Jamshedpur FC interim head coach Scott Cooper suggested that he will not tinker with his playing philosophy a lot as his side face Punjab FC in the fourth matchweek of the Indian Super League (ISL) 2023-24 season at the JRD Tata Sports Complex on Sunday.

The Men of Steel won their last game before the international break with a 1-0 scoreline against Hyderabad FC and would want to continue their winning momentum against ISL newcomers Punjab FC. 

However, the Englishman suggested there won't be a change in approach. 

"We will look to continue our philosophy. It stays the same based on exciting football and hard work. There might be some tweaks based on player fitness. We do not do any experiment. We try to change tactics if we think we can win the game that way," said Cooper. 

Speaking at the pre-match press conference the Englishman spoke about controlling the intensity within his squad.

"We have to mix it up because sometimes a rest is valuable. At the same time, you have got to remember that we are in the middle of the season so we had to mix it up with levels of different attacking intensity in training so at times we have to push the players high and sometimes we have to stop them because they are so committed with the high intensity and aggression. We also don't want players to get injured during games so it is kind of a balance," he said. 

Cooper was boosted by the return of Ritwik Das who the head coach confirmed is fit to face Punjab FC in their next match. The Englishman though was full of respect for their opponents on Sunday.

"Punjab FC are a good team. They won the I-League last season. They have got a good coach," he said.

Japanese midfielder Rei Tachikawa scored a brilliant free-kick to win his side the match against Hyderabad FC and Cooper heaped praise on the matchwinner in their last game.

"Rei brings quality from free-kicks, has good technical ability, he is box to box and very enthusiastic. We don't want a team with the same type of players," he said.

Jamshedpur FC have been strong on set-pieces in their time in ISL but Cooper believes there is room for improvement. 

"Set pieces constitute 25 to 30 percent of all goals. We have not been very good in set pieces, defensively we have been good, but in the attacking set pieces we have to show more," he said.

"It all depends on the angle where the ball is. We are not happy with our attacking set piece situations however we are happy with our defensive set pieces. We can keep working on our attacking set pieces because I'd we can improve on that, we concede less and we score more points. It all goes hand in hand," he added.

Jamshedpur FC forward Alan Stevanovic accompanied Steve Cooper in the pre-match press conference and praised the coaching staff for helping him settle at the club.

"I have been here three months and I find all the people from the club and staff helpful. I am very thankful to them to have accepted me in such a nice way." Stevanovic said during the pre-match press conference.

He was happy with the support that his team got from the fans and hoped that the fans come to support the team in future games.

"The atmosphere in the first game was great. I hope the fans come for more home games so that the home matches can be easier for us," he concluded.

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Jamshedpur FCPunjab FC2023-2024