New Delhi: Captain Amarjit Singh Kiyam and goalkeeper Prabsukhan Gill are certain that the Indian Arrows will have a new approach for the upcoming season of the I-League.
Armed with a new coach in Floyd Pinto and a season of top-flight experience, Amarjit made it clear that the Arrows’ priorities was to rack up more wins this season. “Last season, it was all about exposure, getting to know the feel of senior level football. This season, we want to win more games and we’re more confident that we can do so,” said the Manipuri midfielder.
The keeper Gill, who came in for Dheeraj Singh Moirangthem after one-third of the last season was over had stated that the I-League had helped harden the squad. “We came in as underdogs last time. It wasn’t like we were overwhelmed. We held our own against a lot of good teams, gave a good account but conceded a lot of late goals. That hurt me and that hurt us,” said Prabsukhan, the brother of Gursimrat Singh Gill, Bengaluru FC right-back.
The keeper is right; no team conceded more goals after the 80th minute mark in the I-League than the Arrows.
Prabsukhan himself started life as a full-back before switching to the keeper’s position at the Chandigarh Football Academy. For him, it has been an uphill experience but he has garnered praise from everybody including India’s number one Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.
“It’s good that people are talking about Dheeraj, but they should take note of Sukhan [Gill] as well. It’s not easy to come in midway and take over like that but he did it well,” Gurpreet had stated earlier on in the season.
Coach Pinto’s reign marks the start of a new style of football for the Arrows. “Last season, we tried to be defensively solid, play the long ball to our wingers and hoped they beat the opposition right-backs. This season, we will be playing more possession-based football,” declared Kiyam, the medio.
For Gill, it has been an intense year of training with Yusuf Ansari, goalkeeping coach. “We’ve worked on agility, shot-stopping. This year, our Under-17 World Cup camp mates Dheeraj Singh and Mohammed Nawaz are playing for ISL teams. It gives us a belief that we can make it at that level too,” he says.
Four players from the AFC Under-16 Championships team which made it to the quarter-finals under Bibiano Fernandes have also joined the team. Amarjit hints that they aren’t necessarily strangers to the newbies.
“We’ve played with Givson (Moirangthem) and Vikram Partap (Singh) at the Chandigarh Football Academy. That makes it 9 cadets from CFA in this team. Rohit Danu was with us in the Under-17 World Cup camp. So we know their style of play,” said Kiyam, hoping for a quick assimilation of those selected from the under-16 team.
For both players, the Kolkata giants start as the favourites for the league and will be their biggest opponents. Captain Amarjit states their intentions very clearly, “This year, we’re armed with more experience and will do better. I know it’s tough but we want to finish in the top five.”