PRE-MATCH QUIPS: Zambrotta: Prepared to play a different game from the last; Coppell stresses on the need to score more goals

Third placed Delhi Dynamos take on Kerala who are sixth in the points table. Dynamos can go top of the table, if they get all three points tonight.

Kerala have scored just four goals so far in the season. On the lack of goals from his team, Coppell said,

“Well I think any football team works on creating more and more goal scoring opportunities and I hate to say it but sometimes you get a spell when you don't get the goals or the returns and yes we need to be more progressive in front of goal and we absolutely need to be more prolific in front of goal to be a factor in this league and we are working hard to prove it”

Zambrotta knows the defensive prowess of Kerala from both team's last encounter, which ended goalless. On his thoughts about tonight's opponents said,

“Kerala is a different team and they are a very good team because they run, they fight all together, they’re strong, they’re confident so it will be very difficult for us, but of course we are prepared to play this match in the best way and it’s a completely different match from Goa”

Coppell stated that scoring many goals does not guarantee that a team will be at the top. To explain he shared,

“There is no real formula for success and in the first season Kerala got to the final and just scored just nine goals in the league phase but I can assure you that we are not trying to emulate that and we are trying to score as many goals as possible and last year we scored more than twenty goals and finished bottom so it just shows there is a balance to maintain and we know we have to improve in front of goal to be a factor in this league.”

The capital of the country New Delhi is facing issues with the air due to the increased levels of pollution. This has become a problem to the Dynamos team who have been advised to take precautions are not getting the easiest of practice runs. How the team was coping with this, Zambrotta answered,

"We, at the moment, think training is a must but of course it is not possible to train in the hotel since football is a game where you need big space, unfortunately you just cannot train. We also need to train on the field and the doctor told to wear a mask just as a precaution, it’s okay but of course we are waiting for some news about the pollution and then we will see what to do.”

Kerala have had a rocking ride in the season where the start was a poor run of back to back losses then a couple a decent results with draws and wins. Coppell summarised his side's experience saying,

"We have been working very hard and at this stage of the season all the teams will be thinking if you win two or three games, chances are you are there in the semis and that's where everyone wants to be and in the first half people we were not so worried about losing but now there will be emphasis on winning to get into the semi-finals and I think there will be a tinge of emphasis as each game goes towards the end of the season and people will realise if we don't win we will not make the semis and for us this will be our fourth away game straight and it's been twenty days of travelling, and for us if we win it's great and if we draw then it's neutral and if we lose then that's not good, so out of the remaining seven games if you win three I think you're not going to be far away from the semi-finals.”

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