ISL 2022-23: Chennaiyin FC ready for Jamshedpur challenge

Chennai, Nov 18 (IANS) Chennaiyin FC will be keen to get back to winning ways when they host Jamshedpur FC in their sixth 2022-23 Hero Indian Super League fixture at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Saturday.

Playing their fourth home game of the season, Chennaiyin will look to pick themselves up from last week's defeat to Mumbai City and look to get their first home win of the season.

Addressing the media ahead of the Jamshedpur game, head coach Thomas Brdaric advised his players to learn from their mistakes and bounce back stronger.

"Last match (against Mumbai City) was pretty tough to analyse because the first 30 minutes went as we wanted to implement most of the time. But after that, we conceded a quick first goal and lacked organisation in the back. We've analysed it and we know where the issues are," Brdaric said.

"It was just one game; it's not the end of the year (season). Every team has this kind of situation and we should learn from it."

Defender Ajith Kumar, who was also present at the press conference, echoed the coach's view.

"Yes, there were some mistakes (against Mumbai City). We missed the ball on some occasions where we could've had the possession. We have discussed how we can tackle the opponent and ensure that we're not giving any advantage to them. We have to back up the team strongly and make strategic moves," said Kumar, who has contributed with eight interceptions and six successful tackles from five games this season.

Chennaiyin's opponents, Jamshedpur FC, who find themselves placed ninth on the points table, too come into this fixture on the back of a loss and coach Brdaric said his team has worked on different kinds of strategies against Aidy Boothroyd's men and hopes they can execute it well.

"Jamshedpur are a different team now and are struggling a bit. They prefer to play long balls to the wings or to the offensive players and we have to work well in pressing. We have tried different kinds of options in this week's training and I hope most of them succeed," the 47-year-old German coach concluded.

Chennaiyin have won four games from their previous 10 meetings with Jamshedpur in the league. The two-time champions had defeated Jamshedpur 4-1 when they last played against each other at the Marina Arena in 2020.