Shankarlal Chakraborty, who is standing in for suspended coach Sanjoy Sen at Mohun Bagan, says a positive result for the team is of paramount importance in the upcoming I-League derby against East Bengal.
The Mariners play East Bengal in their return match at Siliguri on Saturday.
“Our strategy is pretty straight and simple, give your cent percent and churn out a positive result. In our quest for the second consecutive Hero I—League trophy, we need a positive result in Siliguri,” Chakraborty, who has represented both Mohun Bagan and East Bengal after having graduated from Tata Football Academy, said.
He said the defending champions’ strategy will be to not concede an early goal.
“Our first priority always remains not to concede an early goal. In the early minutes of the game, we tend to focus on judging our opponents and then changing our gears according to our strengths and their limitations. When the two giants confront with each other, you can’t expect anything less than an enthralling humdinger.”
Asked how is he preparing himself before his first derby as the Mariners’ coach, Chakraborty said, “I always believe that the Derby is the final frontier. Be it player or coach, you’ll always be tested on the Derby. But for us, generally, everything is planned by Sanjoy Da (Sen).
“During the course of the game, we keep an eye to the movements and tweak the strategies according to the need of the game.”
