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The veteran manager speaks of his side's striker voes while continuing his rant against the suspension of Climax Lawrance...

Dempo SC coach Armando Colaco revealed that the misunderstanding between Rohan Ricketts and him took place before the former Premier League player joined the club.

"See, the problem in the beginning was that Rohan was a striker...his agent told us that Rohan is a striker and that's how we brought him," Colaco explained. "But when he (Ricketts) came here he said 'I'm not a striker who has come to replace Ranti' and that he was an attacking midfielder."

"Now we (Dempo) don't play 4-4-1-1, we play 4-4-2, you see. So here, we had to make him (Ricketts) understand. It was a misunderstanding that initially took place, but then we have to carry on. He, the club and I have to move on."

"Rohan [Ricketts] is very good with the ball, class, but off the ball he has to work a little bit." - Armando Colaco

Meanwhile, the defending I-League champions have been facing problems in the striking department as the Dempo tactician went on to elaborate.

"The problem was [Joaquim] Abranches was not fit [to play against Air India]. Abranches was injured, but I forced him. I said 'please come because we are lacking strikers'," he continued.

"Let me be honest, even in Delhi [against ONGC], I'm the one who forced him (Abranches) to play as [Ryuji] Sueoka could not play well because of food poisoning. I went with Joy [Ferrao] and Peter [Carvalho] to play up, although I did try with Anthony [Pereira]."

Does Dempo need a fourth foreigner?

"Fourth foreigner? Let's see. Koko [Sakibo] says 'I want to play. I'm coming the next game.' I miss Koko although Sueoka is trying his level best," he added.

Concerning Climax Lawrence's suspension, the Dempo coach cum general secretary has already taken to writing to the I-League CEO Sundando Dhar before Armando Colaco admitted of adopting a legal path to resolve the matter.

Climax Lawrence was banned for two matches, against Air India (24 November) and Mohun Bagan (28 November), for allegedly charging on the referee in the match against East Bengal on 3 November 2012. Dempo have already written twice to the I-League CEO Sunando Dhar as Colaco questioned the All India Football Federation's (AIFF) timing of the suspension.

"What they (AIFF) have done is really bad. If at all they wanted to suspend Climax, they should have suspended him soon after the East Bengal match. Why was he allowed to play in two matches and suspend him later. That means the timing was planned," he stated.

Dempo SC face Mohun Bagan in a roung eight I-League clash which is scheduled to kick-off at 19:00 IST at the Fatorda stadium in Goa, on Wednesday 28 November.

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