ISL: Once an angry young man, Mumbai City's Piquionne now brings his fight only to the pitch

A few years ago, former Lyon, Saint Etienne, AS Monaco and West Ham striker Frédéric Piquionne had dreadlocks and was seen as an effective but angry striker. In 2007, he was convicted of assaulting a fan and breaking his nose. Piquionne had apparently threatened to retire if St Etienne didn’t agree to a transfer request. This particular fan let the striker know what he felt about him in the club car park. After the assault, Piquionne was ordered to pay €1500 (approximately $1650) to the victim. [caption id=“attachment_2489352” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Frederic Piquionne of Mumbai City FC celebrates his goal against FC Goa. ISL[/caption] Eight years later and Piquionne finds himself playing in the Indian Super League for Mumbai City. He still likes to dress like a hipster — “with hat and goggles and large shirts” — however, he sports a nearly-bald hairstyle now and the fiery temper is gone. The fight is still there, but with age and experience, a certain maturity has also come. “There’s a big difference in my character. I’m more mature now. I like fighting on the pitch and big games but I’ve learnt to be more relaxed,” the 36-year-old told Firstpost at a Puma event in Mumbai. Piquionne has in fact calmed down. The striker, who amassed 36 yellow cards, three sending offs because of two yellow cards and four direct red cards in his career has been booked just once since the 2011-12 season. It’s a remarkable difference in aggression. “The red cards were (shown to me) quite often before, but it’s been a while since I got one. Experience, age, advice and the people around you — they all contributed to this,” Piquionne added. Piquionne’s playing style has also become languid — he admits that he ’needs to be more hungry to score’ and that at 36, he makes mistakes as he tires in the heat and humidity of Indian conditions. Despite all this, he is a target man that Mumbai would rather have. He almost always wins the battle of strength and has won the most number of aerial duels for Mumbai City (12). Add to that his two goals and an impressive 54 percent shots on target. “I think I’m good in the air. My technique and shooting is also pretty good. It’s not really easy winning these duels. It’s my experience I guess, knowing when I have to attack the ball and how I have to get the ball — and generally I win these battles,” he said, before adding that the style of play in the ISL suits him: “It’s physical, you have to run all the time. Sometimes you have to concentrate more because there are still gaps in the middle and lots of end-to-end football. But we’re looking to get this right.” Piquionne has struck a great understanding with Sunil Chhetri as well — with the Indian playing off him and enjoying the freedom of collecting the second ball and pouncing on these opportunities. [caption id=“attachment_2489462” align=“alignnone” width=“620”] Sunil Chhetri, Gabriel Fernandes, Ashley Westwood, Subrata Paul and Frederic Piquionne at the interaction. Puma[/caption] What works for Mumbai are the different characteristics of Piquionne and Chhetri — and unlike his problematic partnership with Swiss legend Alexander Frei early in his career in Rennes, he’s enjoying the stint with India’s top scorer. “The rotation in the team is good and we have clever players like Chhetri and (Nicolas) Anelka so the team is better. With Frei, it wasn’t good because the manager (Laszlo Bölöni) didn’t know how to manage the two of us. He put me on and after that he would take me off for no reason, so of course I would be angry. The thing here is that Anelka rotates very well and talks with all of us.” With Chhetri needed for more international duty in a week’s time, Piquionne will once again be the focal point of attack for Mumbai City. And with a calmer demeanour, good form and his close relationship with Anelka, we should see a lot more of him in the ISL. The writer tweets @TheFalseNo9