CHENNAI: After three years of John Gregory, it was rather strange for regular attendees to Chennaiyin FC’s press conferences to have his familiar English accent replaced by a Scottish one from behind the microphone. What helped though was that Owen Coyle was no less jovial and loquacious than his predecessor. No more harking back to the days of Marco Matterazzi’s monosyllabic press conferences!
It will, though, take the new Chennaiyin FC manager a lot more than a few words of encouragement to drag his team back to relevance in the Indian Super League. On the eve of their home clash against Kerala Blasters at the JN Stadium here, they teeter dangerously on the brink of the point of no return. They have six points from seven games and are seven away from the top four spots. Home games are running out and with them, chances of redemption. Coyle may only have been Chennaiyin manager for a couple of weeks, but he needs to hit the ground running.
The performance in his first game in charge — against Jamshedpur FC — was encouraging and it is that example that Coyle cites to explain why he thinks better times are ahead. “I think anyone who saw the Jamshedpur match would’ve recognised that we should’ve got three points,” he said on Thursday. “I’ve seen enough quality, attitude and a hunger to do well and that augurs well, moving forward. We need to win games and play our style of football. We have to believe that we can make the top four positions and for that, we have to win games.
“We have to get the balance right between the defence and attack. We have very good attacking players. What we have to do is share responsibility. We cannot be one-dimensional.”Coyle though admits that coming in midway through the season and imposing his tactics on a team is a challenge. “Any coach will tell you they want to put together their own team,” he said. “But that is the nature of the game. You have to come in and make do with what you have. That being said, I have fantastic players here.”
That said, Coyle does not rule out foraying into the January transfer window for a player or two. “You never say no (January transfer window),” he said. “Sometimes a very good player might come in. If it makes sense for the club, of course, we will look at it. But the focus right now is on making sure our current players perform well.”
The one thing that augurs well for Chennaiyin is that Kerala Blasters have had an equally bad string of results. They are perched just above Chennaiyin in eighth and have not won since their opening-day victory over ATK. The club’s assistant coach Ishfaq Ahmed believes that the heated rivalry between the two clubs will be enough of a motivation for his players to take their game up a notch. “I think the match itself is motivation. It has been the south derby and these are the matches that show how mature a player is. The players need to take it (as) a challenge. I don’t think they need motivation. These are the games you need to perform,” he said.