FC Goa head coach Zico has promised fans a much-improved performance ahead of the Gaurs’ first home tie of the 2016 Hero Indian Super League, against FC Pune City at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda on Saturday.Last season’s runners-up started their Hero ISL 2016 campaign off on the wrong foot with a 2-0 defeat against NorthEast United FC earlier this week in what was also their first loss ever against the Highlanders. However, Zico has promised fans that the Gaurs would take the field against the Stallions on Saturday with nothing but victory on their minds. “You can be sure that we are going to come with all that we have. On the ground, we will give everything and I request the fans to keep supporting us. The relationship that we have with our fans gives us strength to give our very best,” the Brazilian told reporters on Friday.Zico also made it clear that there were no plans to change his playing philosophy against Pune City, who also lost their opener against Mumbai City FC on Monday. “It is a pleasure to be back in Goa to start the new season here. I’m not going to change my philosophy of the game just because of a loss. The day I decide to change my philosophy, I will stop coaching. My philosophy is always to play forward and look for the goal, look for the victory. This is the message I always pass to my players,” he said.Zico also insisted that they might have lost to NorthEast in their opener but they had the upper hand in many aspects of the game. “The positive we can take is that, we had lot more possession, we shot more, we had more corners, we dominated a great part of the game, we had good chances but we could not finish them and they came with three shots and scored twice,” he said.The 63-year-old again defended goalkeeper Laxmikanth Kattimani, whose error resulted in the Highlanders getting the opening goal through Emiliano Alfaro. “Kattimani has a lot of credibility, a lot of good results that we had in the last two years were due to his good performance, he knows about his position, he is one who cannot make mistakes, I hope he is more careful…I always tell my players to avoid giving the ball back to the goalkeeper, he does not have many resources at the back, he should shoot the ball forward,” Zico said.“These incidents have happened in the Champions league, in the World Cup. He just needs to be more careful about that. If goalkeeper would be good with their feet, they would play in the outfield and not be the goalkeeper,” he added.Commenting on fitness status of the team, Zico said that Luciano Sobrosa, Gregory Arnolin and Debabrata Roy will again be unavailable for selection due to injury.
