Jamshedpur FC

After producing the club’s first victory against NorthEast United FC, Jamshedpur Gaffer, Aidy Boothroyd, and goalkeeper, TP Rehenesh share their thoughts on their next opposition, playing the club’s 100th game of Hero ISL and much more ahead of #FCGJFC

Here are the excerpts from the pre-match press conference -

1. Are you content with the results of the team lately? 

Aidy: Yeah, very much so. I think our opening game in which we gave up our lead with 87 minutes gone is a big lesson for us that hurt us very much. But, we got a very good point against Mumbai City FC and a very professional performance in our last game against NorthEast United FC, which we are very pleased with. So, we've made a solid start but we are getting better by the day and that's the pleasing thing for me. 

1. What are you expecting from the FC Goa side considering it’s their first home game of the season?

Aidy:  I'm expecting a well-organized and robust FC Goa team. We were fortunate enough to play them in a pre-season friendly and we have a good relationship with their team, both on and off the pitch. So, I expect it to be difficult as they’ve got some good players and so do we. Our game in the pre-season ended in a draw, so hopefully, both teams will be thinking they can do better than their last meeting. So we're very much looking forward to it. It's nice to be back in Goa again and we look forward to the game.

1. How different is the team this season as compared to the last season? 

Rehenesh: It's a new challenge for us every year as we know football is never the same. For the last 2 years, we had the same Head Coach who had a particular philosophy and everything was almost the same for the 2 years under Owen Coyle. The players were also used to the system, but now, a Head Coach came in with his new system and we are adapting to it as you can see from the results. It's showing us that we are on the right track, so we are pretty confident that we are getting there as we are on the desired path. So hopefully, we keep up the good work going forward. 

1. Your plans for Peter, Eli, and Chukwu for the next game as they’re in good form at the moment?

Aidy: Yeah, all three of them are really performing really well at the moment. I think it's a really nice problem to have and I'd much rather have lots of good players than players that are not performing. So, you can never say never in football which means that you will see them together at some point. But, in my opinion, we've got a nice mix of young and older players. The more experienced ones in the squad help the young players to continue their hard work every day as well. Most of the time, we choose our 4 foreign players according to their fitness, so let’s see. 

1. On which formation suits you and the team’s style of play the most...

Aidy: Well, I think these days, with the modern formations, the only time you realize what formation the team is playing is just before the kickoff and since the game is more fluid these days, we adjust according to the opposition and the flow of the game. I think it's important for us to know to play in a number of different systems and formations. Style of play will always be something that we will aim to go after along with the relationship between style and efficiency. So we have to make sure we get those aspects right. Once we get that relationship sorted, then maybe we may play only 3 defenders at the back someday. But I would never rule any style or possibility out. The current system that we have has suited the players so far and that's the most important thing for me.

1. How special is it going to be for the players to be playing the club’s 100th game in the Hero ISL tomorrow?

 Rehenesh: Yeah, I think it's going to be a memorable game for the team and I know how it feels to complete 100 games as an I hit that milestone in the previous season. So I know how important it is and how special it feels to be completing that important milestone. So it's going to be a very important match for the club as well as the players as well to represent the club in its special game. So hopefully, we get a good result tomorrow and make the fans happy once again.

1. On how the energy of the passionate FC Goa fans will affect the team’s performance...

Aidy: They may have an amazing crowd tomorrow but so do we and the energy shown by our fans in our home games is just fantastic. So, we surely respect our opponents and their fans and we make sure we give a good performance against them in front of their home crowd. FC Goa is a good team and we surely know that. We would love to be at our best to get a good result and that's what we intend to do.