Three East Bengal players who can be rejuvenated by Oscar Bruzon’s appointment

The Spaniard’s appointment can potentially hand these underperforming stars a lifeline.

East Bengal FC are set to move into a new era after confirming the appointment of Spanish coach Oscar Bruzon to take over the first team. The Red and Gold Brigade are still staggering from a tough start to their 2024-25 Indian Super League (ISL) season in which they’ve lost all four matches and are on a six-match losing streak across all competitions.

But the arrival of the ex-Bashundhara Kings head coach marks the turning of a new leaf for the Kolkata side. The appointment of a new coach also means a clean slate for every member of the first-team squad, including the players who have started the season in disappointing fashion.

That is because Bruzon will be analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of every single player in his squad before deciding his best lineup or who is indispensable to his plans. Here we look at three East Bengal players who can be rejuvenated by Bruzon’s arrival.

3. Prabhsukhan Gill

Prabhsukhan Gill was arguably one of East Bengal’s best players in the 2023-24 season and ended the campaign with seven clean sheets in the ISL. But he’s faced certain issues at the beginning of this campaign.

Gill produced some poor performances in his side’s loss to Bengaluru FC and Kerala Blasters FC, with his positional errors and passing being heavily criticized. He ended up losing his starting spot in the East Bengal goal to Debjit Majumder who has been preferred in the Torchbearers’ recent games. But Gill has the chance of returning to the starting eleven if he can win over Bruzon.

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For that, the 23-year-old goalkeeper has to put in the paces in the training sessions and work really hard to catch the tactician’s eye. If he can prove himself capable of consistently making clutch saves and distributing the ball well, he could win over Bruzon and his coaching staff. Gill should consider the change in coaches as not an obstacle but a major opportunity to regain his confidence and start churning out clean sheets for East Bengal in the ISL.

2. Dimitrios Diamantakos

Dimitrios Diamantakos has not had the heroic beginning to his East Bengal career that many fans would’ve hoped for. The ex-Kerala Blasters forward is yet to score a goal in the ISL for the Red and Gold Brigade and was only able to provide an assist in a loss to the Tuskers.

He has suffered from some injury issues that have forced him to miss the last few games, but the experienced forward will be raring to regain full-match fitness to impress Bruzon. To win over the new mentor, Diamantakos not only has to prove his link-up style and ability to be a ‘team player’, but he’ll also need to be way more clinical in the final third.

That means he’ll need to improve his off-the-ball movement, make clever runs into empty spaces, and glisten up his overall finishing ability after already missing some big chances this season. If Bruzon gives Diamantakos the freedom to play his natural game in and around the opposition penalty area, then the Greek forward might be able to tap into his best form and start delivering goals consistently.

1. Naorem Mahesh Singh

Naorem Mahesh Singh’s poor start to the 2024-25 season has resulted in him being dropped from the India squad for the recent Vietnam friendly. Mahesh appears to have lost that spark that helped him gain prominence in the 2022-23 campaign and Carles Cuadrat’s system did not suit his playing style at all.

ALSO READ: Which players were dropped from India’s final squad for Vietnam international friendly?

But the midfielder now has a big chance to rejuvenate himself under Oscar Bruzon. With the Spanish manager likely to employ an entertaining attacking style, Mahesh could use this opportunity as a big challenge to establish himself as a first-team regular.

Mahesh can start excelling in this East Bengal side if he’s given more permission to wander forward and stay closer to the opposition than having to contribute to his defensive responsibilities more often. He can also benefit from having overlapping full-backs that can help him drift into central areas or be more unpredictable with his trademark off-the-ball runs into the box.

If Bruzon can tweak East Bengal’s side to actually allow the wingers more leverage to take creative risks in the opposition area, Mahesh could potentially regain his spark and start weaving his magic to make the Red and Gold Brigade a much smoother and more dangerous attacking machine.

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