ISL 2017: Albert Roca expects better attacking football from Bengaluru FC ahead of Delhi Dynamos clash
Ahead of Bengaluru FC's second ISL fixture against Delhi Dynamos at the Kanteerava Stadium, Blues coach Albert Roca claimed that although he was satisfied with the win over Mumbai City in the first game, he was not happy with the manner in which his tea won.
The 2-0 win had propelled Bengaluru to the top of the table after the first round of matches. However, the Spanish coach expected more from his team in attack but gave them some leeway as it was their first game in the competition.
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"I'm not very happy with the performance from the first game. It's not just a question of winning but how we win and we're on track to do that," he said. "Everybody likes to win. As coaches we are never happy, you know. We're trying to play like we trained and we want to see it on the pitch.
"But I know how difficult it is. The first game saw a lot of emotions; playing in a new championship (league). The players were surprised by how different it was compared to the I-League."
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Bengaluru scored two second-half goals against Mumbai City - an Edu Garcia goal from a clever set-piece plan worked up by assistant manager Carles Cuadrat and a Sunil Chhetri goal that came via a long ball from goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.
But Roca envisions better football from his squad: "I would like to win and also play good football. In the end we must have a good balance between defence and attack.
"I'm focused on the idea that we want to show our supporters tomorrow and prove to ourselves that we are able to play better football and create more chances to score goals and not concede any," he said. "This is simple but at the same time very difficult [to achieve]."
Roca was also wary of the number of chances missed in the first game against Mumbai - especially in the first half.
"This is football. When you miss a number of chances, the other team can score with just a few. I remember it happened a lot of times last year," said Roca. "So we will try to score as soon as possible or at least create chances because if you are it means you're putting the other team in trouble."
Bengaluru have a few injuries in the squad
The starting XI for the Blues could more or less be the same but there are a couple of injuries that Roca touched upon - most noticeably to Dimas Delgado who played in the AFC Cup campaign prior to the start of the new league season.
"We still have a few injuries," Roca said. "We will be without goalkeeper Mawia [Ralte], Joyner [Lourenco] in defence and Dimas [Delgado] in midfield. It's not bad."
Bengaluru face Delhi Dynamos on 26 November (Sunday) and the match kicks off at 8 PM IST.