Chukwama, fo whom this is a sixth straight year with the reputed Goan club, was away from the action for two long months after the I-League kicked off in October last year. He had gone to Lagos for an advanced coaching degree from one of Nigeria’s top coaching instituions, the National Sports Institute (NIS), and returned to India and joined the team in the last week of December.

Chukwama now says that the team’s performance in the I-League would have been way different had the club authorities carried out the suggestions he had dropped before setting off for Nigeria. The coach had specifically given express advice on the recruitment on the foreign players.

“In a championship like the I-League, quality foreign players have always made all the difference. So, if you don’t have three quality foreigners in the side, then you will have to face the heat. I was absent in our team’s four I-League matches. But the team picked up just 17 points from 15 matches. The failure is due to the lack of quality strikers,” Chukwama told The Indian Express this evening.