Hero Indian Super League (ISL) debutants, Jamshedpur FC will be coached by Steve Coppell, who guided Kerala Blasters FC to the final last season, in what was the Englishman’s first campaign in the league. A record-holder for the most consecutive appearances made by a Manchester United player, Coppell comes with an abundance of experience on the pitch as well as the dugout. He will definitely be eager to go all the way with Jamshedpur this year having stumbled at the final hurdle with Kerala. The 62-year-old spoke to indiansuperleague.com in an exclusive interview recently and shared his thoughts on the upcoming season. Here are the excerpts.

Coach what are your expectations from this season?

I don’t know, it’s difficult to say. At this stage of the season, you’re full of anticipation and you are anxious. You don’t have any expectations because until you play a few games, you don’t know where you stand, where you have to improve and what you have to do for the team to get better. So, at this stage, it’s fairly neutral in terms of planning and preparation. It’s just 100% concentration on the team, trying to give them the right environment where they can perform to the best of their abilities.

We’ve seen you’ve gone with tried and tested players, individuals you know from your time with Kerala. Your thoughts on the same?

Familiarity, I think makes you feel more comfortable. Ishfaq [Ahmed] I’ve worked with in Kerala, a couple of players were available in the draft who I had worked with earlier. The Indian draft was a fascinating experience. You obviously have your targets, and you have to think on your feet, as some other teams had acquired those targets. It was a challenge in itself but I think I have a balanced side. There was more of a demand on the Indian players as you need to have six Indian players in your starting 11, which I think is a good thing for the development of Indian football. To have more responsibility on Indian players is the way forward. Again, at the moment, we don’t have any injuries and I’m hoping everyone will be fit to start the campaign.

Talking about the draft, how big a buy was Anas Edathodika?

Well, we obviously benefited from being a new club by getting a couple of early picks. I think the combination of Anas and Subrata [Paul] was very good for us. We wanted a good goalkeeper and a good strong defender and in them, we have both.

We saw you using a direct approach last season. Can we expect a different approach this year with the players at your disposal? Width with the likes of Sameehg Doutie, for example.

Yes, I had that [width] at the back end of last season with CK Vineeth from Kerala. It’s all about being pragmatic with the players you have and trying to create a style which makes life comfortable for them. We don’t have any pre-determined style. We will just adjust according to the opposition, the circumstances and how things are going in the league.