ISL 2017-18: The red card should have been shown to Kalu Uche: Roca

BENGALURU travelled to Delhi yesterday to face Dynamos. The result was the home team won by two goals to none Chhangte and Uche on target for Delhi Dynamos FC.

Speaking on the loss, Bengaluru’s coach Albert Roca said,

"We didn’t underestimate Delhi for sure,” Roca stated. 

“We were aware how difficult it could be to win today. But that’s football. They have fought. Some of our players were not too comfortable on the pitch. We have to be much better going forward.”

To a question if the weather conditions in Delhi made it tough for the Bengaluru FC players replied,

“I cannot complain about the weather when my team is losing,” the 55-year-old said. 

“This is a circumstance that has not changed too much. We were not comfortable because the other team was doing well. I think Delhi’s performance has improved compared to the first part of the season. Today it was not possible to win.”

If the travel schedule could playing a factor on the performance of his players, Roca denied saying, 

“It is another circumstance we cannot complain about either. It is like this ,and everybody is playing sometime after three days or four days or seven days. So, it depends. We are also playing in another competition; the AFC Cup. It is in the middle of the season. So, I have to make sure the players are ready for all the games and use all of my squad. I don’t want to have problems with injuries.”

Explaining his decision on benching Udanta Singh, Roca explained, 

“Udanta had some problems since the last two games,” Roca revealed. “He was on the bench, but he was not comfortable. Even our doctor made an examination and he saw that Udanta was not mentally prepared. And Alwyn is also a player who plays on the right.”

In the added minutes of the game, Subhasish appeared to push to bring down Kalu Uche in the box leading to the penalty from where Delhi Dynamos scored their second goal,  

“I thought it was a red card for their (Delhi’s) striker!” the Spaniard commented.

“I could not see any action from my player. I saw on TV and asked Subhasish as to what happened, and he said he did not touch the player. It is a shame. Maybe the referee was far off from the action, and could not see well. But everything was wrong for us in that game.”