A top team is not built in a day, says Stephen Constantine

All the East Bengal vs Chennaiyin FC matches in ISL have ended in draws.

East Bengal are all set to return to the pitch on Friday following their derby day defeat against ATK Mohun Bagan. They are meeting Chennaiyin FC in their home turf at the Salt Lake Stadium. It will be an important game for the side as they will be under pressure to find a win. With three points from four games, the Red & Golds are currently languishing in the ninth spot of the points table. A day prior to the game, East Bengal head coach Stephen Constantine and midfielder Jordan O'Doherty addressed the pre-match press conference in Kolkata on Thursday.

Here's what they had to say.

Constantine's views on Chennaiyin FC

Stephen Constantine praised Chennaiyin for their feat of coming to Kolkata and beating ATK Mohun Bagan. He said, "Anybody who comes to Kolkata and beats ATK Mohun Bagan deserves respect. We respect all our opponents. We are at home, and we will be looking for three points."

On Chennaiyin players who played under him for India

Constantine sounded impressed with the way Chennaiyin FC players, who played under him for the national side, have grown in their careers. He said, "I know many of their Indian players as some of them had played under me, e.g., Narayan Das and Anirudh Thapa. I am very pleased to see that they have gone on to have the careers that they are having. But obviously, we need to win the game. I am interested in that and not in them."

On not being able to play equally well for the entirety of a game

Stephen Constantine admitted that his team is still not able to play good football for 90 minutes. At the same time, he focused on the positives from each game. He said, "I think we had a very good first half with ATK Mohun Bagan. I thought we were the better side. We created more opportunities, possibly had more possession. If you don't convert your chances, then you pay. ATK Mohun Bagan had one chance with Boumous and they scored. This is football. They had a second chance 10 minutes from which they scored again, and we lost 2-0. Every time we concede a goal, it usually comes from a mistake. This is football, where you pay for your mistakes."

The tactician added, "I am not overly worried as I thought we were very good in the previous game in which we won. We were very good for a good period of time against Kerala, and we were good against Goa. It is a new team. New teams take time. The improvement is there every week. We get a little better (every week). Now, we need to play good for two halves and continue the first half into the second half. Hopefully we will do that tomorrow."

On how difficult it is to recover from the kind of loss that East Bengal suffered in the last game

On being asked about how unfortunate it is for a team to lose in the manner in which East Bengal lost the derby, Stephen Constantine said that the side is focused more on the positives than the negatives. He said, "Look, if we were playing badly, if we were dominated throughout that game, I would be worried. But we were not dominated by one of the best teams in the ISL, for sure with the biggest budget in the ISL. Now, when you dominate a team like that after 6-7 weeks of training, I think it is very positive. We want more, that's the human nature."

He continued, "We said from the beginning that we will try to get better every week. We need a good performance and three points against Chennaiyin. That will make everybody more positive. It is a tough season. The messages I got from so many fans were really positive. That's only because of what the players did on the pitch. They worked very hard. They deserved something from the game. But in football, you don't always get what you deserve. We will try to give the best possible versions of ourselves as we possibly can and hopefully that will get us three points."

On what can get the ball rolling for East Bengal this season

In reply to a question enquiring what can get East Bengal's season get back on track, the coach reiterated his view that his team is new and it will take time for his team to make an impact. He stated, "I didn't expect that we will win 6-7 games in a row, especially from where we are coming from. I said it is a team building process. I said it will take time. We are 3-4 games in. How many games do we need before everything gets perfect? Maybe 20. I don't believe there is perfect."

He added, "I believe that in every game we are better. The players understand what we are asking them. They are doing more. We are creating more chances. The example that we can give is, possibly the best 45 minutes we have had in the four games was against possibly the best team in the league with the biggest budget. We destroyed them for 45 minutes. But we lost the game due to a lapse in concentration. This is football, we try to get better every week. I think we are doing that. And we will continue to go up. Rome was not built in a day and a top team is also not built in a day."

Constantine on East Bengal supporters

Stephen Constantine praised East Bengal fans for cheering the team and making tremendous noise in the stadium in the previous game. He said, "I think our fans will make more noise than the other fans, that's for sure. We made more noise than ATK Mohun Bagan in the last game. Our fans have supported us, and I am sure that they will continue to support us. Chennaiyin has a few Bengali players in their team. I don't see that as anything to worry about other than that they are good players."

O'Doherty on his Kolkata derby experience

Jordan O'Doherty seemed mesmerized to have played in front of around 62,000 people. He went as far to say that East Bengal fans were the loudest he has played in front of so far in his career. He said, "It has been really enjoyable to play in front of lots of fans. It is something that I have not experienced before to be honest. The game the other night saw the loudest fans that I have ever played in front of. I think our fans were louder than the Mohun Bagan fans until we conceded the goal."

O'Doherty on playing alongside Kyriakou

The midfielder briefly talked about his midfield partnership with Charalambos Kyriakou and then added how the entire team is working in unison. He said, "The whole team has been working a lot as a team on our shape and being more consistent while we are defending or attacking. Yes, we (O'Doherty and Kyriakou) have a good understanding with each other. But that's for everyone on the pitch.

"Everyone is learning together about what we want to do. The Indian boys as well are beginning to have an understanding on the way we want to move forward. Which is why we have been improving game by game. We are trying very hard on the training pitch and working on a lot of things," he added.