'We believe we are best in the league': Punjab FC’s Nikhil Prabhu on team’s mentality

New Delhi: After Punjab FC’s huge 3-0 win over Mumbai City FC at the Mumbai Football Arena, a video of head coach Panagiotis Dilmperis did the rounds on social media in which the Greek manager could be heard saying ‘I told you we’re the best,’ to his team.

In an exclusive conversation with IANS, Punjab FC midfielder Nikhil Prabhu opened up on the team’s mentality and spoke about how the influence of Dilmperis has changed the Shers’ approach towards the game.

"The coach always tells us that we need to believe in ourselves and that we don't adapt to the opponents, the opponents have to adapt to us. He tells us that we are the best team in the league and that helps us motivate more. We are very good as a team, we may be very bad as individuals, but we are very good as a team.

"The team is the strength, unity is the strength. If one player does something wrong it's bad for the entire team, that's why he says we are the best team in the league, you know, he doesn't call anyone the best player in the league. We are the best team in the league is what we believe," Nikhil told IANS.

After spending their debut season in the lower half of the Indian Super League table, the team has had an incredible start to life under their new head coach. The side is currently in fourth place in the table, having played one game less than the top two sides, Bengaluru FC and Mohun Bagan and have two games in hand over third-placed NorthEast United FC. They will be facing Mohammedan SC and Jamshedpur in their next two outings.

The side has also been resilient in defence, having only conceded nine goals, which ranks them third in the least goals conceded ranking this season. Prabhu explained how Dilmperis has helped the team improve defensively this season.

"As a team, we like to build up from the back and as much as we have the ball, it's less to defend. We are trying new things, new patterns in training and then we are trying to keep the ball. That's the best thing from last year. We were not keeping the ball. We were playing direct football, and this year we are not playing according to the opponent. We are playing how we wanted to play and we are letting the opponent adapt to us," he added.