Cesar Ferrando looking for win, David James wary of Jamshedpur's prowess

The visitors have never defeated the Men of Steel in their history.

Jamshedpur FC host Kerala on Monday, 29th of October as Kerala search for their first win against the Men of Steel. Both the teams will be looking to catch up after two successive draws in their last two fixtures. It will also be a special occasion for Blasters' defender, Anas Edathodika as he returns to Jamshedpur to face his former club, Jamshedpur FC.

The coaches of both the teams met the media before their clash for the pre-match press conference.

Coach’s Corner

Cesar Ferrando (Jamshedpur FC)

The Jamshedpur FC gaffer was asked to give his views on the last three successive draws which his team had to play. ” In football sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. And yes, I feel that we should have won the last two matches but it’s football where sometimes even if you play well then also you are not able to get all the three points."

Talking about Monday's game against Kerala Blasters,  Cesar quipped,” We face a good strong team tomorrow and in fact all the teams in the Indian Super League are good no team can be considered as weak or strong."

"But we are looking forward to a win tomorrow and nothing less than that. We prepare ourselves before every match so as to go into it and win it," he added.

The Jamshedpur FC tactician has made a few changes in the starting line-up in the first four games of the season. When questioned whether he is still unsure about his best starting XI Cesar said, “I chose players in the starting XI based on their current form and the way they do in the training."

"So if someone really stands out during the training regimes before a matchday I would prefer him than to a one who was in starting XI last time and didn’t perform so well on the training grounds”, the Spaniard replied.

When questioned whether the three successive draws would affect their season in any way, “In Europe, there are leagues where a team has to play 30-36 games in a season while here there are only 18 games, so every match is like a finale."

"If you have a disappointing run it can affect your season up to a great extent as unlike Europe here you don’t have much time to bounce back," he opined.

The interaction of the media with Cesar wrapped up with one final question whether why is Tim Cahill not being played so often, "Tim is not at full 100% fitness at the moment and the back to back fixtures in a short period of time adds to it even more," he said.

"He is somewhere around 70-75% fitness at the moment you can say so, as the season progresses he will be able to settle into the league more comfortably and will be able to play for much longer durations," Cesar concluded.

David James (Kerala Blasters)

David James was first asked to give his views on the opposition which he is facing tomorrow. ”Jamshedpur FC is one of the newest additions to the league but even in this period of one year they have been able to assemble and form a nice, strong team and I am looking forward to tomorrow’s matchup," he said.

"We are up for a tough fight tomorrow and it will be an interesting one surely”, James expressed.

On being asked upon Kerala’s successive draws in the last two games, James said,” We had a very good start in the first week of the season but we failed to keep up the momentum due to which we dropped some points in the last two games."

"Its all about maintaining the composure once you have found the correct track and we would do that now," the Englishman answered.

In the ISL fixtures come thick and through so David was asked whether that is something which affects the team in any way, “The back to back don’t seem a hurdle to me in any way and if you have a good fully fit team its something which from a coach’s point of view I am least concerned about”.

Kerala has only conceded two goals up till now showing their solid defence at the back but on the other end, their attack is not up to the mark where they should be. When asked about it, James said, “The defence has been resilient at the back no doubts on that but I would not say the forwards are not up to the mark as they are creating a lot of chances."

"But unfortunately we are not able to make those count, its all a matter of time before they all start firing with full power together," he concluded.

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Team News

Jamshedpur FC– The Men of Steel will miss the services of Mobashir Rahman against Kerala Blasters. Rahman is out with an injury but the rest of the squad is fit and are raring to go into the game.

Kerala Blasters FC- Loken Meitei is out with an injury, however, the rest of the squad is fully fit and fine.

Probable Line-Ups

Jamshedpur FC– Subrata (GK), Y. Raju, Tiri, Pratik, Dhanachandra, Memo, Mario, Soosairaj, Cidoncha, Jerry, Morgado

Kerala Blasters– Dheeraj (GK), Jhingan, Anas, Cyril, Lalruatthara, Krcmarevic, Prasanth, Courage, Slavisa, Narzary, Poplatnik

Did You Know?

• Kerala Blasters are yet to register a win against Jamshedpur FC. 

• Jerry Mawihmingthanga set up the record for becoming the fastest goal scored in ISL when the last time these sides met.

• Farukh Choudhary scored the maiden goal of his career in ISL in the last match where Jamshedpur FC drew 1-1 with NorthEast United.

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Broadcast

The match will take place on Monday evening on 7:30 PM at the JRD TATA Sports Complex in Jamshedpur. On television, the match will be live on Star Sports. Meanwhile, it will also be streamed on Hotstar and Jio TV.