Carles Cuadrat: We've to be precise when he have the chances

Carles Cuadrat also revealed who is the best player in the ISL for him.

East Bengal will face arguably their biggest test of the 2023-24 Indian Super League (ISL) season when they travel to face Mumbai City on Saturday (16 December). The Red & Gold Brigade are unbeaten in three games, but know that they’ll have to perform at a very high level to get anything out of this game against the Islanders.

Cuadrat praises Mumbai City’s quality

Carles Cuadrat is extremely respectful of Mumbai City’s quality and even heaped praise on Greg Stewart, saying: “We know they’re a very good team and were the league champions last season. They broke a lot of records and have experience in the AFC Champions League. Even though they didn’t get good results there, the players learnt a lot in every CL game and they improved as a whole and also for the players by playing there. It’ll be a very difficult match. Greg Stewart is for me the best player in the league. So we’ll try to prepare a plan to stop his impact in the game.”

Khabra’s situation and plan for Mumbai City game

The tactician also gave an update on Harmanjot Khabra’s situation, stating: “We finally know exactly that Khabra has hurt his lateral ligament (MCL), so it’s not as bad as injury as it could be. We’ll work on his recovery, it’ll take a few weeks to recover, but we hope he won’t be out for the rest of the season.”

Cuadrat refused to give any hint that East Bengal will play for a draw, insisting that they always prepare to get a win. He explained: “Every game we want to win. Every match plan we’re preparing until now is to get the three points. In ISL teams need a minimum number of wins to reach the playoffs. Last season there was a number, but maybe it’s not necessary to get as many wins this time because of so many draws in the competition. The plan is to get the three points, because until now we have two wins in eight games so we definitely need more victories.”

What went wrong in the last game?

When asked about what went wrong in the goalless draw against Punjab FC after the 5-0 thrashing of NorthEast United before that, Carles Cuadrat explained: “We played a good, professional match to try and win three points against Punjab. But every game is different. We scored two times in the first 25 minutes against NorthEast, so it makes another proposal for the opponent and you with more space for counterattacks will get more chances. Unfortunately in the last match, we tried and created some clear chances, but weren’t good precise enough to score.

“If you can’t score, the other team grows in confidence in their match plan and makes things more difficult. Against Punjab, we were the dominating team and played good football at some moments of the match. But if you can’t get the first goal, everything becomes more difficult.”

He further added, “But is seeing more positives with my team, the players are working in the right direction and they are doing what we are planning to do. The last two clean sheets in a row is a positive thing as it was not happening in the last three ISL editions and either happened in I-League since 2019. That means we’re building something solid. We are building a time that wants to be consistent in the performance. It takes some time. Every match is a learning lesson for the team.”

The Spaniard also mentioned, “I’m happy with what I see from the players and the answers they are learning to give in the different moments of the game. We have to be more precise when we have the chances. The positive thing is that we create these chances to get the victory. In the last game again the team showed that they had the desire to win, and if Vishnu or Cleiton were scoring the last minutes clear chances, we would celebrate the second three points in a row.”

Plans for winter window

Carles Cuadrat was persisted in revealing any plans he has for the upcoming winter transfer window in January. He replied: “It’s too early to talk about new signatures. We have to work next few days to concrete it. I can say that in EB things are being made in a good professional way, and we all parts work a lot in the plans for the Club next future. I myself travelled personally to Jordan to bring Hijazi as Elsey substitute in a difficult moment of the market.

“We all the ones taking decissions see a lot of videos, scout players and have phone calls with available players. But we can’t give exact information to the media about transfers, because sometimes needs to be done with the right privacy to make the operation possible. But of course we are trying to do the best things for the club and a lot of actions happens behind the scenes.

“Me as Coach for the Club have now one window, one in the next summer and one more in the 2024 Christmas period. So for me, every window is an opportunity to make a better team, that’s the aim of our work at the club. But a lot of things are behind that, the budget, the players demands, and the offers the targeted ones have from other places. The one work is being done, and we all are trying our best to keep improving chance after chance,” he added.

Javier Siverio’s form

Finally, the tactician opened up on Javier Siverio’s form amid his goal-drought for East Bengal. He stated: “He (Siverio) was our main centre-forward in the Durand Cup, scored two important goals there and helped us to achieve a final for the club after five long years. In the league, it’s true that he is lacking in the finishing aspect but has created some good chances. The evaluation of No.9 in football it always depend on numbers.

“He is helping the team, but until now he has been unlucky in his last touch. He is working hard to score a goal, but we all know in India that he is someone who can score a lot of goals. We have to keep helping him, and for sure he’ll score again soon,” he concluded.

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