How Oscar Bruzon is getting best out of Jeakson Singh at East Bengal?

Jeakson Singh is proving his worth under Oscar Bruzon for East Bengal FC.

East Bengal are heading into their Indian Super League (ISL) clash against Odisha FC by running high on momentum. The Red & Gold Brigade are on a six-match unbeaten run and their last defeat came to the Juggernauts before the AFC Challenge Cup campaign.

Oscar Bruzon has stabilized things in the squad and gotten many players performing at a higher level than they did in the shaky start under Carles Cuadrat. Jeakson Singh, in particular, has really benefitted from the gaffer’s tactics and his system.

The India international scored a stellar goal in their recent 2-0 win over Chennaiyin FC and appears to be performing at his optimum best under Bruzon. A few necessary tweaks from the gaffer have allowed Jeakson to pick up his performance and be the vibrant midfielder East Bengal paid the big bucks to sign in the summer.

Enough protection in midfield

A major reason why the Indian midfielder was often being overrun in Carles Cuadrat’s system is because he was forced to do many things on his own. He was often left all on his own in East Bengal, having to protect his backline and also try to win back the ball at the same time.

Oscar Bruzon realized this error and has made slight variations to the midfield shape, preferring a two-man pivot and also urging Madih Talal to drop deep below to help out.

As a result, Singh is now getting more protection and support from his fellow midfielders. That allows him to focus on one task at a time rather than having to multitask with his responsibilities in the midfield. As a result, Jeakson Singh can use his energetic nature to sharply close down opponent midfielders, close the gaps in midfield and also move the ball forward more efficiently.

Lowering defensive responsibilities

Jeakson has also benefitted from not being burdened with a plethora of expectations from him to almost act in a N’Golo Kante in midfield. Because of his high price, there was a feeling early in the campaign that Singh would be an enigmatic ball-winner, who would repeatedly win back possession or make crunch tackles all time. But that is asking too much from one midfielder because of how intense the ISL games can be.

Bruzon lowered all the defensive demands from Jeakson Singh by smartly distributing it better between the other players, including the attacking ones.

As a result, the 23-year-old midfielder has benefitted from not having to try and be in multiple places at the same time and improve his decision-making o when committing to challenges. Jeakson’s performances in the last few games have seen him not burdened with only working near his half but also moving higher up to get the ball into the dangerous attacking areas in a polished manner.

Giving more freedom to roam forward

Jeakson has been tried in some interesting roles by Bruzon so far. He played as a makeshift right-winger in their win over NorthEast United and has generally been allowed a more advanced position by the current gaffer. The 23-year-old’s impressive goal against Chennaiyin came because Bruzon encouraged him to get forward to get things done in the final third rather than just stay deep in his half and look after his backline.

He’s being given more room to maneuver into the opposition half, which is allowing the midfielder to move into promising positions and also help kick-start more decisive attacking chances for his side.

While Singh still has room to improve his defensive skills to be a more dominant midfielder for East Bengal, he’s at least able to show off his distribution quality and threat in the final third better under Bruzon.

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