Gurgaon: The club coaches who met Bob Houghton in an ‘interactive session’ here on Sunday were impressed by the national coach’s approach and technical knowledge, but also found some points on which to differ.

The seven present agreed that clubs should make some sacrifices for the sake of the national team, but some remained sceptical about Houghton’s style of training.

“Your training methods are excellent but it may be difficult to implement those at club level,” East Bengal coach Subrata Bhattacharya said. “Our requirements, sometimes, are totally different.”

Houghton was quick to point out that he was merely explaining his training style. “I never asked you to follow it.”

The coaches, however, said such a meeting had been long overdue. “It was a great opportunity to share each other’s problems,” Bimal Ghosh, Air India coach, said.

Some of them felt it was fruitless on Houghton’s part to look for tall, well-built players with basic skills at this stage. “What we need at the moment is more quality coaches and a solid youth development programme,” said former national coach Sukhwinder Singh.