Plummeting to six losses on the trot after a solitary win, bottom-placed Delhi Dynamos' Jeroen lumu said that they are desperate to change their fortune in order to progress further in the Indian Super league.
"We are in a tough situation and performing good is the only way out from here. We are desperate to change things in our upcoming games and winning our next game is the right foot forward," said the Dutch footballer ahead of their clash against a strong Chennaiyin FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Sunday.
Despite string of poor performances, lumu doesn't agree they are out of the title run as they have caliber to turn things around.
"We did lose six matches on the trot but we don't think we are out of the competition. We are still a strong team, we got quality players in our squad; we just need to click together as a team and get the combinations working. I think 2-3 consecutive wins from here and we would be back in the game," said the former Eredivisie (Dutch league) player.
Talking about the new signing of goalkeeper Xabi Irureta, lumu said the new arrival's experience will certainly help the defence and bring the much-needed vigour back in the team.
"Xabi is an experienced campaigner, he is somebody who has played at the highest level and that experience is something we need. We have conceded a lot of goals in the past few games and I hope his presence will change things. losing so many games does affect your morale and the new arrival will bring that freshness and hunger to do well back in the squad," he explained.
Delhi has consistently maintained high possession in majority of their matches but they don't have the goals to show for it. lumu blamed poor conversion rate as the reason for it.
"There's nothing wrong with our possession keeping approach as we have created a lot of chances in front of the goal. We just need to be more clinical with the chances thrown at us. I can't really explain why we missed those chances, maybe we were just unlucky. But we need to be more careful from now on as not scoring much had a direct impact on our results," said the versatile footballer, who played as winger and centre attacking midfielder so far for Delhi.
lumu said his preferred position is to play behind the striker but will play anywhere on the field if the team wants him. He also revealed that he might be seen playing a new role on Sunday
"I can play as a forward, winger or a number 10 if coach asks me to do so. But if I have to pick one out of them, I will prefer playing as a number 10. But team comes first and I will be playing in a new position tomorrow," he stated.
The conditions in Chennai will be considerably warmer than the weather in Delhi right now. lumu said they will adapt to the conditions as they have to.
"Being professional footballer, we need to adapt to the local conditions real quick and given the situation we are in, we don't really have a choice; we have to get used to the conditions before we step up for the match," concluded lumu.