Stephen Constantine: Have spoken to several players who want to come next season

The East Bengal head coach also shed light on his takeaways from the season.

East Bengal succumbed to yet another defeat at the hands of arch-rivals ATK Mohun Bagan. It wasn’t their day as Stephen Constantine’s side were never able to dominate in any third of the pitch. They got a few chances though, but those aren’t enough to win a derby.

What went wrong?

After the game, Stephen Constantine analysed his side’s game and shed light on what went wrong on the pitch. He said, “I thought we had a decent first half. I think in the second half there were a few decisions that clearly weren’t in our favour. I understand we were denied a clear penalty (on Ashique). Don’t know if the referee didn’t see it but everyone tells me it’s a penalty.

“Cleiton was pulled down in the box and he was clear of the defender. In this type of games, I believe these decisions matter and they cost us. We didn’t take care of business in the corner and then they scored the second when we were trying to get the goal back,” he added.

Second half?

East Bengal’s performance in the second half worsened. They weren’t up to the mark and ATK Mohun Bagan stole the game away deservedly. Stephen Constantine shed light on the topic, “I don’t think we played as well as we did in the first half. But when you have those decisions go against you... If the penalty was given and Cleiton (Silva) scored that, it would’ve been a different game. We had four players booked and none of their players were booked. We didn’t lose the game because of decisions, but those did have an effect.”

“I don’t think we had enough of those moments where we deserved to win the game. But I felt we were very unfortunate not to take a point from this game,” he added.

What did you learn from the season?

East Bengal played their last ISL 2022-23 encounter today. Stephen Constantine shared what he learnt from the season, which definitely wasn’t one of the bests for them. He said, “I learnt that you got to prepare from way before than we did. We can’t start in August and expect to do anything good.

He added on the team building issue, “I’ve been trying to bring in Indian players and identify foreign players since October. We brought in Jake (Jervis) who made a difference for us. I’ve not been able to bring in several of my targeted Indian players. We must move quickly, because time is running out and again we’ll be left with players discarded by other teams or look for players in the I-League.

He further added, “People think we have lots of time, but we don’t. Pre-season starts in June or July. I don’t know when the next ISL will start. We don’t have time. Looking on the bright side, we’ve had more points than we’ve ever had, more goals scored and more points than we’ve ever scored. We also have a player in the joint top-scorers from us. What is next is something that will have to be asked by those upstairs (management).”

On the Indian players

Indian national team boss Igor Stimac had recently made some comments about East Bengal’s Indian brigade. Stephen Constantine shared his views after the derby, “I thought Lalchungnunga is a decent prospect, Mahesh has done a fantastic job. Mobashir needs another good season, but I think he’s getting better. Those three players for me are worth monitoring by the national team coach. Maybe they’re not ready to go into the national team now, but for the coach to say that they didn’t impress him, maybe he didn’t see much of them.

He added, "We got here in August. Mahesh wasn’t well known, but everyone knows him now and what he’s capabie of. Nobody heard of Nunga before we signed him, but he’s now a solid defender who will get better. Mobashir has been a better player for the last 5-6 games and if he keeps that up, I’d pick him for the national team If I was Stimac.”

New signings in summer

Stephen Constantine spoke of signing new players in the summer window. He didn’t reveal names but gave a hint on how he plans the club’s future.

“We can take players who haven’t played for anybody else. We can look at players who haven’t agreed contracts with other teams. I’ve spoken to several players who are interested to come and they would make a considerable difference to the club. But I don’t have the money to bring them myself (laughs).”

How do you take this result?

The East Bengal mentor was questioned on how he accepts this result in the derby. He gave a long explanation to the same. He said, “I hate losing. When I look back at this season, in the games we lost to Odisha, the one we lost to Goa, the first one against ATKMB, the two games against Hyderabad, Chennaiyin one we should’ve gotten something and Jamshedpur too. We threw away two points against NorthEast.

He added, “But given the circumstances, this is the best season East Bengal have had in the ISL. Six wins, 13 losses is not good enough to be in the top-six. Can we get better? For sure. It’s just a case of implementation. The plan and vision are there. Everything is there, we just need to do it. We need to be consistent in our decisions. If we keep changing, we’ll be in the same situation next year.

On the foreigners

Stephen Constantine gave an assessment of his foreign brigade.

“When you do things in the last-minute, you sometimes don’t have too many choices. I thought Jordan (O’Doherty) has done OK. Charis (Kyriakou) has been very good. Ivan (Gonzalez) did OK, not impressive totally. I think he’s used to a different way of playing. Lima (Alex) has been good, but not as good as he can be. He’s a better player than that.

“But we put all the emphasis on the foreigners, the four which play should make a difference. But I must tell you, if there are seven Indians, who are driving are car, are of not good quality, then you are bound to struggle,” he added.

Hopeful of Super Cup?

With the ISL now over, it is expected that East Bengal would want to give their best in the Super Cup. The mentor shed light on the same.

“We go into the Super Cup with the squad we have. We don’t have any other choice. But in the games we’ll play in the Super Cup, we don’t know much about it. It’s an opportunity for us to compete and to end the season strongly. I know who we need, what positions need improving. We had an embargo and could’ve gotten more players in January. Jake can score 10-12 goals next season. Hopefully we keep Cleiton. And hopefully they keep me too! I don’t know much about that.”