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Ahead of the first leg of the semifinals, Owen Coyle shares squad updates, facing Kerala as the opponent in the big semifinals, injury updates and more.
On bringing Len in place of Boris in the first half of facing ATK Mohun Bagan…
First, we wanted to freshen up the team into a big game because we’ve been asked to play an extraordinary amount of games in a short period of time unlike anybody else. We had to play 6 games in 17 days and then the last 3 games in 6 days and every game was a high pressure situation. So, there weren’t any games where we could have relaxed because we couldn’t afford to do that. As good as the form that we had going, every other also kept winning at the same time. ATK Mohun Bagan were on a 15 game unbeaten run, Hyderabad FC, Kerala Blasters FC and Mumbai City FC were winning to stay in the race, Bengaluru FC were on a 9 game unbeaten run. Even though we won 9 out of 10 games, we had to do that to go and win ourselves the prize we all wanted. So, every game was a high pressure game and to answer the question, we wanted to freshen up the squad and we did that by bringing Boris and Jitendra back in, Greg Stewart was back available. So, as I said we had to freshen up the team, aim to bring back the energy we had before the injuries. Peter Harley was rested the game before this and then he came back in as well, Greg had already missed a game before due to suspension, so we just tried to get some freshness into the team and Boris and Jitendra were desperate to get back into the squad. Boris felt a little niggle during the game and I did not want to take any chances and Len was available to play so we got him in and we looked a bit more solidified and didn’t want to take any chances with Boris’ hamstring. But we were a little bit nervous in the first 20 minutes and I think it was the occasion and not the game we were playing that made that happen because what was going to happen was going to happen anyway and we have to focus on our game. After that period, we settled down into it and deserved to win the shield on that night and the whole reason behind that substitution was that we did not want to take any chances with Boris and we knew that Len wsa ready to step in instead.
On the Tuskers being a big challenge despite being unbeaten in 4 matches played in 2021-22…
Kerala Blasters are a huge challenge in the league and the qualities of the teams in the season is there for everyone to see and the top 4 teams have finished in the spots that they should have while we are the best team in the country which has been determined by the amount of points we’ve gained, winning streak we’ve been on and by the club records that we’ve broken in the season as a squad. But when you come in a cup competition, anything can happen on any given day, so we are wary of the opponents that Kerala Blasters are and they are a fantastic team and we’ve played them twice in this season as well as the pre-season. I know Ivan very well and have a great relationship with him, who is a wonderful coach and an outstanding man off the field as well. So I know it’s going to be two tough, really tough games and they know that as well as they know the quality of Jamshedpur FC. So, on any given day I feel any team is capable of winning the playoffs. What’s been great in the course of the 20 league games is that we’re the best team in the country, that’s there for everyone to see what we’ve achieved here. But what we want to do in the tournament is to do a double and try to win the trophy which is even tougher now because we’re the bigger target as we’re the champions and the other teams get a bit of motivation from that. So, we have to make sure we are at our very best and if we are then of course, we can qualify and make it to the finals. If we don’t be at our very best then it’ll cause us all sorts of problems because they have very good players which makes them a very good team.
On the injury updates on Dinliana and your thoughts on Laldinpuia’s performance…
Currently, we have 5-6 possible injuries with Farukh and Komal missing as we know. We had Mobashir suspended but he is available to play now which is great for us as he will bring some freshness into the squad in the midfield. Young Jitendra played through the pain barrier the other night and we had to have 2 foreign centre-backs on the field which made us sacrifice Alex Lima who has been the best player in our previous 2 games as he has been outstanding. But then we wanted to have Greg playing in the midfield behind Daniel Chima and we’ll have to see if we’ll follow the same strategy as we do have the option to bring Alex Lima in the midfield who is a wonderukf player. Jordan Murray is now coming back to full speed and even he came back in the game as he did before and when he gets to his 100%, then he can start for any team in the league because he’s such a great striker. So, we have options but we have equal numbers of injuries with Dinliana being one of them as he had a shoulder injury before half-time which originated in the previous game. We have to be careful that we don’t do any more damage to that, so we’ve done a scan on him and we’re just waiting for the final report to come in and then there’s 1-2 more with Boris being one of the major injury concerns who we’re trying to protect as he’s fresh. A few others have some bumps and bruises like Greg Stewart who took some kicks and whacks during the game and Daniel Chima who gets battered from his back in every game and he has very little protection against it but he’s a wonderful player regardless. Jordan Murray got sized down 3 times when he was going through the defence because of his power and his pace. So we do have a few injury concerns but again as I have said before, if we have players taking their place as Laldinpuia stepped in the other night and played in the skipper’s position when he was rested against Odisha FC. He was outstanding in that game as a centre-back and there’s no doubt that he’s an outstanding player. He came in at half-time to mark Liston Calcao who is a top Indian player and Laldinpuia did very well against him. He has shown us that he is ready and he’s up for the task, so we’ll look into the squad and pick the best team available because we’ll have to be at our very best against very good opponents, Kerala Blasters.
Message for the fans as we play our first semifinals since the club’s inception…
To our fans, hopefully you’ve enjoyed what you’ve seen this season so far and there’s more to come. But everyone here is delighted to deliver the league shield and we were able to show that we’re the best team in India at the highest level. Obviously, with that comes other opportunities like the AFC Champions League and more possibilities to come. What we want to do is get the fans the double on the trophy and we’ve to play ever so well again because we’re going against very good opponents. But we thank you for the unstinting and unwavering support you’ve given us and we get to know about your love through the social media team which shows us how much love and support you have to offer to us from Jamshedpur and the state of Jharkhand. I said in the outset of the season that we wanted to give the fans a team that represents the fans and hopefully you are seeing that with the amount of quality, excitement and hard work we bring to the table because we are such an exciting team who score goals and work so hard. So, hopefully you’re enjoying what you’re seeing and we’ll try our best to take it to the next level but again to do that we’ve to keep winning and we’ll do our very best. So, thank you for your support and it is very much appreciated and let’s keep this momentum going.
Jam ke Khelo!
