For Miguel Angel Portugal, the last season of Indian Super League was quite disappointing to say the least. As the head coach of Delhi Dynamos, he was unable to take them to the play-off stages and at the end of the season, the club authorities decided not to renew his contract for the next edition.
However, the Spaniard is back in India as the new coach of FC Pune City and his first test will be against his old club in New Delhi on Wednesday. When asked about the encounter, he said that he is under no extra pressure ahead of the opener and they will giving equal importance to all matches.
“My journey with Delhi (Dynamos) last year was really memorable for me and returning to my old club is emotional for me but playing against them doesn’t add pressure as I will be treating them like any other opponent. Every match is important for us this season, we have to make sure we perform well in every game we play,” Portugal told Hindustan Times in an exclusive interview.
“Yes, I know the Delhi players very well, and it might come in handy for me in the pitch tomorrow. But, at the end of the day, it will be 11 vs 11,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“Yes, I know the Delhi players very well, and it might come in handy for me in the pitch tomorrow. But, at the end of the day, it will be 11 vs 11,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}The biggest problem for Dynamos last season was their defense and as a result, they were unable to reach the play-offs despite scoring the third-highest number of goals in the group stages. With Portugal opting for a 4-1-3-2 or a 4-4-1-1 formation, the focus was mainly on possession football but the lack of a proper defensive midfielder led to Dynamos leaking goals in crucial matches.
This time, FC Pune City will have the experienced Jonathan Villa in the defensive midfielder role and Portugal made it clear that he will be sticking to his possession oriented system against Josep Gambou’s Delhi Dynamos..
“I prefer to play the possession game. But, finishing is equally important in football and because of that, possession should be to win the match. Our squad this season is promising, we have a well balanced team of experienced and young players who have an urge to learn and guide at the same time.”
In a league like ISL where teams keep changing majority of their squads every season, FC Pune City decided to retain all of their foreign talents - Marcelinho, Emiliano Alfaro, Marko Stankovic and Diego Carlos. There was also not much change when it came to the top Indian players and Portugal (who was not part of the transfer process) was all praise for the club’s decision to retain the talent.
“According to me, retaining players is a very good decision as they know what the club expects from them. Not only foreigners but FC Pune City has retained their top Indian players too and this was a very smart decision by the club.The retained players can easily guide the new players ahead of this season and help them understand the philosophy, expectations and style of the club.” he said.