The ride has been a bumpy one of late for Chennaiyin FC. The 2015 Indian Super League champions have lost two games on the bounce, by big margins at that, and are on an unprecedented run of form that sees them winless in five games. As they prepare for a home clash against FC Pune City at the Marina Arena on Tuesday, Chennaiyin coach Marco Materazzi has a lot on his plate to mull over.
“We will keep fighting. We need 30,000 fans at the stadium. It’s easy to cheer when the team is winning. We need fans to cheer us in our bad moments,” said Materazzi, expressing a desire for the fans to show up in large numbers for the upcoming home games.
Tomorrow's game will be Chennaiyin's third game in seven days, a gruelling schedule. Materazzi though feels that physically the team will be fine and that it's the other aspects that the team needs to focus on.
"We've made many substitutions, so we are not worried about the games. We have to be smarter, more focused and not concede free kicks."
Chennaiyin are back home after two deflating losses on their travels, away at Delhi Dynamos and Kerala Blasters. Despite the defeats however, Materazzi pointed out moments that could have changed things.
"What I can say is that I wanted Dudu to score the second goal against Mumbai and against Kerala. If that happened we wouldn't be sitting here and discussing these things and our position would be different."
Refusing to single out any individuals for their performances, he said that whatever problems they've faced they've been as a team and he reiterated that a couple of results in particular where they failed to seal the deal is what has affected them.
"In Kolkata (opening game at Atletico de Kolkata), it was some lack of experience. In Pune (where they led 1-0), we conceded that free kick which changed the whole game in which we were dominated. Against Mumbai, I regret that we conceded a goal from 25 metres (they led 1-0 with five minutes to go). I think that we've shown that we can battle with every team in ISL", concluded Materazzi.
With only five games to go and Chennaiyin being second from bottom, tomorrow's game is almost a must-win for Materazzi's side with another home game to follow against Atletico de Kolkata on Saturday.
