Simon Grayson sheds light if Sunil Chhetri will start against ATKMB

The Bengaluru FC boss claimed it will be a difficult game against the Mariners.

Confident Bengaluru FC face off against ATK Mohun Bagan in the Blues’ final away game of the ISL 2022-23 season. Bengaluru FC are a solitary point outside the playoff places, and they will be gunning to keep their good form going with three consecutive home games to end the season. With everything to play for at the Salt Lake Stadium, Simon Grayson addressed the media with Parag Shrivas in the pre-match press conference.

A challenging fixture against the Mariners

Two in-form sides will do battle, and both have improved in critical aspects. ATK Mohun Bagan have tightened up their defence, conceding the second least goals. Bengaluru FC, who struggled to find the back of the net early doors, have now scored 11 in their last four games. Grayson believes that the confidence is back, “We’re going into this game with confidence after winning our last four games. They’re in a strong position in the league, but I’m sure they will also be aware of how well we can play. It will be two good teams going head to head.

“We are at the business end of the season and want to win as many games as possible. But we know that tomorrow night will be a difficult game, and ATK Mohun Bagan would also want to win to maintain their place in the playoffs as well. Football is all about fine margins. We were making some mistakes and not taking our chances for which we got punished. Since we got a good result, the confidence is back, there are not many mistakes and our strikers have also done well.”

Playing in front of the ATKMB faithful

Bengaluru FC have won their last two away games in the league and have managed to get early goals to stifle the opposition fans while playing away from home. Grayson spoke of having former ATKMB players in his setup, “We always felt that at some stage everything would click. We were doing well in games apart from winning them. But the boys worked hard in training and things are now coming well at the right time for us. There are players in our squad who have played for ATK Mohun Bagan, and it does add a little spice to the fixture. But I’m only concerned about how well they do for our club. We only want to concentrate on ourselves and what we do. It’s always special to play in front of big crowds, especially if you go away from home, you play well and manage to silence the home crowd. But our focus is on ourselves and we want to use the noise from the crowd as motivation.”

Keeping Chhetri out of the starting XI

Chhetri has not started a match for the Blues since the 2-1 defeat to East Bengal, and this has coincided with the rise of the Sivasakthi-Roy Krishna partnership up front which has flourished. Grayson talked of the captain’s professionalism, “When I came here, I first spoke to Sunil. He’s been an absolute joy to work with and you know why he is considered an icon of the game. But most importantly, he is a very humble guy, experienced, and also trains very well. I had to take a tough call to keep him out. The call worked well as Siva has been great. But having Sunil on the team for tomorrow will be a huge advantage for me as he gives us that option in the attack we can bring on later in the game.”

The mood in the dressing room

Parag Shrivas has been a regular feature as part of the Bengaluru FC back-5, forming a solid pairing with Sandesh Jhingan and Alan Costa. The 25-year-old spoke of the atmosphere in the Bengaluru FC dressing room, “The mood is very positive in the dressing room after winning four games. These four wins have helped our confidence a lot as we are now in the race for the playoffs. Everyone is always working very hard in training, and the coach has been telling us to just keep believing in ourselves, irrespective of the results. The support from the coach and the seniors is very important and has kept us going.

"It’s great to share a dressing room with Sunil bhai. He keeps motivating us all. Everyone knows what a legend he is, and it's an honour to play with all the senior players like Sunil bhai, Roy bhai, Sandesh bhai, Javi and Alan among others.”