Oscar Bruzon highlights East Bengal's 'key areas of trouble' ahead of Punjab FC clash

Oscar Bruzon needs to restructure the team ahead of their crucial clash.

Oscar Bruzon’s East Bengal hope to get back to winning ways in the Indian Super League (ISL) when they host a hungry Punjab FC side at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata on Tuesday (17 December).

The Red & Gold Brigade are currently facing an injury crisis with both Madih Tahlal and Saul Crespo ruled out because of an injury, while Dimitrios Diamantakos faces fitness issues too.

Ahead of the game, Oscar Bruzon was asked if he’s made any plans to sign a new foreign midfielder to replace Talal, who is out for the rest of the 2024-25 campaign. Oscar Bruzon stated: “I have two options as a coach, which is getting crazy and thinking what we can do and change positions to think ‘if this system is good or that system is bad, this player can play here and he can substitute this player.

“I can be like this, or give confidence that we are doing every day is working. We must give continuity and trust to the process we are going through and not do anything drastic. My message is that of continuity on the tactical part of what we’ve worked on so far. We will probably replace some players in positions that we have problems in,” Oscar Bruzon added.

Oscar Bruzon also pointed towards East Bengal’s players being ill-treated by the referees after Jeakson Singh’s red card in their recent loss to Odisha FC made it six red cards in 10 games for them this season. He stated: “It’s not that I want to take questions on referees, but there are external factors. The reality is that in half of the games this season, we have finished with less than the opponents and have made fewer fouls than the opponents in 80% of the games.

“We are not an aggressive team and are not coming with extensive fouls. We are getting more critical decisions in our favour and we feel in the long period these things balance. We are suffering from these decisions, things we can’t control, but I hope at some point we get critical actions more in our favor going forward,” Oscar Bruzon also claimed.

East Bengal desperately need a win to get back into the ISL top six race, with their recent loss leaving Bruzon’s side 11 points behind the playoffs spot.

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