Oscar Bruzon explains how East Bengal can bounce back from Kolkata derby defeat

Oscar Bruzon pointed out crucial mistakes from the Kolkata Derby.

East Bengal suffered their fifth-straight loss in the 2024-25 Indian Super League (ISL) season with a bitter 2-0 defeat to rivals Mohun Bagan. The Red & Gold Brigade were thoroughly outplayed for most of the game, with goals from Jamie Maclaren and Dimitri Petratos helping seal a compelling win for the Mariners.

This was also the first match that the new head coach, Oscar Bruzon, was in charge of the team. He watched his players go down to the loss from the dugout, only 12 hours or so after flying down to Kolkata. Bruzon has remained pragmatic in his analysis of his East Bengal team and what needs to be done for them to get out of this difficult situation.

Speaking about what aspects his side must improve upon soon, Oscar Bruzon explained, “There are a lot of areas to improve, that is why I wanted to be on the bench. I deserve time to observe the team and tackle the things that aren’t working well. Our team is missing aggression, intensity, ball winning ability and sometimes we make mistakes in the build-up and struggle in transitions.

ALSO READ: East Bengal vs Mohun Bagan Player Ratings: Maclaren, Petratos stellar; Cleiton, Anwar subpar | ISL 2024-25

“Mohun Bagan were the better team today, I don’t want to make excuses about penalties or the mistake we made in the buildup for the first goal. They were better today because of physicality. We have good talented players, some Indian players play in the national team.

“We need to improve intense pressing, physicality and intensity. If we can’t improve that, we need to score 4-5 goals to win games and that’s impossible. We have conceded 11 goals in five games and fixing that is the target,” Oscar Bruzon added.

Despite his damning indictment of just how many areas East Bengal must improve upon, Oscar Bruzon remains upbeat about his team’s chances of coming from this poor form and pushing for a place in the ISL playoffs. Interestingly, he insists that the campaign will be a total failure for the Red & Gold Brigade if they can’t even finish in the top six at the end of the league stages.

“Absolutely. At the moment, we are not going to finish in the top six of the ISL. So far, our season is a failure. But we will work hard because the objective of the club is to finish in the top two or top six. If we can’t finish for the playoffs, it’ll be a failure of a season. Give me some time and I’m sure that things will turn around,” Oscar Bruzon concluded.

East Bengal will play their first away match of the Oscar Bruzon era when they travel to play against Odisha FC on Tuesday (22 October) at the Kalinga Stadium.

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