Everybody played a crucial part in this achievement, says Chennaiyin boss Owen Coyle

Owen Coyle also mentioned the two or three games were the turning point for them.

Chennaiyin FC lock horns against FC Goa in their final game of the 2023-24 Indian Super League (ISL) before the most awaited playoffs. The Marina Machans have been on a fantastic run, securing four wins out of the last five watches. Owen Coyle’s side has become the comeback kings and look sharp, particularly in the second half.

Owen Coyle, the head coach of Chennaiyin FC, never lost belief in his squad during the season when they were languishing in the lower part of the ISL league table. Before this crucial encounter, Owen Coyle attended the pre-match press conference and clarified all the questions.

Here are the excerpts:

Making it into the playoffs

Owen Coyle suggested that Chenniyin FC’s teamwork was essential in qualifying for the playoffs. He said, ”What all have done, obviously everybody’s played their part in it, and then this is where we want to get this club back, fighting for prizes. At the beginning of the season, I told you that it would be a big job because you only have to look at the last six seasons. There have been some outstanding players here, and some terrific coaches, and the only time the club has achieved the playoffs is obviously in both seasons.

“In the first season, we came in at the bottom of the league and then obviously came in this season. All credit to the players because, Owen Coyle said before, when you think of Anirudh Thapa and Deepak Tangri, all are playing at Indian Internationals, all playing at the big spending clubs, this club couldn’t reach the playoffs without those boys here which tells you the caliber those players had.

“It’s not easy to do when people have bigger budgets and different things, and of course, it’s always difficult to achieve that, but we knew what we are doing well. We have already proven it. We are trying to keep moving. I always equate it, as I keep on saying, forgive me for being repetitive, I always equate it to a ladder. We have to start from the basics; when I came in at the start of the season, we were started at the bottom rung of the ladder. 

“This club was nowhere near the playoffs, certainly since I left in season six, and we had to get back to that. Now, along the way we took a few punches in the nose, which was fine, I told you that would happen, because we have to build a mentality to go along with all the other stuff that came. It probably should have been five, but we know we let ourselves down badly that night. But how we bounce back from it, we’ll show you we’re in good form, and we’re looking forward now to going tomorrow, knowing that we don’t have to achieve anything from the game.

“Obviously, with Kerala winning last night, it might have been different, because if they didn’t, we’d have a chance of being in the fifth spot. So that’s not a viable option now. So I can certainly look at a number of things. Some boys need some minutes, and some boys need to get ready for the game to come, whether it’s against FC Goa or Mohun Bagan, because it’s only going to be one of the two. So we’ll take the game tomorrow. We’re looking forward to it, again.

“There’ll be loads of changes, but we’ll go in there and try to win the game, and then get ourselves ready for whoever we play on April 19th and 20th. But in terms of the football club, and the fans particularly, then of course it’s a terrific boost, but it’s only the first step on the journey as far as I’m concerned. I’m delighted for everyone, but I don’t get super high because I’ve made the playoffs. I’m a champion. I’m used to winning things. That’s what I like to do. I’ve done it all over the world. I’ve done it here in India. We’ll do it again, but we just need to incrementally keep improving to try and do that.”

Turning points

Speaking on the turning points for the Marina Machans, Owen Coyle explained, “I think there were two or three different times I felt that’s all coming together. I felt it after the Odisha game and then obviously things went badly wrong in the Hyderabad game. I felt it earlier in the season. We had to put that good run together. The other thing, which I may have mentioned, forgive me if I have, but in terms of the fixtures and how they were set, they were very unkind to us this year in terms of even coming back.

The amount of away games that we had to play, even getting into the break, because we had that good run of form when we came back from three losses and then we’d won, and we’d put a few home games in and then all of a sudden we were playing away because we had more away games I think coming back into the second half, regardless, but what we also found is when we had to play, at one point I was three games behind Jamshedpur FC, so they’re not allowed to play and get points and you’re sitting waiting, everybody climbs above you because you’ve got games at hand.”

“The other thing which I actually enjoyed just because I thought about it at the time, there were a few of the games because we watch every game when it’s live on TV at night and as you do when they’re all on the TV and there are commentators and they’re discussing who’s going to win the Shield, who’s going to get in the playoffs and we were sitting at 11th and they went through every team except for Chennaiyin FC and I’m sitting there listening and I’m saying okay, that’s good, it’s going to be even better because to your point, I still believed at that point we’d still make the playoffs as long as we had to be as good as we’re capable of being and that’s the thing back to your earlier point, we’re not a team that can drop off at a couple of if we talk about that ladder, drop a couple of runs because if we are we’ll get beat but if we’re our very best we’ve shown we can stand toe to toe but you’ve got to do that consistently and that’s what good teams do they bring it every week and we’ve been doing that as of late.”

“We must continue that so there have been a couple of times I’ve felt that but certainly after the International break the training even before the Mohun Bagan game I alluded to it there I was feeling good I liked the training was going I liked what I was seeing together and the other thing I did there’s so many little things you do that adds up to the big thing.

“I wanted to focus on the group I had so that my training sessions were better so there was more focus it was more and that’s what happened our training was casual our training became progressively better the quality was better because I had too many at one time I just needed to focus on the group I was going to work with make them better which we’re doing and that’s what I have to continue to do we’ve got a long way to go but it’s a good starting point to reach the playoffs in that first season when everybody wrote you off, particularly at different points that’s always good when you and the players have done it they’re the ones who have crossed the white line but it’s always good when you answer up and you show people to not count us out, we’re still very much in the mix.”

Bikash Yumnam on his personal development

The centre-back talked about the coach playing a crucial part in his development as a player. He mentioned, “As compared to the last two years I’m trying to improve a lot, not specific things but I’m trying to improve my footballing style, as the coach gave me a lot of confidence and encouraged me to improve my game, so I thought I have to improve a lot as a young player and I’m trying to implement it.”

For more updates, follow Khel Now on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram.