'No protecting players, every point crucial' - Carles Cuadrat ahead of FC Goa game

Carles Cuadrat shared an important injury update for East Bengal fans.

East Bengal will aim to get back to winning ways when they face off against a struggling FC Goa side at the Fatorda Stadium, Goa on Wednesday in the Indian Super League (ISL). Despite only having four wins in the 2023/24 ISL season, the Red & Gold Brigade are set to face a side, which is on a five-game winless run – which can increase their confidence of getting a positive result.

Cuadrat desperate for three points

With five games remaining, Carles Cuadrat is urging his players to go for the win against the Gaurs. He stated ahead of the game: “We have to try and win three points, that is very important. We have 15 points to play for and we need numbers to be in the playoffs. This is another game we need to nail our tactics and go for the three points. We’re happy that Hijazi is back and will start tomorrow.”

Reflection on Goa’s form

When asked about what has caused Goa’s poor run of form, Cuadrat explained: “That is how football works. You are in a dynamic that doesn’t help you sometimes and now it is true they are struggling with last results. A few weeks ago FC Goa were on an unbeaten streak with a lot of good results in a row and suddenly they’re not getting the results.

“It’s about confidence, being positive, believing, and even having a little bit of luck sometimes – in going to a good dynamic or a bad dynamic. In a good dynamic the Vishnu’s heading to the post is goal and we got a 0-2 in Jamshedpur at 70th minute. Little things take you to a good or a bad dynamic. Goa is in that situation right now. But when you are in a bad dynamic, it’ll finish one day. So after not winning a lot of games, of course, one day they’ll win a game. We will try that will not happen against us,” he added.

Need for consistency

Carles Cuadrat has rued his side’s inconsistency this season after the recent loss to Odisha. He said: “I think we have a lot of unusual situations this season. It’s been a very strange season in a lot of circumstances not going for us in ISL. But it’s true that like Goa now, we never get the positive dynamic of results to put us in a better position. It looks like a good dynamic started and then something happened to break the positive dynamic.

“For example, we had a good dynamic in the Super Cup and played a very good game against Mohun Bagan – but suddenly something happened that didn’t let us to get the three points. So the dynamic got broken. Now we’re in a situation when we score before but sometimes we can keep it, like against Hyderabad or Chennaiyin, and some other times circumstances in the last moments of the game don’t allow us to get the result. A faul, a penalty, a corner. We’re trying to work to avoid these things happening, but they are still happening and it is something my players have to understand. I hope we can get good dynamic in the last five games and get the points we deserve,” he added.

Saul Crespo’s update and thoughts on East Bengal’s mentality

The Spaniard is also delighted to have Saul Crespo back in contention to play against Goa and a full set of foreigners. He stated: “Saul has been training and finally, after seven games, we will have six foreigners ready for this game – four starting and two on the bench. It is true that we had a plan for the winter transfer window when we were thinking of four players playing most of the games and with Felicio and Victor coming to help us but only getting more minutes step by step. But suddenly everything changed with the injuries of Pardo and Saul, so the new players have to start directly into the action without pre-season and competitive game time. I appreciate the effort they all have been doing for the team.

“They have had to play 90 minutes when they were not fully fit, they played their last games in November-December. But this happens in football. Never is a good time for an injury. That is one of the reasons we haven’t been consistent in our performances. But I’m happy we can finally travel with six foreigners now to Goa,” he added.

When questioned if complacency is hindering his side this season, Carles Cuadrat replied: “Complacency isn’t the suitable word. The players are fighting, they know the tactics, they are focused and doing the job. But this happens in football. There is room to improve for my players. When you get an advantage in the score, you need to be good enough to keep that result. Play the smart game, manage the result. I’m very disappointed about that, this is something we’re trying to fix but this keeps happening. The team is changing a lot with different players, but this is something that already should be solved. Too much points have been dropped this season from winning positions becouse we didn’t score clear chances to increase the gap or we conceded fauls, penalties or even a corner last match that should be better defended.”

No more protecting players and goal difference

Carles Cuadrat is also beyond the point of ‘protecting players’ due to East Bengal’s schedule, as he stated: “We are not in a moment to protect players because every point is crucial now. We’ll go with a full team to Goa to try to get three points. I rotated a little bit in recent games because I saw it was the way to arrive to the important moments of the competition with everyone ready and no injuries. That’s why we rotated some players against Mumbai, Chennaiyin or Odisha, but now it’s a do-or-die situation so we have to use all our cards.”

Finally, the Spaniard is pleased that his side does have a positive goal difference (unlike the others outside the top-six) but has urged his team to work hard to get wins. He explained:  “I’m not that satisfied with our solidity as we don’t have enough points. It’s true that our positive goal difference can matter because it can be draw situations with three or even four teams in the table positions. Also it is true that when you have a positive goal difference it means you are doing the right things to get three points, becouse it means that you are scoring more than opponents. So yes, our xG has been better than most of the teams around us in the table, so definitely we should be with more points at that time.”

“We’re not conceding too much goals and the results should be different in a lot of these narrow games. We have lost points by very unfortunate decissions and some of those dropped points has not been really deserved. We must understand that football is like this sometimes, so we must work hard now to get the points that we should deserve,” he added.

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