Four consecutive defeats have already forced Peter Taylor to quit from coach’s post of Kerala Blasters. But in a similar situation, Athletico De Kolkata (ATK) has decided to keep faith temporarily on its Spanish coach Antonio Habas who also had to concede three consecutive defeats in the ISL so far.
But, it has been learnt that focus of the team management will be on ATK next crucial away match in the ISL against Mumbai City, scheduled to be held on 1st November in Mumbai.
If Kolkata’s team fails to secure at least one point and plunges to more critical situation in the League table then the ATK bosses might again sit with their Spanish coach.
One of the top officials of the club said on condition of anonymity on Friday, “We are still patient. But it does not mean that we will not review coach’s performance even if the boys continue losing in the forthcoming matches. The key problem in coach’s style of maneuvering the side we have found is that he lacks the ability to build up team spirit.”
ATK players trained on Friday for around half-an-hour. But the players looked busy in listening to Habas pep-talk more than spending on their practice. The Spanish coach who is already under fire for his strategy also, looked talking to players and trying to inspiring them after the practice got over.
There was already a verbal spat between Arnab Mondol and Borja Fernandez during Thursday’s match against Delhi Dynamos. On Friday, Habas looked more attentive while talking to both his defenders, trying to sort out the problem.
However, Dudu Omagbemi has signed for ATK for the rest of the League as a replacement of injured Hosemi who has been out of the League. Dudu is set to join the team’s training after ATK returns from Mumbai.