Panaji: After seven seasons in the country, Manolo Marquez knows Indian football better than most others. So, when he said there are two or three players who constantly get criticised, regardless of what they do on the field, he wasn’t off the mark.Udanta Singh was one of the three players Manolo singled out. “Some players are criticised because people like to criticise,” he said.The FC Goa winger is often at the receiving end of fans’ ire, but having spent three seasons with him at the club and also counted on him during his stint with the national team, the experienced Spanish coach knows the importance of having the Manipuri in the team.For Udanta, it’s par for the course.“Whatever you do, people will always judge and criticise,” Udanta told TOI during the pre-match media interaction on Thursday. “You have to accept it, keep moving ahead, look forward to the next match. I think it’s OK to criticise. We are footballers, so we have to focus on ourselves, not what others say. I just keep moving ahead.”As a youngster, Udanta showed plenty of promise with Bengaluru FC and became the youngest Indian to score a goal in the AFC Cup. He won plenty of trophies too. At 30, however, and like Manolo pointed out, Udanta has been the subject of criticism in recent times.“It’s not the first time that I am being criticised. I am not bothered about criticism. I’m OK with it. I accept it and keep working hard on my game,” said Udanta.At Goa, coach Gouramangi Singh has relied upon Udanta to fill important gaps. In the last game against Inter Kashi for example, he started as a winger, moved to right back and ended the game at left-back. Three different positions throughout the 90 minutes.Isn’t it taxing?“I have been playing in the professional league for 10 years and I am happy to help the team. You have to sacrifice (by playing in different positions) for the sake of others too. The young players have to focus on their game (in regular positions), so I am happy to be of help.“If you look at our current squad, compared to the previous three seasons, there are players who have come from the second division, I-League and we are all training together. We have to stick together. It’s a process. We are building our team from zero, so it will take time (to obtain results). We are training hard and will do better in the coming matches,” said Udanta.
