Defiant Petkovic won't discuss tactics after defeat

LEIPZIG, June 11 (Reuters) Serbia&Montenegro coach Ilija Petkovic said they did not deserve to lose 1-0 to Netherlands in their opening Group C match and declined to discuss his tactics.

''I will not comment on my tactics here nor will I analyse what went wrong in front of the entire press, we will leave that to ourselves,'' he told reporters after today's match.

''We did not deserve to lose today because the Netherlands did not outplay us nor did they create any clear cut chances apart from the goal, which was also a fairly predictable move.'' Petkovic would not discuss whether the surprise inclusion of Nenad Djordjevic at right back had disrupted the defensive balance as he took a roasting from Man of the Match Arjen Robben before being substituted three minutes before halftime.

''We felt we had to start cautiously and it worked fine until we conceded the goal. Obviously, we had to make substitutions to try and get something from this match but all our second half pressure was futile,'' said Petkovic.

''Djordjevic was not at fault for the goal so leave that issue alone. Players like Robben are hard to contain, he is in an exceptionally good player,'' he added after the Dutch winger had tormented his markers throughout the match.

Serbia looked more adventurous after winger Ognjen Koroman came on for Djordjevic and Igor Duljaj moved to right back to provide the lineup that had been expected to start the match.

Koroman said he could not understand the manager's decision to leave him out and believed the result had left the Serbs with only an outside chance of progressing from a difficult group.

''I don't know quite why we had to be so defensive from the start and I feel we would have done better with a more adventurous formation. I am baffled with the coach's decision to keep me on the bench but I can't discuss that,'' he said.

''It's going to be very difficult now but we have to keep our heads and up and try to qualify by getting the results we need in the next two games.'' Serbia&Montenegro next play Argentina in Gelsenkirchen on Friday followed by their final group match against Ivory Coast in Munich on June 21.

Argentina lead the group with the Netherlands on three points after beating Ivory Coast 2-1 yesterday.

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