ISL 2018-19: FC Goa's Ferran Corominas plays down Lanzarote's departure

FC Goa striker Ferran Corominas Monday played down concerns over the departure of attacking Spanish mid-fielder Manuel Lanzarote from the team and said there were others to fill in the breach.

The 34-year-old Spaniard was in impressive form last season, clocking well over 1,500 minutes on the field and coming up with 13 goals and six assists to his name.

Lanzarote has shifted to take up the captain's role with Kolkata's ATK in the upcoming season of the Indian Super League (ISL) beginning September 29.

Corominas, who paired up with Lanzarote last season, was of the view that it was the team which eventually contributes in scoring goals.

"Even if Lanza (Lanzarote) is not there, we will be fine. There are other players who always come in, who can come in and take over in that place.

"We have got the players, who we think, have got the capacity to do the same, if not better," he said at the ISL Media Day held here.

"It is not necessarily always in pairs that we have to score and ultimately it's the whole team that can contribute as well; so we can get goals from other areas of the team," Corominas noted.

"Myself and Lanzarote had scored quite a goals between us (in the last ISL season) and ultimately it is because of the style of play we had. The idea is to recreate that as much as possible this year," he added.

FC Goa winger Mandar Rao Dessai, who will be with the side for the fifth season, said he was being helped by foreign and senior players.
 

Their assistant coach Jesus Tato said it was important for the players to retain their style of play.

"We have to improve on some things. Last season we scored a lot of goals, but conceded lot of goals also. This season we will try to improve our defence line and not concede so many goals," Tato said.

FC Goa would begin their campaign against North East United on October 1.

Meanwhile, Delhi Dynamos mid-fielder Marcos Tebar revealed that he had "offers" from Europe, but waited to come back to India.

"I was close to sign for Jamshedpur, but then the coach called me to come back to Delhi. I was happy here (with Delhi) when I played in ISL three and I had got good memories," he recalled.

Delhi head coach Josep Gombau said he was happy with the squad.