East Bengal FC will be continuing its search for the first win in the 2024-25 Indian Super League when it hosts in-form NorthEast United FC in matchweek 10 action at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on Friday.
The fixture will put to test the improvements that East Bengal is looking to make under its new Spanish head coach Oscar Bruzon.
East Bengal has managed to somewhat regroup under Bruzon and win the group stage of the AFC Challenge League before picking up its first point by holding city rival Mohammedan Sporting goalless just before the international break.
With three weeks of time-off, allowing it the scope to reassemble its resources, East Bengal is expected to offer a good challenge to NorthEast, which has shown remarkable form by picking up three wins and a draw in its last four outings.
East Bengal will be missing its regular wingers in Nandhakumar Sekar and Mahesh Singh, who are serving suspension for having been red-carded in the previous match against Mohammedan Sporting, putting Bruzon with the additional task of finding some good replacements to compliment their absence.
This may see Bruzon juggling with the team formation and line-up to bring balance in the side that has been underperforming since the start. With just one point from seven matches, Bruzon will have his task cut out as he strives to bring East Bengal out of its current spot at the bottom of the table.
READ MORE | India should plan to reach top 50 FIFA ranking in next 10 years, says Mansukh Mandaviya
Moreover one of East Bengal’s central defenders, Hector Yuste, is also uncertain owing to an injury he suffered during East Bengal’s AFC tournament campaign giving the coach further headache.
Bruzon was specific about the task that his players need to focus on, that is scoring goals. “We will try to play our best game, and win the match. I don’t think NorthEast United is coming here to neutralise our attacking power, but they are coming to try and score more goals themselves. That’s what I can see from what they have been doing in the last games with their frontline,” Bruzon said.
The East Bengal frontline has not been able to deliver in the attacking-third in the last seven matches where it could only score four goals. Dimitrios Diamantakos, the Greek striker, has been struggling with his form and the veteran Brazilian forward Cleiton Silva has also been tentative in the box.
NorthEast United, which is currently placed third in the standings with 15 points from nine matches, has dictated the terms against most of its opponents by scoring 21 goals and conceding only 15. The Guwahati-based team has shown a spectacular turnaround in the new season under its Spanish coach Juan Pedro Benali and is expected to extend its good form further in the tournament.
With the combination of Spain’s Guillermo Fernandez and the Moroccan Alaeddine Ajaraie pairing up well upfront, NorthEast comes in with a great firepower. Alaeddine is already the leading scorer of the tournament with 11 goals from nine matches and is expected to be the main challenge for the East Bengal defence, which has not been too efficient, conceding 12 goals that saw the team losing all its first six matches.
“Each game we play is a different story. We try to create the right chances to score and at the same time make it equally difficult for the opponent to do so. That has been our objective. Scoring has been an important part of our game and we need to keep doing that,” Benali said about his team’s approach so far.
Comments
SHARE