ISL 2017: NEUFC coach Carlos De Dues opens up on the 'two things' that led to their defeat against Bengaluru FC
Albert Roca seemed a happy man as he addressed the media after Bengaluru FC’s victory over NorthEast United FC in Guwahati. Bengaluru defeated NEUFC by a single goal scored by prolific striker Miku who tapped home from an Udanta Singh assist. The goal, to be true, was gifted to Bengaluru by NorthEast as Rehenesh failed to find his teammates and laid the ball into Udanta’s path.
In general, NorthEast had better chances to score, and had it not been for Ralte's heroics in goal Northeast could have gone on to win the game. Rehenesh, on the other hand, didn’t have much do to during the whole game but that one mistake cost NEUFC dearly.
Bengaluru FC coach Albert Roca chose to ignore NEUFC's domination of the game, and chose to highlight the first 20, and the last 15 minutes of the match, as his example for that.
“Yes we knew that they (NEUFC) would throw in more striker and play long balls after the goal so we countered that accordingly,” said Roca.
He also added that having versatile players who can play in multiple positions is a big boost to the team as it increase his options and also allows him to change the tactics depending on the game while keeping his footballing philosophy intact.
Carlos Deus, on the other hand, said that two factors led to his team’s loss; first, the mistake by goalkeeper Rehenesh, and second, the squandering of chances by his strikers.
“My strikers are brilliant, and they work hard, they failed today but what matters is that we are creating chances and my players work hard,” said De Deus.
“See yesterday Cristiano Ronaldo won the Ballon d’Or but at the moment he is having a poor run of form in the domestic league in Spain. No one questioned my strikers after the Delhi game just because they scored. They failed today but they will score in the next game," he said.
Bengaluru captain Sunil Chetrri, on the other hand, lauded his teammate Udanta Singh for his performance on the night. “We have had a fantastic start to the ISL, except Gurpreet’s red card and suspension everything has gone as per our plan. It was a tough game today but Udanta was brilliant for us today and it is going to be very difficult for teams to come and get points from Northeast United this season,” he told Sportskeeda after the match.