I-League 2017: Churchill Brothers' Alfred Fernandes- ''Our strikers are misfiring''

Goan outfit Churchill Brothers take on Chennai City FC in the next round of I-League on Tuesday, 14th February. The Red Machines,  after notching an uplifting victory against Bengaluru FC in Goa on 27th January, have gone off the boil. The victory was supposed to kickstart their campaign but things took an ugly turn. Alfred Fernandes and company failed to register any win in their next three ties.

Speaking about the results of late, the Churchill boss stated that poor decisions by officials in their away fixtures threw a spanner in the works. He believed that the draw against Chandigarh-based franchise Minerva Punjab was unfortunate and a couple of decisions went against them at Aizawl.

"After the Bengaluru game, it should have been an upward curve for us. But the away games started and we were unlucky against Minerva (Punjab FC) - there was a penalty and a red card which we did not get. Sometimes, it did not go our way. In the previous game against Aizawl (FC), a soft penalty was given against us,'' he revealed.

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However, the 50-year-old struck a positive note ahead of Tuesday's game and revealed that he may look to freshen things up in attack.

''Hopefully, we will be able to get back on track. It is all about scoring. This is the only aspect we are lacking. I might try a different combination upfront for tomorrow’s game,''  he disclosed.

Furthermore, the manager shared his views on the team's performances sofar. He opined that despite putting up consistent displays of football on most occasions, the team has been unfortunate with results. 

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''Based on our performances, we don’t deserve to be here. We have been playing really good football but the results are not going our way which is puzzling. But somehow, our strikers are misfiring. Hopefully, tomorrow, we can rectify that,'' he signed off.

Newly appointed Chennai City gaffer V Soundararajan has claimed that The Southerners won't take the visitors lightly and expects a tough fight from them. ''Before the last game, we were at the bottom. So we know that they (Churchill Brothers) will be fired up like we were in the last game. We can’t take this game lightly. I’m expecting them to go all out tomorrow,'' he commented.

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The 52-year-old boss has declared that he is likely to start with the same team that won against Mumbai FC. Also, despite Michael Regin's below-par performance, the manager will not drop the attacking midfielder. 

''We will try to win this game. I’m not going to disturb the winning combination. I thought Regin was not up to the mark in the last game but I’m not going to drop him,'' he expressed.

Finally, Soundararajan discussed his tactics for the face-off and he talked about the way he intends to set his team up defensively. ''I think we will allow them to attack us from the wings and have set up the team to deal with them. We want to have a numerical advantage in the box to deal with crosses,'' he signed off.