Kochi: Kerala Blasters, who finished runners-up in two editions of the Indian Super League (ISL), have managed to bring together a compact team with balance in all the departments for the fifth season, scheduled to kick off in Kolkata on Saturday.
The Kochi-based club wear a formidable look, at least on paper, and are determined to come up with an improved show this time around after finishing sixth in the 10-team league last year.
Head coach David James, who is pleased with the squad at his disposal, said his aim was to slowly build the side with the right combinations.
Excerpts from a chat:
“We have no intention to change the nucleus of the team every season. Our aim is to build a strong core of young players with focus on promoting long-term individual and team success. We would be delighted if we get success in the next three seasons - but we are looking beyond that,” the former England international said before heading for Kolkata for their opening match against ATK.
“The development of young and home-grown players is central to our strategy. If you keep a team together and work with them‚ eventually you will be able to reap rewards. All the young players are given a three-year contract. We have to help them reach their full potential before the team is built around this core group.”
According to him, chopping and changing squads every campaign instead of adapting a long-term strategy has been crippling franchises and the league as a whole.
“The real progress will come only if we manage to establish and cultivate a strategy with an eye on the future. Only those franchises that maintain continuity of a core set of players will be able to consistently build a winning team.”
According to him, the process of blending skilled youngsters and experienced campaigners is not as easy as it sounds. “It is a challenging task, yet absolutely rewarding. By making the two groups train together, we will be able to make the young players develop faster as well as easily assess their improvement. If they strive hard and get better, they could break into the starting XI. I’m delighted to see the healthy competition among the young crop of players to make an impression on the management. It augurs well for the team.
“All the twenty-five members in the squad are capable of making it to the playing XI. If the youngsters are good enough, they could push out the senior pros in their way. While picking the team, only performance matters,” James, who returned at the helm of affairs of Blasters last season after being their manager-cum-goalkeeper in the inaugural ISL, added.