Hopefully we can reach the playoffs a lot earlier than last season: Chennaiyin FC’s Ryan Edwards

Chennaiyin FC’s captain Ryan Edwards is hopeful of reaching the playoffs stages a lot earlier than the previous season. The Marina Machans have won one, lost one and drawn one so far in the ongoing edition of the ISL.

In the last season of the ISL, Chennaiyin FC won eight of the 22 matches and qualified as the last team for the playoffs, finishing the league stage in sixth place.

The ISL 2023-24 season was the maiden edition for Edwards in Indian football and he said the experience was amazing.

“It’s been amazing,” he said in an interview with Chennaiyin FC. 

“I wasn’t quite ready physically with not having a preseason and stuff so I obviously missed out on the first couple of games and then and then got in the team and stayed in the team really all the way through. I don’t know how many games I have played so far but since I’ve come here I’ve loved it. I’ve loved the training under the manager. I’ve loved playing under him. That’s obviously one big reason why I came here and yeah it’s gone so quick, I’m glad they extended for another year,” he said. 

Meanwhile, the Marina Machans lost their first three matches in the last season. However, the club bounced back in the latter half of the league, winning three of their last four matches to qualify for the playoffs.

Edwards reflected: “Last year was obviously successful in the end but we didn’t start great. There were loads of challenges in between. We didn’t have a big squad anyway and we lost a lot of games that we we should have won at that time or so we thought we shouldn’t have lost and been a bit more comfortable getting into the playoffs but we got there in the end and it was quite successful looking at what we what we went through to get into them. I think everyone wrote us off. I think we were second from bottom after Christmas for a good couple of months and we managed to put a run together which got us into the top six which we haven’t done for a long time. Hopefully we can carry that momentum into this season and have a much more successful year this year and secure the playoffs a lot earlier and see where it takes us.”

Edwards is optimistic of a better showing in this season as he feels they have a potent squad.

“We’re so confident this year we feel we have a better squad and everyone else I think everyone else will say they got better squads this year as well so it’s a much stronger league. I think this year it would be a lot a lot tighter. What I mean by that is no one will run away and I think it’ll be a lot more closer and hopefully we can be right up there,” he said. 

Chennaiyin FC will take on NorthEast United FC at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati on 17th October.