Simon Grayson: We knew when to press the right areas

Bengaluru FC continued to ride the wave of momentum, notching up their sixth straight victory in the Indian Super League. Simon Grayson’s Blues soar to fifth on the table with 28 points and face newly-crowned ISL 2022-23 Shield Winners Mumbai City before facing FC Goa in their final league fixture

Grayson credited a team performance and broke his tactics down following his team’s dogged display. Here is what the Englishman had to say in the post-match press conference. Edited excerpts are as follows.

Thoughts on the performance

Despite the Blasters enjoying 70% of possession and stringing more passes, Bengaluru FC had more shots on target. This shows how committed the entire team was to the counter-attacking game plan and the reward was a clean sheet. Simon Grayson said, “We knew that Kerala are going to have a lot of possession. They are a good team with lots of outstanding talent at the top end of the pitch.”

“If we two-up they have the ability to get into dangerous areas and pass around us. So we were quite happy to surrender a bit of possession to them, knowing that we have players that can hurt any opposition on the counter-attack and we did. We looked a threat going forward, and when we had to defend, we defended as a team. The shape was good, we knew when to press the right areas and it is something we have worked very hard on. Great to see a clean sheet and it is pleasing to get a massive three points and the bragging rights in the local derby.”

Curtailing Adrian Luna

Uruguayan talisman Adrian Luna has been Kerala Blasters’ chief creator in midfield. Simon Grayson revealed the plan the Blues followed to diminish Luna’s influence on the game, “I feel Luna is the best player in the league and you got to give them the respect he deserves because he makes things happen.”

“He is a clever player, drifts into pockets of space and defenders don’t want to go with him. We worked a lot on not man-marking him, but communicating well within the three midfield players and the two outside centre-backs being ready to step in to stop the supply to him and close him down. Full credit to everyone, we worked extremely hard today.”

A tough midweek fixture

As the league ramps up to a spectacular finish, Bengaluru FC have their task cut out in their next fixture against the unbeaten Shield Winners Mumbai City FC. Simon Grayson pointed out that a key pair will be missing from action, “Now we have to recover and the game (against Mumbai City) comes quickly. Hopefully, we are the first team to beat Mumbai this season. We have a couple of players (Parag Shrivas and Roy Krishna) out with suspension which is not easy but it gives others some opportunities.”

The cracking atmosphere

28,001 supporters flocked to the Kanteerava and the atmosphere was electric all game. Grayson mentioned that the supporters deserved the result, “The celebration post-game was for the supporters. They have suffered a lot of hard times over the last few years. It was an incredible atmosphere. I absolutely loved it and wished I’d be able to play on the pitch. Kerala fans too made it an unbelievable spectacle. Our supporters deserve that result.”

Relentless Roy wins praise

Goalscorer Roy Krishna has been instrumental in Bengaluru FC turning their fortunes around, popping up with important goals and assists. Grayson said about the Fijian forward, “Even when he (Roy) was not scoring, he was contributing to the team. His hold-up play was good and he was linking in with people. He has gone to a different level because of the confidence he’s got in his game by scoring goals.”