FC Goa coach Zico reckons FC Pune City will be a tough nut to crack in their Hero Indian Super League Season 2 encounter at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex Stadium in Pune on Sunday. Just one point separates both the teams and Zico, speaking to the media on Saturday, said keeping Pune at bay in front of their home supporters won’t be easy. “They have a lot of strengths at home. They play very well at home. They lost at home to Delhi but we know that we are going to face a very strong team and we will try our best to win.”Table-toppers Goa got the better of Chennaiyin FC 2-0 in their last game and Zico said they will try to keep up the good work against the Stallions on Sunday. “Our target now is to win the game and keep the top position and our next target is to win games and remain in the top 4. We are going to try and keep the same spirit as our last game. We know that we have a very tough game against Pune but we will try to do our best and get a positive result.”Zico fielded five defenders against Chennai and when asked if he had changed his approach this season, he said: “No, I always maintain the same philosophy of an attacking game. But every game is new and we had a lack of players. We had a few injuries like Reinaldo and Joffre and we had to use all the players since they bring different characteristics and that’s the nature of the game.”The Brazilian continued: “But I don’t change my philosophy of attacking. We couldn’t repeat the same team since we lost a few players to injuries like Reinaldo, Joffre, [Joaquim] Abranches, [CS] Sabeeth, [Darryl] Duffy etc. Even Sabeeth was playing very well but then due to injury I couldn’t use him. We have to use the best players we have and what’s right for the game.”With the league having entered its business end, Zico predicted that all the teams be much tougher defensively from here on. “…In the second half of the tournament it will become even more tough since you have to win your games. You lose 2-3 games, you are out of the tournament. I can see the games getting more defensive and any chance the striker gets, he has to do his best to score,” he said.
