Owen Coyle praises Irfan Yadwad, talks about Bengaluru FC’s attack ahead ISL clash

Owen Coyle’s Chennaiyin FC will face Bengaluru FC at the Kanteerava Stadium on Tuesday.

With two back-to-back wins under their belt, Owen Coyle’s Chennaiyin FC have maintained their faint hopes of qualifying to the playoffs. Their next match will be against a Bengaluru FC side that can all but confirm their qualification if they win against their Southern rivals.

The two teams have played out quite a few memorable games in the Indian Super League including the 2017-18 final that was won by the Marina Machans. Chennaiyin FC’s manager Owen Coyle addressed the press ahead of the game and this is what the Scotsman said:

What did Owen Coyle say about Irfan Yadwad?

Irfan Yadwad has arguably been the best domestic player for Chennaiyin FC this season. The forward has scored 3 goals and provided 4 assists in the ISL so far. His workrate has also been noticed by the national team coach Manolo Marquez, who handed the youngster his Indian national team debut last year.

Talking about Irfan Yadwad’s season so far, Owen Coyle said, “This has been a fantastic season for Irfan. He’s had a real breakout season and he’s continued to get better. But Irfan is not at a level that I think he’s capable of being yet. There’s more to come from Irfan and there’s a lot of things.”

“We even spoke this morning in training about a lot of things and that’s on Irfan to continue that progress. He’s done remarkable and he knows my thoughts. I love him to bits and I think he’s got more scope to get even better. The thing about Irfan, which is really important, wherever he plays, he is what I call a proper team player and he pours his heart and his soul for the team.”

The Chennaiyin FC manager concluded by saying, “Irfan put himself in the national team and he earned that. Nobody gave him that. Manolo knew from speaking to me he was a good player and he watched him and thought, well, Owen’s right. He’s a very, very good player. It’s now up to Irfan to keep that going to do well for Chennaiyin FC and to do well for the national team wherever he’s asked to play.”

Owen Coyle talks about the game against Bengaluru FC

Bengaluru FC beat Chennaiyin FC 4-2 at the Marina Arena in December and they will be eager to complete a double against their Southern rivals. Owen Coyle praised BFC’s attackers and mentioned that his side would need to play at their best.

The Chennaiyin FC manager said, “We’re going to have to defend very well against a good Bengaluru FC side that went and won the other night at North East in an important game. So, we know the quality they have as they have very good players in the forward line. But we’ve been playing well lately and what we want to do is make sure that we can go and win a game.”

“If we’re winning this game, then it opens up a lot of possibilities. But it counts for nothing if you don’t win the game. So, we have to defend better. But we’ve shown that we can create goals and score goals. So, it’s both ends. We need to defend better against Ryan Williams who is in good form. Chhetri has been an outstanding player and also Mendes through the middle.”

Owen Coyle concluded by saying, “But we know when we’re at our best, we can win games. We’ve already shown away from home as we went to Odisha, NorthEast United, Jamshedpur FC, East Bengal and won. We’re capable of winning at big venues and that’s what we need to do. We need to perform to our very best and if we do, then we know at our best we can win these games. But I have got to stress, we need to be at our best again for sure.”

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