Oscar Bruzon reveals East Bengal end-of-season priorities before Hyderabad FC clash

Oscar Bruzon’s East Bengal sit at the 8th spot in the ISL table.

Oscar Bruzon’s East Bengal will look to get their third straight win in the Indian Super League (ISL) when they host Hyderabad FC at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata on Wednesday (26 February).

The torchbearers have not won three straight games in the ISL this season or during the reign of Oscar Bruzon as their head coach.

Oscar Bruzon was asked if his side were under extra pressure to get their third consecutive victory, to which he replied: “It’s been a long time since we are talking about a third straight win, something that hasn’t happened before. But we’ve won the last two away games and the most important thing is that the team looks determined and confident to keep this run going and finish the season on the best note.

“We can’t take the rivals for granted, they had a good run in January. This Hyderabad FC isn’t the one we faced in December and this game is a chance for them to not finish in the bottom two. If we keep delivering, performing, looking hungry on the pitch and follow the tactical discipline, East Bengal has a big chance to finish the ISL on a good note,” he added.

Priority between ISL and upcoming AFC Challenge League clashes

East Bengal have a tight schedule in the next few weeks. Apart from their last three ISL league phase matches, they’ll also face FK Arkadag in the AFC Challenge League quarterfinal in early March.

Oscar Bruzon was asked if he is prioritizing winning their remaining ISL games or reserving their energy for the Asian games, to which he claimed: “I could have doubts of giving priority to one competition over another. The reality is we’ll play with our full resources in both competition. Our calendar is hectic, we’ll play a game every 72 hours.

“If you see our calendar, I should be thinking about giving economy of efforts, but the reality this is exactly what we won’t do. We’ll go all in, if some players are fatigued then we’ll go for rotations. Both competitions are very important for us and we are going all in both of them,” he also quipped.

Demands from Diamantakos

Finally, Oscar Bruzon clarified what he demands from striker Dimitrios Diamantakos after he scored a goal in the recent win over Punjab. He stated: “I have players who must show in every week that they deserve a chance to play. Dimi, as I said in the last weeks, was working well, was confident and needed support from his teammates. The inclusion of Raphael Messi Bouli has helped, he is a player who finds the depth of making a lot of breaking runs and provoking the defenders to go more deep.

“Dimi is getting a benefit from this and I hope the goal he scored in the last game will give him the confidence to score game after game. Our expectation from him is he has to be there, has to produce goals, he has to convert or help others to convert. I’m happy with Dimi and that apart from scoring one goal in the last goal, he was about to score two more. Let’s see if he can maintain continuity with his good performances,” he finished off with.

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