Owen Coyle seeks win, Khalid Jamil happy with players' recovery

A win would help the Men of Steel climb to the first or second place on the ISL 2021-22 points table.

Jamshedpur FC, under Owen Coyle will be desperate to get back to winning ways after a few indifferent outings when they take on unpredictable NorthEast United in the Indian Super League at the Athletic Stadium in Bambolim on Thursday.

Sitting sixth in the points table, Jamshedpur can move back to the top four with a win tomorrow. For NorthEast United, who are 10th in the table with eight points to show for, it is an opportunity to climb up the ladder.

Coming to NorthEast United, they held table-toppers Mumbai City FC to a high-scoring draw in their last match and can draw confidence from the fact that the team have been among goals. Deshorn Brown put his fitness concerns to rest to score a stunning hat-trick in the last game and coach Khalid Jamil will hope the Jamaican striker continues delivering the goods.

Ahead of the match, both teams' head coaches - Coyle and Khalid Jamil - spoke to the media.

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Jamshedpur FC coach Owen Coyle

Thoughts on NEUFC

Owen Coyle: Yes, I think NorthEast United are always a very tough opponent, as they showed that last time out against Mumbai City. Deshorn, someone whom I have known from my time in the American leagues, is a great lad. He had a tremendous form in the game and prior to that as well, they were unlucky as it ended 3-2 against ATK Mohun Bagan. NorthEast have come out of tough games and shown they can stand toe-to-toe with a good team.

So, I am under no illusions of how tough the game would be. They'll get our utmost respect. Khalid is someone I like and has done very well with the team who has worked hard.

The entertainment in ISL 2021-22

Owen Coyle: Yes, certainly it is very entertaining. I have worked in the league now for three seasons and each year it keeps getting far more competitive than the last. This is the hallmark of a good league, in which every team that's part of the league think that they can win on any given day.

I think that's testimony to all the hard work that everybody has put in over the years, from the outset of ISL that the growth and quality that the league has seen. I've got to say, some of the individual goals scored this year and the quality showed, they would grace any other league.

When you think of obviously Greg's (Stewart) free-kick, (Adrian) Luna's long-range finish, (Alvaro) Vazquez’s finish. Some unbelievable goals have been scored. Like (Ahmed) Jahouh’s finish and even Jerry’s (Mawihmingthanga) goal in their fixture. So, the individual skills, I think the league is certainly getting better all the time and the competitive nature. Everybody feels that they have a chance of being in those top four spots and this is nearly halfway through the league.

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That tells you that how tough the league can be. For our part, we have to focus on what we can do and we know when we are at our best that we can win games.

We have been very unfortunate in the last couple of games, which we probably should have won with the chances we had. So, we have to get back onto that, getting those points.

The importance of winning against NEUFC

Owen Coyle: I think that's what we’ll have to do. I've always said, it's not important where you are placed after 8-10 games but where you are after 20 games. But, in the build-up to those 20 games, obviously the more points you take the better chance we have. If we're honest, we've had a couple of opportunities that we have let slip by when we should have had maximum points for games we should have won. That's the margins in this league. We have to come to the right side, so we know we're capable of winning games. That's why we need to get back to being clinical in front of the goal.

NorthEast United coach Khalid Jamil

Game-plan against JFC

Khalid Jamil: We got enough time for recovery after the Mumbai game. Yes, we’re playing good team with good players. We’ve to go for three points and nothing else. Everybody is ready and we’ve all the players available, except for two foreigners. They’re a good team and we’re prepared not to take this match lightly. We’ve go fight and think positively.

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Importance of break ahead of Thursday's clash

Khalid Jamil: We’re ready to play. This time was really good mentally and physically for recovery as we played continuous matches.

Replacement of Federico Gallego

Khalid Jamil: We’ve already shortlisted a few players and maybe in a few days we’ll announce.

Need to motivate players as second half of season begins

Khalid Jamil: As of now, we’re thinking about the next game. We should not think about past and future, but think about the present. Tomorrow we’re playing with them (Jamshedpur FC) and after that we’ve to fight for everything and everything will be fine very soon. Players are working hard and I don’t have to say anything. I don’t have any complains and even the players know that the result is not favouring us, but we’ve to work hard more.

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