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Chennaiyin begins new chapter in ISL

Owen Coyle to take charge of CFC for the first time against Jamshedpur.

Chennaiyin begins new chapter in ISL
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Club captain Lucian Goian (left) and gaffer Owen Coyle in a chat

Chennai

Chennaiyin FC will look to get back on track when it meets Jamshedpur FC in an Indian Super League (ISL) clash at the JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur on Sunday.


CFC has so far collected only five points from six fixtures and comes into the contest on the back of a 2-2 draw against Odisha FC. Challenging times await Chennaiyin as it has a new head coach in Owen Coyle, who is famous for his stints at Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic. This was after previous gaffer John Gregory parted ways with the club.


Coyle has a couple of immediate tasks ahead of him, both in terms of tactics and personnel. “The first aim is to win games and do things systematically. I do recognise there are a lot of good opponents in the league. But we also have players who can propel us to the play-offs,” Coyle told reporters on the eve of the match.


“We are very respectful of our opponent (Jamshedpur), because it has great quality. But we don’t come with fear. If we play to our best, we can win the game,” observed the experienced Coyle. Striker Andre Schembri, who missed out the previous fixture, is fit to start. It will be interesting to see if Coyle makes massive changes to the starting eleven or prefers the safer approach of fielding more or less the same players from the last match.


Jamshedpur is on a four-game (two wins and two draws) unbeaten streak at home and Spanish coach Antonio Iriondo will be keen to close the gap at the top. JFC has 11 points from six matches, three behind leader ATK. The bad news for Jamshedpur is that striker Sergio Castel, who has five goals, hasn’t recovered in time after picking up a knock in the previous game against NorthEast United FC.


Midfielder Piti has started training but will not be part of the matchday squad. “We are going to keep trusting our players and the work they have done. I’m very happy with the situation at the moment. We have lost two of our foreign players (Castel and Piti) but the team is still performing good. I hope we continue with these kind of performances,” said Iriondo.


The former Indian Arrows boys, namely Narender Gehlot and Jitender Singh, have taken to ISL as a fish to water as they have fitted seamlessly into Iriondo’s system. Farukh Choudhary has impressed everyone with his tricks and flicks but it’s about time for him to be more clinical in front of goal.

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