Carles Cuadrat terms Indian football 'emotional'

The Spanish tactician felt the Blues played a very good game in the first half against Kerala Blasters.

In what was a much-needed win for the Kerala Blasters, Carles Cuadrat’s men beat Kerala Blasters 4-2 giving them some momentum for the rest of the season. 

“We played a very good game in the first half. We had quite good chances to score and we were unfortunate in one of their set-pieces. Everyone knows that we are a team that takes a lot of risks in set-pieces. Sometimes, we involve 7-8 players. As a coach, I take responsibility for that. 

“But, you can see how dangerous we are with set-pieces. Sometimes, we concede like today and nobody is happy once they concede. But, I am happy that the team is trying different options and it gives us more options in attack,” said Carles Cuadrat.

The former ISL champions seemed to emerge with a renewed sense of vigour post the first half break and the Spanish coach revealed that the half-time message was about asking the team to be more confident. 

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https://youtu.be/A3yPuEarklo

“Once we equalised at 1-1, we were back in the game and we looked to build on from that. It is important that we stay as a unit and continue to work. Even after we missed a penalty, you saw that the team continued to work toward the three points,” said Carles Cuadrat. 

One of the common themes of the Garden City club this season has been their reliance on set-pieces as a scoring option and also how they line up defensively for a swift counter-attack.

“We have a lot of variation and we hope to keep surprising the teams with different routines. It was my fault today due to a misunderstanding. But, on another day it could also work,” the 52-year old coach pointed out. 

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The second half did see most of the goals from both sides, which included a penalty miss from Sunil Chhetri, who tried to beat Blasters goalkeeper Albino Gomes with a trademark Panenka, but was thwarted by the former Aizawl custodian. 

“Sunil is a proud competitor and he uses these things to motivate himself. It is good and that is expected from competitive sportsmen. I do not celebrate penalties because we have only won it. It also needs to be converted. Sunil was just trying to confuse the goalkeeper, who has been here for a long time with Aizawl FC,” said the former Barcelona man. 

Cuadrat felt that the win was needed, but was not something that required much celebration given how they played against NorthEast United and keeping in mind their upcoming match against Odisha FC. 

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“The team has been working well from the first day. We would obviously need time to ensure that everyone is aligned with the same pattern of play. We missed Rahu (Bheke)l and Dimas (Delgado) during the start of the season. Kristian Opseth and Deshorn Brown needed some time to gel and now are getting better. 

“Indian football is very emotional. One day we get a good result and the next day we do not. I was happy with the team against NorthEast United and I think we deserved the three points. After we conceded two points in the last game, it was important that we get the three points in this game. But, we do not know what is going to happen against Odisha. It is going to be a tough game because they need the points,” indicated Carles Cuadrat.  

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A key feature in the game was the involvement of almost the entire Bengaluru FC frontline in the goals, something that Cuadrat was very happy about. 

“Strikers live for confidence and they need the confidence to keep scoring goals. I am happy for him and for the others like Kristian and Cleiton (Silva). Deshorn will also be on the scoresheet soon. He was not playing too many minutes due to a muscular problem. We have the team to help him do that and we arrived at the box many times today,” signed off the Spanish coach.

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