Jamshedpur FC travel to the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex to take on FC Pune City in their Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18 tie on Wednesday. The league debutants are high on confidence and come into this game on the back of two consecutive wins over Kerala Blasters and Delhi Dynamos FC.

Speaking to the media during the pre-match press conference on Tuesday (January 23), Jamshedpur’s head coach Steve Coppell acknowledged the opponent’s strength and said that his side will do their best to deal with them. “They’ve (FC Pune City) got some very strong players in Marcelinho, (Emiliano) Alfaro, Diego (Carlos), (Jonatan) Lucca. They're very good players. We have to do our best to deal with them,” the Englishman said.

“Pune obviously are a very good side. You look at the table after 11 games, it’s no accident where the teams are. It’s still open for a lot of teams to make the top four. We are on in the pack as far as that is concerned.”

Coppell’s teams are known to be defensively strong and it has been no different with Jamshedpur. Having conceded just nine goals in their 11 games so far, Jamshedpur has been one of the top defensive unit’s in the league so far. And the Englishman said he was proud to have introduced this style of play into the league. “We try to play attacking football as much as we can,” explained the 62-year-old.

“We try to hurt teams and if that means not having the lion share of the ball and we have to counter-attack quickly, so be it. It’s not a playing design that we encourage. I think a lot of the teams prefer a lot more possession. There are different styles, different nationalities of coaches, it adds to the ISL, not everyone plays the same. It’s great to see.”

Jamshedpur’s new signing Welligton Priori has taken little time to settle in and was the Hero of the Match in their encounter against Dynamos in the previous game week. He and Memo were influential in their win over Dynamos. And Coppell wasn’t hesitant in praising the pair. “Obviously he’s (Priori) a big strong boy,” he stated.

“He’s Brazilian, he links up well with Memo, and helped Trindade (Goncalves) score the winning goal against Delhi (Dynamos). It’s a nice little combination to have. The three Brazilians understand each other in the footballing sense as well. He brings a link in between those players.”

If Jamshedpur end up beating the Stallions on Wednesday, they would go level on points with them on the league table, but Coppell refused to look much into it. “It (a win) will be great,” he said.

“Maybe Pune’s style is better suited away from home. They have the best player in the ISL in the form of Marcelinho, and he was the best player last season as well. He has the goals, the creation, so you know he’s a factor other teams don’t have. You have to try and deal with him. The fact that we’re only three points behind them, I’m absolutely delighted.”