ISL 7: Not thinking about playoffs, focusing on winning next match, says Baxter

Panaji (Goa) [India], January 31 (ANI): Ahead of the Indian Super League (ISL) match against Jamshedpur FC, Odisha FC coach Stuart Baxter on Sunday said that his side is not focusing on the playoffs, rather their goal is to win the next match.
Odisha FC is currently at the last position in the ISL standings with 8 points from 13 matches while Jamshedpur is at the eighth position with 15 points from 14 matches.
“We are not talking about the play-offs till about two to three weeks. We are talking about getting to the next game. And hopefully we will get a victory – that is what we have been trying to do since the season started,” Goal.com quoted Baxter as saying.
“When you talk about play-offs, even five or weeks ago is wrong because we have to look at the pathway rather than the destination. So at the moment, we need to start those good performances that ended in a draw to good performances that result in a win,” he added.
Odisha FC currently has the worst goal difference (-7), but Baxter feels that their defending has not been as bad as the stats say.
“On paper, we have played a more attacking formation. People always write about the defensive performance by how many goals you concede. So I think the whole team has taken part in the defense in a better way, even though we have defended higher up the field sometimes by taking the risk of leaving a lot of spaces behind us,” said Baxter.
“I think we have been defending better than people have said all year. Now we have to know the way to defend better and that is just showing,” he added.
Odisha and Jamshedpur will take on each other in the ISL on Monday. (ANI)