RoundGlass Punjab FC are all set to resume their I-League 2021-22 campaign against Churchill Brothers on Friday but they might be without two of their strikers CK Vineeth and Robin Singh.
In their opener, which they won 2-0 against 9-man Rajasthan United FC, both Vineeth and Robin were given marching orders but coach Ashley Westwood said the team was still awaiting confirmations on the suspensions, which was an awkward position for him to be in.
Westwood said their suspensions won’t alter his strategy much as it remains to take the game to the opposition and try to win the game. He said that amid Covid situation the team was anyway prepared to lose players randomly.
“Our strategy is to win as it will be for every game. We’ve only 18 games, we’ve played one so 17 left. We don’t have the luxury of deploying different strategies over a 30-40 game season, there’s not enough points to go around so it will be the same you’ll see from us, trying to stay on the front foot and take the game to the opposition to try and win it. Regardless of who’s available, we are in a Covid situation anyway where we are expected to lose players at random times, which is what is happening with Vineeth and Robin.
“Obviously we’ve not lost them to Covid but with suspension, we’ve still not got it confirmed, we don’t actually know, which is an awkward position for a head coach. We are still waiting for confirmation on how long they are going to be out if they are going to be out and that’s out of my hands. As a coach, we have to adapt, roll the dice for every hand that we get and we’ll see where we go,” Westwood said in the pre-match press conference.
I-League had its last match on December 27, after which they had gone on a two-month break due to a massive breach of bubble and a huge number of Covid cases within multiple teams and league personnel.
Westwood said the team was assembled back as soon as they got the information of the restart of the league and what he considered most important was that he has an injury-free squad.
“It’s been difficult with the postponement of the league, we assembled as soon as we found out the league would restart. It’s just like a mini pre-season, two weeks we have had and then back into room isolation for 7 days and then back out for 3-4 days training before the kickstart of the game. We have managed to get everybody to this period injury-free, which is very important. We’ve not got a massive squad but a tight-knit group, which is what we were after, and now we are just looking forward to the game,” he explained.
Westwood added that due to complexities around their first game against Rajasthan United, it couldn’t be an ideal judge of the capabilities of the team, which is why he was looking forward to the Churchill game.
“We understand and believe that Churchill are one of the contenders so it will be nice to play against a team that’s fighting for the Championship to gauge where we are because obviously, the first game against Rajasthan didn’t give a clear indication of how good we may or may not be. So tomorrow we are looking forward to it for that reason.”
Churchill, however, will be without their coach Antonio Jesús Rueda Fernández, who has not yet reached and they will be managed by assistant coach Mathias Costa.
Churchill Brothers “mutually parted ways” with their coach Petre Gigiu, the announcement of which was made on January 13. Thereafter, Rueda’s appointment was announced on February 12.
Westwood believed not having the coach at the sidelines would certainly make a difference but he also believed that Costa knew the team and the club and will be able to manage the duties well.
“I’m sure it makes a difference, having your head coach there. They’ve obviously changed their coach, I don’t know for what reason but obviously that’s their business, not ours. I was aware only a couple of days ago that he’s not quite here yet, I’m sure he’s giving instructions but I’m sure the Churchill owners are happy with their Indian coaches.
“They’ve been in charge before, they know the club and from our perspective, it’s doesn’t make much difference, and even from maybe Churchill’s perspective, they won’t know the new coach yet. They’ve got a good coach in charge at the minute, he was there in their last game, he knows them inside out and we are expecting them to be a tough opposition. I’m sure they will be well-managed,” he said.
Goalkeeper Lalthuammawia Ralte said that the Covid situation was tough but it was also refreshing to go back to their respective families, which helped the players deal with it mentally. He said the players were now ready for the restart.
“It was a hard situation, AIFF had to postpone the league. We went back to our families, had a great time with them and individually trained ourselves, and kept pushing. We told the young boys also to train hard and work hard as they do by themselves. This helped us mentally also and we are ready for the league to start.
“We are training and communicating well with the young boys also. We’ll see all of that tomorrow,” he said.
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