ATK will look for full points

Jose Molina is building on the work done by the Atletico de Kolkata team management last season.

After joining as head coach for Hero ISL season three, he kept faith in his players, especially foreigners, who in turn have delivered on the field.

With seven matches to go, second-placed ATK face-off at the Balewadi Stadium against FC Pune City.

Molina explained the reason for continuity, unlike other squads opting for wholesale changes.

“I had a say in retaining them. The players we have know the league and the conditions. They gave an excellent performance last season.”

Joseph Arroyo, Ofentso Nato, Iain Hume, Sameeh Doutie are familiar foreign faces from season two.

Borja Fernandez, Javier Lara are other influential names who played under Antonio Habas before.

Habas, head coach at FC Pune City, will run into known faces during Sunday’s match.

With just one win in seven league matches so far, his task only gets tougher.

Molina aware of past links

However, Molina, aware of the past links, takes a different view.

“It is possible some of our players know Antonio. He knows some of our players. For me, it is just another match.”

He added: “I know Antonio; he is a respected coach. When we play, the focus is to win three points and try to get close to the playoffs.”

Finishing in the top-four for the play-offs is also on Habas’ mind, though the situation has changed for the one-time ATK coach.

“In the first season with ATK, the effort was to reach the playoffs first, we got the title.

“The next season we tried to make the playoffs and got to the semifinals.”

Walking out to take on ATK with his side placed last is a new experience for Habas, who reasoned: “Pune City is just in the building phase. We will also try for the playoffs. Till the last moment, that will be our goal.

“We have made mistakes, but we will keep on fighting to get there.”

The home team is on six points (three draws, one win) and a point behind FC Goa (seven points).

Molina’s team will look for victory against a struggling FC Pune City.

Asked about the drawn games so far (Delhi Dynamos and Chennaiyin FC have maximum four draws each), he said: “Teams play differently, but the level of play is close and winning a match is difficult in ISL.”

No one is aware of the depth of this observation more than Habas.