ISL Diary: Anelka’s class, Reid’s style, Friedrich’s Hindi

‘Saala!’ Lalrindika Ralte said playfully when Nicolas Anelka chipped the ball over him in two-touch monkey in the middle as Mumbai City FC trained in grilling conditions at Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.

The temperature soared to a little more than 30 degrees Celcius but the mood in the Mumbai camp seemed cool — manager Peter Reid took training in black aviators, even when he held a defender to show him how he wanted his positioning.

An hour into the session, he whipped off his t-shirt for a sleeveless — his loud instructions mingling with the noise of construction work at the stadium.

From what we saw in the two-hour session, Friedrich and Syed Rahim Nabi are the jokers of the pack — constantly chattering with players and enjoying football.

While Anelka says very little but does some insane things on the football pitch, Friedrich and Nabi are more like the leaders when it comes to communication — a vital aspect when it comes to the successful infusion of Indian and foreign talent.

Nabi goes as far as to say ‘chol na!’ (come on!) to Portuguese midfielder Tiago — who says no, to which Nabi responds ‘dhoor alasa!’ (lazy).

Tiago’s slightly clueless about all this, but gets up anyway, only to sit down a few moments later because the astro-turf had heated up to an extent that players would get blisters.

Friedrich told the press later that he’s working on his Hindi — the former Borussia Dortmund player proving he’s right by telling Nabi ‘chup karo’ (shut up) when I’d managed to corner the Indian defender outside the dressing room.

It’s a pity Anelka won’t play the first few games for Mumbai City. From what he does in training, they’ll really miss him. In the absence of Ljungberg — who is unlikely to be risked due to a calf injury — Reid has been deploying Anelka in the hole during training and in the friendly against ONGC.

Playing offence defence in the first part, Anelka was everywhere — and it’s not him scoring goals we’re talking about, it’s about him creating. Even from clear goal-scoring areas, Anelka would pass it to an Indian player — it shows that there is teamwork in a squad that boasts of a number of foreign stars.

Come Sunday, it will be interesting to see how Reid fills the gaps in attack.

Astro-turf concerns

The astro-turf at Salt Lake generated a lot of questions from the media. Reid and Friedrich were both not to excited by it, but took solace in the fact that both teams will have to contend with the same.

“It’s not just us right? Both teams will have to deal with playing on astro-turf. I’ve designed the training sessions in a way that there isn’t too much pressure on the joints of players. I know the effect it can have,” Reid said.

Friedrich admitted that he wasn’t used to playing on astro-turf, but it was about adapting to situations: “We’ve been training on astro and on natural grass in Mumbai so it’s about getting used to it. Same with the weather,” he said.

Buzz absent away from Salt Lake

Salt Lake area has a huge hoarding and banners of the team visible as you drive through the main road — even the New Town area has a bit of buzz with the team hotel being there.

But apart from that, there is little of Atletico de Kolkata’s presence that is seen in Kolkata. Driving about 40 kms towards North Kolkata, there was nothing that told me an ISL match was around the corner apart from the radio ads.

Stopping by for a chicken roll on the way, I asked the cook whether he was going to watch the game. “Which game? The game at Eden on 20th? No,” he said. The man on the counter said, “Football ka? Pass doge toh jaaunga.” (I’ll go if you give me a pass).

Salt Lake may see a sell-out crowd on Sunday, but there are still some marketing challenges to overcome for Atletico de Kolkata.