The opening battle of the first weekend of Hero Indian Super League 2017-18 will witness debutants Jamshedpur FC lock horns with Northeast United FC at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati on Saturday. In goal for Jamshedpur will be the seasoned – Arjuna Award winning – goalkeeper, Subrata Paul who will face his former Hero ISL club for the first time. In a conversation with indiansuperleague.com ahead of the match, Paul shared how he is approaching the new season with a fresh team and the impact the Hero ISL has made on the sport. Here are some excerpts.

Your first game this season is against your former club (NEUFC). How are you going to approach this game?

NorthEast (NEUFC) has a special place in my heart, especially the people of NorthEast because they love football like crazy. The club members, officials and staff are all so good. This year, I am playing for Jamshedpur. New season, new team but NorthEast does have a special place in my heart, however, this is professional football. I have to give my best. I will give my 100% and will fight for the whole 90 minutes, for those three points. I’ll try to win. After the match, we are all friends. So, we are planning to do our best.

What are your team objectives this season?

Personally, I haven’t set any goals. What I do today, becomes the past tomorrow. So, I will take it one game at a time. I only want to give my best. [About] team objectives, I think the coach will be the right man to reply. But for me, tomorrow is the first game and I want to give my best. I don’t want to think too much.

Your thoughts on the new head coach, Steve Coppell and his tactics?

I feel proud to play under him. I’ve met many coaches but he’s one of the best I’ve played [under]. He’s an amazing person. Tactics I wouldn’t want to discuss but he’s a top-class coach. I’m proud to work with him and I will learn something every day. And with a long season [ahead], I will get to learn more this time. He’s one of the best in the business.

Having played with NEUFC last season, who do you think will be the biggest threat for your team?

Football is a team game. We play for Jamshedpur and they play for NEUFC. We play this game as 11 on 11. Football is a team game, it’s not about a single person. It’s a great team and there’s no doubt about that. But if I have to think, I’ll think about my team, how we are doing and how we should improve. Organize ourselves and follow what the head coach says.

One thing in Hero ISL that has impressed you the most in the past three seasons?

I’m very happy this season, especially because this year, the Indian player count has increased by one. (In the) last three years, the count was five Indians and six foreigners and this year it is six Indians and five foreigners, so I’m very impressed. The standard of the league, the standard of football, the standard of everything (has increased). For example, we are living in a good hotel, we have our pre-season abroad, we’re getting top class facilities, good physios, good players, sharing the dressing room with top class players, good coaches like Steve Coppell and so many names. Big coaches are coming to the Hero ISL and we get to learn so much. [We] got to learn from players such as (Alessandro) Del Piero. During my time at Mumbai City FC, I got to play and learn from (Nicolas) Anelka and (Freddie) Ljungberg, who are top players on a different level. We shared the dressing room with them, learned from them and it helped Indian football…Our national team is doing terrific. Thirteen games unbeaten and already qualified for the AFC Asian Cup by topping the group. Because of the Hero ISL and through the ISL, our Indian boys are doing well and will be effective for the Indian national team and also help better the team’s performance in the AFC Asian Cup 2019. So, I praise all the Indian boys and everyone else as well. Play well, stay injury free and only one team will be champion while the other nine may be disappointed but that’s life, that’s football!