give them a good game” as his team returns home for the clash against bottom-placed Sporting Club Delhi at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, on Thursday.
Goa had a shaky start to the season and were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw against debutants Inter Kashi FC, a match that saw very poor attendance. Playing away, Manolo’s side then picked up a dominant win against Mohammedan Sporting and will look for home support to continue their winning run.
“We are grateful to the people who came for the first game against Inter Kashi, but if I was an Indian, I would like to see a lot of Indian players playing in my team,” Manolo told reporters during the pre-match media interaction on Wednesday. “I recognise that everyone wants to watch foreigners, but I think the Indian players deserve more support. They have done so much; won games, trophies. It’s been a long season already for us and they deserve to see more people in the stands. When there are more people, the connection is good. It’s very important.”
Goa enjoyed support during the Super Cup final against East Bengal, a result that took them again to Asian competitions. Now, Manolo wants his side to enjoy every game in a short season.
“We need to enjoy this season because we already have the slot for the Asian competition. We want to win every game, but we want to learn (with) every game. I think if I compare, we didn't play a fantastic game in the second (half) the other day (against Mohammedan), but we were better than the previous game. We expect to play better (against Delhi).”
The former India coach is managing the side with only two foreigners – Pol Moreno and Dejan Drazic, two players who combined to score the opening goal against Mohammedan with Moreno’s header. Drazic has scored two from penalties, but the importance of Indian players cannot be understated.
“Finally, we have 11 players. Foreigners or Indian players but they are 11. I feel it is a great opportunity for the Indian players. In this short season, they will have a lot of minutes,” said Manolo.
Muhammed Nemil has been handed the responsibility of leading the attack in the last two games, while Ishan Pandita is also capable of scoring, making a name for himself as a super sub during his first stint at the club.
Meanwhile, Delhi have lost both their games against Bengaluru FC (2-0) and East Bengal (1-4), but Manolo knows the team is capable of doing more.
“Delhi are last on the table, it's true, that it’s been only two games and they had chances to score (in both games). I feel this team will win one game against a strong opponent. If we don’t play a good game, we will have problems. These three games will be completely different, and if players understand which kind of game they will face, then will have more options to win,” said the coach.
Against Mohammedan, Goa had 12 shots, only four of them on target, two of them goals, as the likes of Nemil, Udanta, Boris and Drazic all went close. The Spanish coach wants his side to be more clinical in front of goal.
“We need to have more hunger to finish the action. We need to have a better mentality that we need to score,” said Manolo.