Last year’s semi-finalists Chennaiyin FC have had a bit of a rough time so far in the second season of the Hero Indian Super League (ISL), losing three out of their five matches, but assistant coach Vivek Nagul believes his refreshed players, after a decent rest, are ready to turn their fortunes around when they play FC Pune City at the Marina Arena on Saturday.In their 2-0 defeat by NorthEast United FC in the last match, Chennai didn’t start their star players Elano and Stiven Mendoza who have scored seven out of eight goals for the team this season. Nagul said the idea behind the decision was to give them a rest and he also hinted at their return to the starting line-up against Pune.“We just wanted to rotate our players because this is a very compact league and we need to give a rest to the players. Yes, we didn’t get the result we expected. This time we will be playing with the team to get the three points,” Nagul told reporters on Friday.“At the movement all the players are available for the game. Now we have to decide whom to start with.”Talking about the importance of the match, Nagul said: “Six points in five games is not ideal. We had a long trip and we are aware of the importance of this game. Our players got a good rest and are ready for the game. We know what to do for the next game.”Against NorthEast, Chennai conceded two penalties and when asked if that was a concern for the Super Machans, Nagul responded in the negative. “Even in friendly games you concede penalties. We are really generous about that. Yes, it happens in football, whenever a player trying to attempt something through our bodies, and our defenders and midfielder really work hard. It is just unlucky,” he said.Nagul also insisted that the team wasn’t overly dependent on Elano and Mendoza. “Not at all, when we signed these players, we knew that these two players will really make an impact and that’s what they doing. We got some good goals and we also got good goal attempts by other players. Jayesh Rane is doing well, [Lalpekhlua] Jeje is playing good. We got shots from [Manuele] Blasi, Bruno [Pelissari]. Everybody is trying and yes we got goals from these two. We are happy and we want them to score more,” he said.Nagul was hopeful that striker Fikru Teferra would return to form sooner. “Yes, as a coach we think that he should start scoring goals. He came close to scoring a goal against NorthEast. He could have scored that goal and he could have got his confidence back. He knows himself that he needs to get goals. He has that quality, he is a class player. He will show his ability very soon.”Asked whether Fikru’s poor run was affecting the team, Nagul said: “No, challenge is going on in the team. They want to challenge each other and score goals. Whoever scores, we appreciate. It is like a team with very good bonding. Whoever plays, we give him very good support. Other strikers also want others to score. Once he starts scoring, I am sure he will score.”Nagul said his players were focussed on the game against FC Pune City. “Yes, we are aware about the losses, of five we lost three. When we were away we won two games and third was very close. We know the importance of this and now all the home games we have to get points and we will try to get some more points from away games.”
