Hopefully we can win again like we did last year: Bengaluru FC boss Simon Grayson

Bengaluru FC are without a win in their last three games.

Bengaluru FC is getting ready for their upcoming highly anticipated Indian Super League (ISL) match against NorthEast United FC following their much-awaited return to play following the international break for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. The Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati will be the scene of a thrilling football match as these two strong sides square off in a game that is sure to be a sight for the crowd.

Both the teams from here on will try to attain three points as the league is reaching towards the halfway and thus it will be enthralling to watch how both team have geared themselves up in this long break as NorthEast will go all out for winning their home match, whereas Simon Grayson’s Bengaluru FC will try to emerge victorious and take full points before returning to their next home match against Punjab FC.

Bengaluru FC’s head coach, Simon Grayson spoke to the media at the pre-match press conference. Excerpts are below:

Thoughts on their matchup against NorthEast

Simon Grayson emphasised on how they are looking forward to their upcoming away fixture against NorthEast United FC and how they will try to built on their momentum and gain three points from this match.

The coach said, “A completely different team from last year. On the pitch and off the pitch it seems a different football club and we played in pre-season and met the coach and he’s a real nice bloke and there’s lots of other connections. We’ve just got to make sure that we perform to the level that we can do and if we do that we’ve got some good players respectful of the opposition certainly because they’ve got some good players and had a good start.”

Simon Grayson also added, “We’ve got to concentrate what we need to do and hopefully that’ll get us three points and it’s the first game of what six games we’ve got now in the end of November and December that we can really go into the home games that we’ve got coming up in good spirits if we can win this game but we know it’s not going to be easy. I’ve not had the luxury of working with the whole squad in the three week period from our last game because the other third have been away on international duty but it’s nice to have them back and they’re looking forward to this game as well.”

Grayson’s input on tactics and boosting the team’s morale

Simon Grayson highlighted about their initial strategy of playing back three and also put focus on his thoughts on rebuilding their team and dressing room atmosphere as they have not been able to get their desired results in this season so far.

He said,” Well at back 3 we started it last season as well so even through the difficult first half of the season we were playing it and not getting the results that we wanted and we stuck with it. This was a ground where the first result came for us last season of the 12 games on the top that we won. So hopefully we can win again like we did last year. But yeah, systems are there for the personnel that you’ve got available as well.”

“We know that we can change the system at any time, before a match, during a game, because the players are well drilled and know what they’re doing. And that’s a good thing about this group. It’s a new group. A lot of these players weren’t here last year, so they’re still finding the feet.

“ISL game is completely different so I think our players are still finding connections and new units working together and I do feel that we’re only going to get stronger like we did last year as well,” Simon Grayson further added on talking about his change of strategies with every matches and how every matches in ISL differ from one another.

Thoughts on his travel to away fixtures

Simon Grayson discussed how he has adjusted to playing away from home as well as the preparations made by the club and coaches both before and after travel. The boss said,”yeah look we do it well as a football club, any long distance journeys like this we come out two days before, so we flew, we trained yesterday morning, flew out, landed last night and then we’re training tonight and then we’ve got tomorrow.

The coach concluded by saying, “So it’s like, if you’re flying in the night before on a long journey, we’ve got enough time to get the journey out of our legs and get ready for a tough game. So yeah, it’s a part, most of the Indian players are used to it now, I’m used to it now after 16 months here of the travel and the new lads are used to it as well now.”

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