With all their hard work, both on and off the field, last season, Pune City FC could only reach till the semifinals by finishing fourth in the league stage with nine wins from 18 games. The franchise has to put in some extra effort this time around to get an entry into the final and eventually clinch the trophy. Miguel Angel Portugal, who had a forgettable first season in ISL with Delhi Dynamos last year, has been roped in as the man in-charge. The Spaniard has an experience of coaching the B and C teams of Real Madrid and Pune will want to cash in on that. The Pune-based franchise has roped in seven Indians and four foreigners this year to strengthen their side ahead of the fifth season.

With Portugal preferring the 4-2-3-1 formation, the defence of the Pune unit has been strengthened for the upcoming season by bringing in two foreign centre-backs in the form of Matt Mills and Martin Diaz, and two proven Indian defenders in the form of Ashutosh Mehta and Keenan Almeida. Almeida effected 11 tackles and 15 clearances in 10 matches that he played for the defending champions last season while Mehta was also effective for ATK in the right-back last time. Mills’ inclusion has given more wings to their defence now as the Englishman will take care of the centre-back and his experience with some top English clubs including Leicester City will be of great help for Pune. Uruguayan centre-back Diaz, who came in from North East United FC, will try to get things right if the coach decides to go with his preferred formation. Their defence also consist of Indian players retained from the previous season like Sahil Panwar, Nim Dorjee Tamang, Wayne Vaz, Gurtej Singh and Lalchhuanmawia.

The Brazilian combination of skipper Marcelinho and Diego will be in charge of the left wing in the midfield while they have roped in new names in the form of Indians Alwyn George from Bengaluru FC, Gabriel Fernandes and Nikhil Poojari from East Bengal along with Spanish midfielder Jonathan Vila. Poojari and Fernandes both played as right wingers together for the Kolkata-based club. Signing of Vila will be blessing for the Pune midfield which already has Marcelinho, Diego and Marko Stankovic. Gani Nigam and Ashique Kuruniyan are also a part of the midfield but are likely to spend most of their time on the bench for the Pune franchise.

Attack

Strength and weaknesses

The defence and midfield of the Orange Army looks perfect after the addition of Mills, Diaz, Ashutosh, Vila and Alwyn this year. Mills will take the charge in the defence while Vila will only make the midfield strong which already has Marko Stankovic, Marcelinho and Diego from the last season. Although Ian Hume is a part of their plan from this year but his absence from the first half of the league is a major blow for the team and now the forward line looks weak and heavily dependent on Robin Singh and Alfaro. If the attack line is sorted out for the Men in Orange, they can certainly try to go ahead to clinch the trophy this time around after missing out on the previous season after being knocked out from the semi-finals.