Two-time champions ATK are in the midst of their worst season ever and under-fire coach Teddy Sheringham would hope for a change in fortune when his team lock horns with second-placed Chennaiyin FC in an Indian Super League football fixture here tomorrow. The defending champions suffered four losses and drew thrice in 10 outings to slip to eighth place in the 10-team standings. The most successful ISL franchise were blanked 0-3 by Pune City in their last outing on January 20 and soon reports emerged that the team think-tank may sack Sheringham, the former Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur striker. With time running out fast, Sheringham will feel the pressure mounting on him, given that they have eight matches left and they are yet to hit top gear. But the silver-lining is that they play six of the remaining matches at home and they would look to bounce back against Chennaiyin who suffered a 1-3 upset against NorthEast United FC in Guwahati on January 19. Sheringham was signed up with much fanfare with I-League winning Bengaluru FC coach Ashley Westwood as his deputy but the Englishman has been left handicapped this season with injury woes, notably to their star striker Robbie Keane. "We have got our best player out injured in Robbie Keane and our best Indian player out injured in Eugeneson Lyngdoh. We are missing our top players," Keane has said after their loss in Pune. He also went on to blame the scheduling. "Add that to the fixture list; we have had seven of our first 10 league games away from home. For any team, that is going to take its toll on a team. We have got five games on the spin at home now. "We have put ourselves in a bad position.
If you get the five games at home early on, you have got a chance of being up there. We are in a bit of a dull place at the moment," Sheringham added on a dejected note. FC Pune City, who were coming off from a defeat to Chennaiyin FC, were without their mercurial midfielder Marcos Tebar but that did not affect them as they toyed with ATK's defence and could have easily won by a bigger margin. Conor Thomas and Ryan Taylor struggled to impose themselves in midfield against the likes of Jewel Raja and Rohit Kumar. Debjit Majumder, who signed for ATK following brilliant performance for Mohun Bagan, came a cropper against Pune. Chennaiyin FC's five-match unbeaten run was snapped by NEUFC and assistant coach Sabir Pasha hoped to bounce back against ATK. "It happens, we came back strongly in the end and we had some chances, but I think we made a great effort in the last 20 minutes. We cannot take anything away from the players. They have been great. We have to come back strongly," Pasha said. Pasha is handling the side in absence of their head coach John Gregory, who is on a three-match suspension for his comments on referees. Chennaiyin will also hope that midfielder Bikramjit Singh returns to the side. Match starts at 2000 IST.
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