CHENNAI: It's been a couple of months since Bozidar Bandovic was appointed as the coach of Chennaiyin FC, and the Montenegrin has had enough time by now to familiarise himself with his new surroundings. The Chennaiyin squad is currently undergoing quarantine in Goa and will begin their pre-season training in earnest from September 26. With their recruiting for the season done, it is up to Bandovic now to get the best out of what he has and help them improve on their eighth-place finish last season.
For that, the key will be to draw the optimum from the attacking players. Goals were a rarity last season for the two-time ISL champions, with the club scoring the least number (17). While attacking midfielder Rafael Crivellaro has extended his stay for another season, Chennaiyin have also made fresh recruits — the likes of Polish striker Lukasz Gikiewicz, Kyrgyzstan forward Mirlan Murzaev and Hungarian Vladimir Koman are the prominent names — to address some of those issues in the final third when the ISL season begins on November 19.
“I cannot speak about last season as I was not there. I believe these players can score goals but what we want to do is to do teamwork to create chances. Of course, they have quality and ability to score goals. For me, it’s not important who will score the goals. It’s important that the team wins and to score more goals than the opponent and I believe this aspect will be better this year,” the 52-year-old gaffer said while addressing the media in his opening press conference.
For teamwork to show on the pitch, it is important for the players to put in the hard yards in training in the coming weeks and forge an understanding. With so many new recruits at one time, it is never straightforward for players — even the best in the business — to find the same wavelength instantaneously. Other teams have already begun their pre-season training and are even playing practice matches to find their gears.
Chennaiyin are yet to hit the training ground, but Bandovic — who seems to exude a stern demeanour — isn’t overly fussed.
“As a coach, I don’t agree with a long pre-season. I think eight weeks are enough to make them run for 90 minutes and be refreshed at the same time. We have started the work on Zoom calls. I have spoken to the club about having 6-7 friendly games, but we will inform you when we will complete all the dates because it’s a difficult situation, we need to see which teams are free and when it’s good for them and us to play friendly matches,” Bandovic informed.