We have achieved nothing yet: Carles Cuadrat

Carles Cuadrat also spoke about Cleiton Silva’s fitness.

East Bengal registered a 2-1 victory against Gokulam Kerala to seal their place in the Durand Cup 2023 semi-finals. After defeating the Malabarians, the Red & Gold Brigade will now face a confident NorthEast United in their next knockout fixture.

East Bengal boss Carles Cuadrat was seemingly happy after the game, evident from the celebration with the players and fans in the gallery. Here’s what he said after the win.

Thoughts on the game

In his first press conference at East Bengal, Carles Cuadrat had clearly mentioned that he wants to build a project at the club. Speaking on the game, he emphasised more on the ‘confidence’ which is earned from these wins.

“It’s clear that we’re starting a project. It’s important to get confidence. Last time we won three games in a row was way back in March, 2019. Four and half years without that happiness. It’s important to fight for victories and to enjoy that with our fans. We have achieved nothing yet. But we are in the semi-finals after four years. We have to earn confidence with every passing match.”

Areas of improvement ahead of the semi-final

East Bengal will play their semi-final against NorthEast United in another three days. Carles Cuadrat outlined how he plans to get the mistakes improved ahead of that clash.

“We are in the pre-season. Players are still getting fit. It was the same with Gokulam Kerala. Even they didn’t create chances in the last 15 minutes. Our idea is to build the team to get physically well and at the same time win games. We have three days before the next game. Tomorrow is the recovery session and then we’ll have two more days. Every match needs a lot of preparation. We have to build a compact team.”

He further spoke about Cleiton Silva, who despite appearing twice for East Bengal this season, hasn’t yet started firing.

“It has just been 10 days in training for him. He is getting fit. Cleiton got some chances today. He’ll start scoring soon.”

One goal margin not enough

Football is a game of uncertainties and very certainly a 1-0 lead is mostly not enough to win a game. East Bengal have been winning by slender margins under Cuadrat, but the boss has some other plans, as evident from what he said in the press conference.

“We were leading 1-0 and were in search of the second goal today. We were close to scoring the second in both the halves. We always try to get two or three goal margins. But if you look at the Bangladesh Army game, even two goals weren’t enough. The second goal was not coming today but ultimately it happened in the end.”

After remaining undefeated for four games and qualifying for the Durand Cup semis after four years, East Bengal will have a tough outing against Juan Pedro Benali’s NorthEast United, a team which is in fine form.

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