Analysing marquee managers ahead of upcoming Indian Super League season
With the Indian Super League hardly a month away, we look at the eight managers who will be leading their respective sides this year. Only three out of the eight teams have retained their managers while others have roped new and experienced coaches to better their show this year.Some are in the capacity of Player-Coach role while others have been roped in purely on their managerial skills. It would be interesting to see, how each manager has gone ahead building their squad. We look at every bit detail of the manager, their past experience, international players they have roped in, their pre-season plans etc. Each and every aspect will be taken in account by us.So let’s quickly scroll through each and every profile and see what do we have on offer this year:
#1 Nicolas Anelka
Nationality: French
Team: Mumbai City FC
Support staff: Oscar Bruzon (Assistant Coach, Spain), Alex Ambrose (Assistant coach, India) Sandeep Kurale (Physiotherapist, India), Sujay Sharma (Analyst, India)
Managerial career: Sampdoria (Italy), Nottingham Forest (England), England U-21, Manchester City (Assistant Manager)
Pre-season: Dubai, UAE
Ratings: 2.5
Nicolas Anelka’s lack of managerial experience at the top level might be something which will come back to bite Mumbai City FC. The former French International has earlier been the assistant coach of Chinese giants Shanghai Shenhua during his playing stint there, but that experience won’t count much in his new role. Post the inaugural season of ISL he went to Algerian club NA Hussein-Dey and served them in position of Sporting Director.
He will now don the dual cap of Player-Manager which has to be seen how he successfully manages. The good part is that Mumbai City FC management has roped in an experienced assistant manager in Oscar Bruzon, who was quite successful during his days with Sporting Clube de Goa where he guided them to their best ever third place finish. His expertise will surely come handy for the Mumbai-based club.
Anelka has been closely working with the management and the squad looks competitive in all departments. There is a right combination of experience and youth and that will certainly help the team ahead of the season.
Anelka & Co have a task on their hands as they look to better their show from last year. Big boots to fill we say.