ISL 2019-20 | Happy with the work of the players, gushes Carles Cuadrat
Bengaluru FC head coach Carles Cuadrat has expressed his happiness with his players after the Blues raised to the top of the table with the win against Odisha FC in Pune on Wednesday. The Spanish coach further went on to analyse his team's performance and hailed his defence for the clean sheet.
Champions Bengaluru FC continued their unbeaten run as they overcome Odisha FC by a 36th-minute goal of defender Juanan to win it by 1-0 at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex Stadium in Pune on Wednesday. The win helped Bengaluru move to the top of the table with 13 points from seven games.
But in a match dominated by hosts Odisha FC, Bengaluru was lucky to score the goal and even luckier to secure the clean sheet. Moreover, coach Cuadrat expressed his happiness with his players for their work and has claimed that it's the clean sheets that make them much stronger.
“It (The clean sheets) makes us strong. Football is a game of mentality. For us it’s good, it’s good that we have conceded only two goals. It’s something that we are building for the future because this is a very tough league. Our aim is to reach the playoffs and the four points that we lost against Goa and Hyderabad; nobody is going to give (them back to) us. So, we need to get those points back under any circumstances. I’m happy with the work of the players.” Carles Cuadrat told reporters in the post-match press conference, ISL website reported.
India's national team goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was crucial in the win with six saves which helped to get the Hero of the Match award. However, Cuadrat also credited his solid defence for the clean sheet. Cuadrat said, “Gurpreet is having a great season. He has just conceded two goals and has made some good saves. But it’s not only him, I think we are a very compact team and we don’t give a lot of options to forwards of the other team to score.”
“Against Coro (Ferran Corominas), we only gave a penalty and we’ve played against Marcelinho (Marcelo Pereira), and today we faced Xisco (Hernandez) and Aridane (Santana) who have scored seven goals together, but today they did not score any goals. Week after week we are doing good defensive work,” he said.
Bengaluru are now top of the table and coach Cudrat is not carried away by the position in the table. “Top of the table is just a momentary thing because the other teams are yet to play but it was very good to break the run we were having away from home. It’s been a long time since we won away from home. We have conceded two goals in extra time (this season). That is four points lost.” Carles Cudrat said.
The Spaniard also went onto praise Odisha’s performance and revealed the importance of not conceding late goals, “My work today was to talk to the players and tell them to be mentally strong. To try and get the points because it’s hard if a team losses points three times (late in the game). So, we are working on a 5-4-1 system, and I am happy that it works. It was a game where there were opportunities for both the teams. I have to congratulate Odisha because they played a very good game.”
“It’s very important to break the dynamic (of conceding equalisers late in away games). Because it’s not only about three draws, it’s about three away draws in the last moment of the game. It creates something in your mind and as a player you are hoping that the game doesn’t always finish in such a tense manner. So, it was important to break that dynamic,” the 52-year-old coach added.
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