Team will get better and confident: Scott Cooper

Scott Cooper provided an important update on star winger Ritwik Das.

Scott Cooper's Jamshedpur FC will face Kerala Blasters in the Indian Super League 2023-24 on Sunday, October 1, 2023 at Kochi's Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. In their opening match, Kerala Blasters bagged three points after defeating Bengaluru FC with a scoreline of 2-1, while Jamshedpur FC only managed to earn a point after their goalless draw against East Bengal.

After getting grip of the new season, both the teams will anticipate to earn three points from this match. Also, Cooper has a lot to do in JFC as his side has not got a deserving spot after winning the league shield in the 2021–22 Indian Super League season.

Scott Cooper spoke at the pre-match press conference ahead of the clash against Kerala. Excerpts are below:

Cooper's perspective on their matchup with Kerala Blasters

The Jamshedpur FC mentor spoke to the media ahead of their upcoming away fixture against Kerala in Kochi. The coach said, "For me, I don't have that much depth because I don't have that much background knowledge of the club and the players in the past. It’s only from what I've seen, of course, on a season-long analysis of last year. You have to say that the fan support here was fantastic, very impressive. I mean, really impressive to see that like a sea of yellow out there it's great for home players and staff. And I think the fans pushed the team and they were on the front foot against Bengaluru."

He further added, "They came out and they pressed you know they looked full of running. They look confident and they and they got the win you know and that's what that's what they were supposed to do in the first game, go out there and take the three points. They did that. So, of course, when you play against any team that's got a fan support like this club has got, you know, you have to have the kind of work rate you have to put in. And that's what you have to come in with your eyes wide open so that you're ready for that type of circumstance. We have to walk into the game tomorrow night knowing exactly what we expect and knowing exactly what we want to do."

Thoughts on his team's performance against East Bengal FC

Scott Cooper shared about his takeaways and team's performance against the Red & Gold Brigade in the last match. The coach said, "I said after the game, you can't be disappointed when you take a point and you keep a clean-sheet. But I was not best pleased with some of the attacking decisions we made and some of the decisions to pass up shooting opportunities. I think defensively we look good, we look solid. We looked like a threat from set pieces."

Scott Cooper also said, "I'm getting used to the league. It's a great league. It's great support, great fan base, great players, great media. And so hopefully they can take the steps to bring in through transparency and fairness and parity with VAR because it does help."

He further added, "You're just going to see this team get better and better and better and more and more confident. We just have to work as a team to be more proactive than reactive. And I think when you do that, confidence comes and results follow."

Scott Cooper spoke about the latest injury concerns

The head coach spoke about the injury concerns ahead of their upcoming clash on Sunday and also talked about the availability of Ritwik Das. Cooper said, "Well, everybody knows about Ritwik Das. You know, he’s out. But we just had some good news about him, so he'll be returning soon. Not this game, but he'll be returning, which is good news for us because we were unsure whether it's going to be long term or not. Our medical staff who did some exploratory checks just to make sure that he's okay. He's an important player to us, and is a long-time player for us. So, we took our time with it and we've got the good news back."

The coach concluded by adding," There are no other injury concerns. Everybody knew about our Croatian striker that left with a long-term knee injury. But you can expect some news on the replacement of that coming soon. So, we haven't sat back and been, you know, non-active. We've gone out into the market and looked for someone else and we found somebody. Everybody else is fit and we're ready and we're looking forward to the game."