Roca delights in Chhetri show, Sheringham slams sloppy ATK
(Courtesy : ISL Media)
The Blues skipper scored a wonder goal in the first half to seal the win for his team.
Bengaluru FC edged defending champions ATK 1-0 in Indian Super League (ISL) at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday. Sunil Chhetri’s first-half winner ensured that the Blues recorded a win at home after tasting defeat in their previous couple of home fixtures.
The result puts Bengaluru back at the top of the table, and speaking to the media during the post-match press conference was their head coach Albert Roca, who thought that the result was a fair reflection of the game. “I think the result is fair,” he opined. “We did not make a brilliant game, but enough to win. I think we created enough chances to score. I don’t remember ATK having so many chances. So, I think it’s fair.”
He also praised Bengaluru captain Chhetri for his performance on the night. “Sunil is an outstanding player,” the Spaniard said. “Till the time he scored the goal, he was not playing that good. But suddenly you see this is a different type of player. He suddenly appeared and scored a goal like that. Its shows that he’s different in this kind of business.”
Roca further added that moving Chhetri back to his preferred central role paid dividends. “We had started him on the left as we did against Kerala,” the 55-year-old revealed. “There we performed very well. I wanted to keep that situation. But after 15-20 minutes, Sunil did not come into the game too much. So, we preferred him to be in the middle. It was a lucky moment. He received the ball when he was in the centre and he shot and scored. So, these things happen, and it was good for me also.”
The Blues kept a clean sheet, and Roca praised his team as a whole for their consistency. “We were much better today than the other days when we were at home; when we conceded goals in the last minute,” he said. “We were ready for that and to be better. And I think not only the defence, but altogether they (the players) were much more consistent. And we have not conceded a goal. So happy for that also.”
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[KH_RELATED_NEWS title="Related News"][/KH_RELATED_NEWS]Meanwhile, ATK head coach Teddy Sheringham explained the reason for not starting in-form Ryan Taylor and Hitesh Sharma. “Back from a game four days ago, I was just trying to freshen things up,” he revealed. “(There are) a lot of good players in our squad. I want to just utilize them and keep our team nice and fresh. But it obviously backfired tonight.”
The Englishman was also critical in the way his team approached the game against Bengaluru. “We were sloppy in all areas,” Sheringham said. “Sloppy in passing, sloppy in crossing as well. Does not sound good for a team like us does it?”
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