East Bengal FC head coach Oscar Bruzon admitted that his team was not consistent after a 0-3 loss against Chennaiyin FC at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Stadium, Kolkata in the ongoing Indian Super League on Saturday.
The Red and Gold Brigade conceded twice in the first half as Nishu Kumar scored an own goal when he was trying to clear the ball. Wilmar Jordan Gil then doubled the lead in the 21st minute. Daniel Chima Chikwu scored the third goal for the Marine Machans in injury time.
Bruzon said they were not up to the mark in the first half and it led to his team’s downfall.
“The fact of the match is our reaction came late in the half-time (of the first half). The positive part of the game is the second half. I think that in the second half we created our openings,” Bruzon said in the post-match press conference.
Bruzon added that some of his players were not physically ready as they were coming back from injuries.
“The difficult part for us is finding the consistency. We are doing, as you see, many changes in the eleven,” he explained.
“Many players today who came from injuries, probably it was too early to field them. I felt that players like (Mohammad) Rakip and Saul (Crespo) today, still they are not ready to match the intensity, especially with a team like Chennaiyin FC. Physical. They beat us in all the duels and the second balls, all the runs. They were faster, we were slower. More aggressive, more energetic, especially in the first half we could not match the intensity of the game.”
When asked about individual mistakes, Bruzon said they lost as a team.
He concluded, “I have the same answer as before. When we win, we win together. When we lose, we lose together. And all that individual actions and individual mistakes that you have mentioned, it is better to clean the dishes at home. We will address them because today we did a big number of individual mistakes.”
East Bengal FC will next take on derby rivals Mohammedan SC at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Stadium, Kolkata on Sunday.
