Jermaine Pennant (C) moves past FC Goa's Zohib Amiri.Jeramaine Pennant made his second start for FC Pune City in the Hero Indian Super League but couldn’t prevent his side from sliding to a 2-0 defeat to FC Goa at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Goa on Saturday night. The 31-year-old winger was plucked straight out of English football and drafted as one of Pune’s latest acquisitions.Pennant arrived in India just over a fortnight ago but seems to have settled into the Pune setup quite easily as he confessed to indiansuperleague.com in a post-match interview. The former Liverpool man also spoke about the contrast in weather conditions here and in England and his role in guiding Indian youngsters in this exclusive interview. It was a tough loss, how do you feel?Devastated, very gutted. We had a chance to win this game today but we conceded a goal in the first five minutes and that really ruined the game for us.How difficult is it for you to adapt, coming to India late and joining the team late?I’ve adapted quite easy, it’s not the case of me finding it difficult, it’s the players around that might find it difficult. I’ve adapted fine and I’m happy with my game and we just need to operate all around the pitch.The conditions in India are different as compared to England, does that affect your game?Not at all, I feel fine, I feel fit. Yes, I might be tired in the last 20 minutes but there are 21 players who are as tired, it doesn’t affect me as it would anyone else.What about the close scheduling of games, does it cause injuries?Yeah, there are a lot of games so most of the players are tired, some are fatigued and some of them get injured, so it’s football.As a senior player, how do you think you can contribute to helping the young Indians in the team?I’ll try my best on the pitch to give them advice, it’s going to be difficult for them but I’ll keep encouraging them, telling them when to pass and where to pass and it’s their choice if they listen or not.
