Carles Cuadrat: The refereeing has been terrible in ISL so far

The Blues' head coach also feels the quality of the refereeing is not improving in the league.

Ahead of Bengaluru FC's third fixture in the Indian Super League (ISL), head coach Carles Cuadrat and Spanish star Juanan Gonzalez addressed the media, speaking about the fixture ahead and the season so far.

“FC Goa lost just five times last season, and three of those defeats came against us. We played with the same tactics against them and if you look at Coro, he didn’t really crate any chances against us. It was a proud moment for us to stop a team like Goa from scoring, and Coro’s limited involvement was a massive achievement for us. We have lost four points out of a possible six and need to keep a good mental state about the situation,” Carles Cuadrat said.

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When asked about their overall chance creation and coversion rate so far, Carles Cuadrat answered, “We will be looking to stick to our game plan against Jamshedpur and we have been working a lot on attacking positions. Set-pieces and shots on target are just numbers and if you look at the two matches, you can see that we created a lot of good chances to score.

"At the end of the day, it’s football, I’m sure all the teams are professional and they will also be doing their analysis,” the Spanish tactician added.

Thoughts On Game Against FC Goa

"It’s not always about the numbers, it’s just about how many balls end up between the three posts. We do a lot of work in the training and the magic of football is that every game can be different. Sometimes you can play wonderful football and create wonderful chances but nothing goes in, and on other days you create nothing and one chance, you score, it makes a difference. We had multiple chances in the last game to go two goals up but when you reach the final moments of the game at 0-0, any single action can change the game,” the 51-year-old further went on saying.

On Players Playing Out Of Position

Carles Cuadrat was asked about his players playing out of position, to which he responded, “I think you are wrong; Nishu is a right-footed player so he can play on the right side, and Ashique has the ability to play across the left-side. We wanted to involve him in the team and he has done superbly in the two matches so far, other than the big mistake he made at the end. I have no doubt that Ashique is going to play in multiple positions in the team and will be an important player for us.”

Juanan On Defence

Juanan has been a pillar in the defence for Bengaluru FC in the recent time. The Spanish defender was asked about how playing in this new defensive setup has affected his game so far.

“Other than Ashique at full-back, it’s the same thing. We work very hard in training and his performances have been perfect in the two games as well. Maybe three years ago, I might’ve given this penalty away, but you learn and you grow, that’s football,” he said.

On this regard, Cuadrat went on to add, “I’m very happy with our defensive progress”.

On Fixtures

Closely knit fixtures have been a problem for several ISL sides over the seasons. Chennaiyin FC head coach John Gregory spoke about how his team were forced to play three times in seven days, and when this information was passed on to Carles Cuadrat, his mind went to a while other place.

“The Indian Super League has been excellent in many regards - promoting of young players, bringing in top managers from around the world, and even the quality of football are all improving. Like this, the calendar is something that is improving and we have no problem with,” he said.

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“One thing that isn’t improving is the referees. The standards of everything else are going up, but not the standards of the referee. We’ve seen some incredible situations that are clear refereeing mistakes already this season, that cannot be seen in professional top football," the Blues head coach opined.

"The penalties and red card challenges that haven’t been awarded need to be sorted out to ensure that the games are played out in a completely impartial way. So far, the refereeing has been terrible. Whether we have to give them better training or bring referees from abroad, it’s a big problem and it’s certainly effecting the competition," he concluded.