Javier Gurri: Not much difference between the top and bottom placed teams in the ISL

Hyderabad FC play their final Indian Super League (ISL) tie of their debut season on Thursday evening when they face NorthEast United in Guwahati.

The Nizams have seven points from 17 matches and will look to add three more in order to reach the double digits.

“This has not been the best of seasons. The situation of the players was not the best when I arrived, but they are motivated to compete. We have been competitive; we got a draw against Mumbai City FC, Bengaluru FC. The only game where we didn’t compete was against Goa. The next game is the last match of this season. Everyone is excited to finish with the three points,” said coach Javier Gurri, who took of the team midway into the campaign after coach Phil Brown was axed.

He mentioned that there were a few positives for them to take into the new campaign when Albert Roca would take charge of the side.

“There are always positives. We can hand more opportunities to younger players. We have many young players – Liston Colaco, Hitesh Sharma and Mohammad Yasir. We can give more chances to them now,” said Gurri.

He observed that there isn’t a massive difference in quality when it comes to the squads of the teams in the top half of the table as compared to those in the bottom half.

“Since I arrived, I have been watching all the teams. Not much difference between the first and the last. The good teams have a winning mentality like Bengaluru FC, Goa and Chennaiyin. They know they are fighting and that’s what gives them the win. This is the difference between the teams those who are on the top and teams who are at the bottom,” he explained.

Marko Stankovic shared that none of the players in the Hyderabad squad had experienced a season like this before where they struggled to get going.

“It is the first season. The results show that how the whole franchise has been this year. It has been very difficult from the start. The mood is okay. The experienced players, the foreign players always try to keep the mood high. Nobody has had a season like this before. We can’t rescue the season. But we fight for our own and we would love to win the match to finish the season at least with a good feeling,” he pointed.