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With under two weeks left now for Igor Stimac's first assignment as the head coach of the Indian National Football Team, the Croatian said that he was concerned about the defence, and the lack of options, particularly at centre-back.
"Over the next few months, my job will be to find more competitors for the centre-back position, which we are short on right now," Stimac said.
The 37-man preliminary squad, which is being put through its paces by Stimac and his staff at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, will be trimmed down to 23, by the time the team leaves for Thailand on June 1.
"In the next few days I have to decide on 25-26 players from this squad who will be the most valuable for this competition (King's Cup) and after that, the squad will be cut to 23," the Croatian said.
Stimac was extensively quizzed on the level of research he had done into India, "I watched almost every ISL game, I have been informed about the young talents from the Indian Arrows."
"I recognised through my research about some players who didn't make it into Mr. Constantine's squad, for whatever reason. But, I'm here to give them the chance to prove themselves and show everyone how good they are," Stimac said.
Stimac also said that the camp so far has been focused on testing and evaluating the fitness of the players, given that they are in their off-season, and have been on holiday.
"I'm happy with the condition of most of the players, and now I will decide on the intensity of training over the next few days, which will be important to see who can cope up with the demands."
"The next few days we will be working on technical aspects and organization on the pitch."
I speak to all the players every day. Sunil Chhetri is a very valuable & experienced player but like all others, he needs to fight for his place in the team.
Stimac was non-committal to a style of play that he would adopt for the side, but AIFF Technical Director Isac Doru said it is going to be hugely important to have a style of play as a nation.
Isac stressed on the teams playing the same style from the junior level, and called it a "synchronised" style - where both attack and defence is given the same priority.
"I have to appreciate everything Mr. (Stephen) Constantine has done. To go from 173 (in the FIFA Rankings) to where we are now is not a joke," Stimac said.
Talking about the style of football that Constantine employed with the Indian National Team, Stimac said the defensive style adopted by Constantine, was more a case of adapting to the kind of players he had at his disposal, and not the stubbornness of the manager alone.
"I will try to have more options - attacking, defending - but no guarantees of results straightaway. We will try to do our best, we'll need a bit of luck along the way, but we need to put in so much hardwork to get the results that we want," he said.
Stimac also said that he talks to all his players, and stressed on the need for more role models, and not just Sunil Chhetri. "Sunil is a personality, but we need more, like (Sandesh) Jhingan, who can all add on to the experience and knowledge that Sunil has," Stimac said.
The coach stressed on the fresh slate that the Indian Football Team is, now that he has taken charge. "Sunil is a star, but even he needs to fight for his place, like everybody else," the head coach concluded.
