Three ways in which Saul Crespo can help East Bengal

Saul Crespo will be the midfield general at East Bengal.

East Bengal are starting afresh under new manager Carles Cuadrat. That includes reassembling their squad and getting in a nearly brand new batch of foreign players to match his vision. One such foreign signing is that of Spanish midfielder Saul Crespo.

He made his Indian Super League (ISL) debut last season with Odisha FC and was part of their Hero Super Cup-winning squad at the end of the campaign. The 26-year-old proved himself as a versatile, innovative midfielder who helped create sparks for Josep Gombau’s and later Clifford Miranda's side. He’ll now operate in a new role for the Kolkata giants in an aim to get them fighting for at least a playoffs finish in the upcoming ISL campaign under Cuadrat.

East Bengal can benefit from Saul Crespo, who has a varied skillset and experience, having played in Spain’s Segunda Division before moving to India. With that being said, let’s look at the three ways Crespo can help improve the Red & Gold Brigade.

3. Enable smoother progression from defence to attack

A major problem that East Bengal faced last season was their inability to work on the transitions. In modern football, a team has to be swift and decisive in counter-attacks or swift transitions because that often leads to the biggest chances. In Crespo, East Bengal should have a calmer mind who is able to help bring the ball forward from their own half. He can carry the ball forward but most importantly feed the attacking players with decisive forward passes to ensure that the transitions work more smoothly.

He’ll be deployed to make some innovative cross-field passes or defence-splitting through balls to help create more chances in the breaks. If Crespo can perfect his ball progression ability, then East Bengal will automatically experience a major bump to their counter-attacking moves and create more goal-scoring opportunities in each game.

2. Add more goal contributions from midfield

The Red & Gold Brigade were way too dependent on captain Cleiton Silva for goals last season. He scored 12 of their 22 goals in the ISL campaign, with the second-most coming with two goals from Naorem Mahesh Singh and VP Suhair. Unfortunately for East Bengal, they didn’t really have a goal-scoring midfielder last season at all – with Jordan O’Doherty and Alex Lima scoring one each. At least in Crespo, they’re getting a proactive, attack-minded midfielder who can pop in up key areas to score goals.

Saul didn’t score any in the ISL for Odisha, but did score three in five Hero Super Cup games to prove his ability to find the back of the net. Even though East Bengal won’t depend on him to score goals, Crespo can at least prove more than the ones who fared last season.

Moreover, the 26-year-old is also really innovative with his passes and should rack up a number of assists with his clever final-third delivery too! This can enable East Bengal to get rid of their tendency to be overly dependent on players like Silva and operate more like a smoothly functioning, unpredictable unit.

1. Help East Bengal control games better

East Bengal mostly opted for the back-foot approach in the ISL last season, being ready to allow their opponents to control the possession and look to hit them on counter-attacks. This is likely to change under the guidance of Cuadrat, who likes his team to have more possession of the ball and build their way to the attack. Having a reliable player like Crespo should help with that.

The Spaniard is well versed with how to play in a possession-heavy style, as he boasts a varied passing range and can play the ball all around the pitch with ease. He’s the kind who demands teammates to pass the ball to him and patiently builds up attacks with a string of passes.

The 26-year-old should help East Bengal retain possession more often and also boast more ball possession next season. He’ll try to form impressive chemistry with teammates so that they can link up well to create beautiful attacking moves and play an attractive passing football that can impress the fans.