New FC Pune City head coach Phil Brown will take charge of his first home fixture in the Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) when ATK visit the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex Stadium in Pune on Sunday. Sitting in sixth position currently with 14 points on the board, the Stallions still have an outside chance of breaking into the top-four and could make the scramble for the play-off spots very interesting by winning all their remaining matches. Brown’s first match in India saw Pune come away from Chennai with all three points.

During his pre-match press conference, the Englishman shared his thoughts on leading the Stallions in front of the Pune crowd for the first time. "I am excited more than anything else. I’ve driven past the stadium five or six times, but I’ve never really been in the stadium. This is my first time here. It’s a beautiful stadium, a lovely surface. Hopefully with a crowd and the lights and the atmosphere, we can put on a performance for the fans," he said.

The 59-year-old also revealed his plans for tackling ATK and said, "I’ve been talking to a lot of people and I do my homework on the opposition. It’s not just about preparing your team. I think you have to respect the opposition. Against Chennaiyin, we respected the fact that John Gregory had won the title last season. ATK head coach Steve Coppell knows India better than I do. And therefore, he has probably prepared his team to frustrate us. Our special plan would be to try and get the ball to the players who are key for us. The players that can win the game."

Brown then went on to reveal the challenges a manager faces while taking over a new team. "It’s a big challenge. This is my fifth club as a manager. Going into a new environment, a new club, new people, you have to do your homework. You have to think about how you can motivate players, how can you get the players playing a certain way. Its been a success story for me in terms of the fact that I had a month with the players. That’s an ideal situation for me. The noise level in the training ground at the moment is really high. Everybody is buzzing. I’m confident in my ability to achieve something here. With the players' help, hopefully we can do that," he stated.

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