FC Pune City’s head coach David Platt may have faced a defeat in his last game, the away fixture at Chennai, but now that he is back home in Pune, will look to bounce back in the Stallions’ upcoming encounter against Kerala Blasters FC.In the pre-match press conference, the Englishman spoke about pre-game strategies and predicting the opponent’s starting XI. “Looking at the results in the League, I don’t think that there is sequence or form or anything like that. Every game is as difficult as the last. Knowing Peter, he will be telling his players to let those go and focus on the coming games.”“To be very honest, every game we play, we try and predict the opposition’s line-up. Frankly, it’s quite tough. I don’t think they (Kerala Blasters) will change the way they play especially since they played so positively. They were unfortunate to lose the last game. They’ve lost games that went against them unexpectedly and at the wrong times. I’m struggling to predict their side and hope Peter [Taylor] is struggling to predict mine.”Pritam Kotal, who plays on the defence line for FC Pune City, also answered a few questions posed by the media. “Now I am fit and I’m practising as well. I will play if the coach asks me to, and I look forward to it,” he said when asked about his fitness levels. “This is my second Hero ISL season and it is going very well for us. We are lucky to have such a good coach and such good players. This is not good only for me but for all Indian players. It’s a great learning experience for all of us.”FC Pune City hasn’t seen the services of two players in the last few games – Lenny Rodrigues and Israil Gurung. Platt gave an update on these players. “Lenny’s fine and back in training. He had pulled his groin but now he should be open for selection from Wednesday. As for Israil, all I can say is that in football, only 11 players can play at a time. It’s tough to leave out players but that’s a call that I have to make to do my job well and believe in what I think is the best for the club.”Platt also answered on trying to achieve the right combination of strikers for every game, “I have to look at the characteristics of the players, proximity of games and the opposition that we are playing to make these decisions. I knew that we were going to play 14 games in 60 days. Gladly, I am happy to have options. It’s a good headache. I’d rather have to decide who plays and who doesn’t rather than have no players to play with. Strikers win you games and we’ve got abundance of talent and varied characteristics which is important.”The coach was happy with the team’s performance so far, and was looking forward to more points. “There are a number of games left and teams have the chance to get into the top half and we have the games to remain there. I’m pleased with the way things have gone so far. We could have more points but that’s how every game is.”
