CHENNAI: They have won two out of the four editions of Indian Super League but reigning champions Chennaiyin FC’s coach John Gregory wants his team to become first among equals to win back to back titles.
The former Aston Villa player and manager feels that consistency is one area of emphasis for him. “We will have to make everyone aware of what has happened in the past. Players have to be notified about that and I am wary of that. When we won ISL 2 and in the following season, our performance was unspectacular,” Gregory told PTI in an interaction. Gregory said he was aware of the fact that there is a record of reigning champions performing poorly in the subsequent seasons, pointing to ATK’s struggles in 2017-’18.
“Last season can only be used as a reference and we won’t discuss it very often. It is irrelevant to us and our names are already on the record books. We also have the trophy to prove it. We have got to do it all over again. That’s what champions do,” the Englishman, who led Chennaiyin FC to a second ISL triumph earlier in March, said.
“How do you improve a champion outfit? You are expected to do the same this year if not better. We want to retain the trophy which no team has done before. It is not going to be easy (though),” he added with a note of caution. He stressed the importance of being strong defensively and said “good attacks win matches but good defensive teams wins tournaments.”
“We spend a lot of work on that side of our game. Attackers win you matches but defenders win you championships. We had eight clean sheets last year, which was good but can be bettered. “We have managed to keep hold of Mailson (Alves) and Caldi (Inigo Calderon), who were huge players for us last year. ” Gregory said. (PTI)
