CHENNAI : When John Gregory marched off the field after Chennaiyin’s heavy defeat at the hands of FC Goa on Wednesday, his mind would have wandered back to the same result last season. Then too, Chennaiyin had run into Goa pretty early, in just their second match. As was the case at Fatorda on Wednesday, they had been completely outplayed and crashed to a 1-3 defeat. Then the unravelling started, a stunning run that saw the Blues only win two of their next sixteen matches.
As Chennaiyin prepare to take on Mumbai City FC in their first home game of the season on Sunday, preventing a similar collapse will be the top-most item on Gregory’s to-do list. Last year, after their Goa loss, Chennaiyin’s next four games were played out over 15 days and they failed to win any of them. Now, they face three games in twelve days. And Gregory knows the trickle of negativity has to be plugged right away.
“You can’t wait,” he said. “The ISL comes on you quickly and you have to pick up the results quickly. Before you know where you are, you’re suddenly going to be in December and you’ve played six or seven matches. I don’t really care what it looks like. I just want to get three points on the board.”
There is a happier example to follow as well. “In season four, we lost our opening match to Goa,” he said. “We went on to win the next two games and suddenly we were sat top of the league after three games and I’d be delighted if we can manage that again. We have to take maximum points from the next two matches at home.”
That, though, is easier said than done with Mumbai City coming off a 1-0 win at Kerala Blasters. Last year’s semifinalists have kept most of their squad intact. After their performance in Kochi, where they arguably should have won more convincingly, few would bet against them progressing to the knockout phases once again. Mumbai coach Jorge Costa though has injury problems to contend with. “For sure, Mato Grgic is out. We’ll see about (Paulo) Machado,” he said.
Grgic’s absence means that Mumbai will have to field a mostly-domestic defence. It remains to be seen though whether Chennaiyin will be able to take advantage of it — their last four league matches have seen them firing blanks. Their new-look attack — with the likes of Andre Schembri and Nerijus Valskis — will not get a better opportunity to impress their home fans. Mumbai though will have their own trump cards up front — especially Moroccan striker Amine Chermiti who impressed against Kerala Blasters and scored the winner.