A coach must resign if the team loses four-to-five matches – Suman Dutta on Nizam Packeer Ali’s sack

Suman Dutta defended himself over his role in the sacking of Nizam Packeer Ali but launched a stinging criticism of the Sri Lanka coach.

Goal.com had earlier exclusively revealed as to how the former Air India player was one of the prime reasons who caused unrest within the squad and used his connections with the club’s sponsors in Kolkata to ensure that the coach was shown the door with only six matches to go in the season.

“Any coach should resign after losing four-to-five matches. We have lost 13 matches this season,” said Dutta.

“After the loss against HAL, the team manager had called for a meeting. The local players didn’t speak much as they generally fear for their chances given that this is the only team in the I-League from their state. I opined that probably we needed to increase the competition among the players so that they give out their best for the team.

“If the players who aren’t performing are made to sit out, they shall work harder to come back whereas the players who shall get the chance will try to impress the coach,” he reasoned.

Dutta went to state that the Sri Lankan coach didn’t have much knowledge on Indian football per say and though his strategies were right, his stubbornness cost the team.

“The style and tactics of the coach was good but he never made any changes to the team. He stuck by the same players for good six-to-seven matches even though results weren’t going our way. Logic suggests that you would at least make one or two changes or try something different.

“Before the match against HAL, we played a match against Eagles in Kerala. After the game, the coach told the players that I was the man of the match in that game. Still I wasn’t included in the line-up for the next I-League game which surprised me,” said Dutta.

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