ISL 2020-21 | Might take time for us to play our best football, asserts Robbie Fowler

Debutants SC East Bengal slumped to a 2-0 defeat against arch-rivals ATK-Mohun Bagan in the ‘Kolkata Derby’ last Friday, even though they showed sparks of brilliance in certain pocket of the game. The ‘red and gold’ brigade got little time to prepare themselves in the pre-season, with their players yet to gel as a unit. Ahead of their second game against Mumbai City FC, their head coach Robbie Fowler has asserted that it will take some time for SC East Bengal to play their best football.

"Mumbai are a very good team, what their manager (Sergio Lobera) achieved with the side last year was fantastic. We will respect every single team we play against. We will try to stop them from doing the right things. Our job is to stop them, it is a tough challenge, but we will be ready for that. We will stick together as a team and that is what football is all about. We will win together and we will lose together. We might have to wait for a few more games before we see our team at our best, but we are getting close," said Robbie Fowler, during a virtual press conference on Monday.

SC East Bengal had the lion’s share of the possession during their last game, with them playing on equal terms till the first half of play. It was early in the second half that ATK-Mohun Bagan drew first blood by a Roy Krishna, following which SC East Bengal never quite managed to score the equalizer.  Manvir Singh scored the second goal for the ‘Mariners’ and sealed the game for good.

"The result against ATK Mohun Bagan was disappointing; we did go into the game to win it. We can take a lot of positives from the way we played, we are a new team that is gelling. It was an impressive performance from us, it is about trying to get an identity with the way we play. I do not think there was much in the game, ATK were champions of last year and we did put in a good performance," added the manager.