A new coach at the helm of affairs, bottom-placed Chennai City FC take on Mumbai FC in a round eight home I-League fixture at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here tomorrow.
Having decided to part ways with Robin Charles Raja, the I-League debutants decided to bring another former Tamil Nadu coach V Soundararajan on board.
The new coach has a tough task on his hand to turn the club's fortunes while also making sure he sticks to their philosophy of incorporating local talents in the first team squad.
Soundararajan said it was a big opportunity for him to coach a side in the country's top-flight league and expressed hope that he will be able to turn Chennai City's fortunes around.
"Now I have got a very good opportunity. This is a big chance for me. Though the team is in the bottom, I want to channel everything I learnt in Germany (during the coaching license course)," he said.
"We have nine players with experience and four foreign players and I don't know how such a good team is playing like this. I have watched the games and corrected the mistakes. It should not happen in the future," he added.
The coach also gave his assessment on the team's forwards and felt that Marcos Tank, who has scored two goals for the club, was not up to his expectations.
"Only Charles has the attitude. Marcos is slow and he is only good in the air. He has only heading ability and his dribbling is poor. That was not what we expected from him," he said.
Soundararajan insisted that his players would approach the game against Mumbai like it's a tournament final.
"We have discussed Mumbai and tomorrow is a vital point and a win will help us leapfrog them. Tomorrow's game is like a tournament final for us. We are only thinking about the upcoming game," he stated.
Mumbai FC, on the other hand, have come here on the back of suffering five back-to-back defeats and are not in the best frame of mind.
After a roaring start to the season which saw them win their first two games, the Mumbai side's momentum came to a grinding halt while their opponents pummeling them.
Santhosh Kashyap rued his team's defending as he spoke at length about their poor season so far.
"We had a great start with two wins and then we had tough away games. Also we had injuries and tight schedules. We are conceding silly goals and then are forced to chase goals. In the last game against Minerva, the conditions were windy and the ground was poor," he said.
Chennai City will be without the services of Karanjit Singh, Haroon Amiri and Abhra Mondal for tomorrow's game.
For the visitors, Kimkima is doubtful while Thoi Singh is on leave for his marriage. But crucially, they have managed to sign Afghan defender Jalaluddin who might play a part in the game tomorrow. They are also boosted by the signing of the experienced Mehrajuddin Wadoo.
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