East Bengal coach hopeful of correcting past mistakes ahead of Aizawl clash

EAST BENGAL COACH Biswajit Bhattacharya said Aizawl FC are a good team and it will be a challenge to get a win against them at Barasat, but was hopeful that his hard work in the practice sessions and the inclusion of Bernard Mendy would pay off for them.

Bhattacharya rejected the idea that East Bengal have suffered a loss of form in the I-League after drawing two matches and losing one early on in the campaign,

"We've just lost one match. We shouldn't have lost it. But the result says we've lost. We're ashamed for that. The team is in rhythm, and the players have done well. It's hard to play the next match after Derby with the same kind of motivation. That's why we weren't up to the mark."

The Maidan veteran explained how they are trying to overcome the mistakes they made against Bengaluru,

"We always play like a team. The players are united and they have a good relation with each other. We tried hard but we couldn't score in the last game. For that I've taken care to correct mistakes and soon we'll overcome them... every match is difficult. We're taking it one game at a time. Aizawl are a good team. It'll be a challenge to turn it around."

After the defeat in the last game East Bengal striker Ranti Martins complained of not getting enough passes from the midfield. Bhattacharya rejected that claim,

"Ranti expressed his personal opinion. If he didn't get enough service from the back how did we create so many openings? Bengaluru FC got two chances and a half chance. We got more than a dozen chances. We need to do even better so we're working on that."

As for Aizawl FC, the former East Bengal and Indian national team player said he was respecting the opponents,

"I saw their match against Sporting Clube de Goa. We're planning according to that and other videos. Aizawl are a good team. They play good possession football, attack well from the wings and have a great fighting spirit."

East Bengal captain Robert Lalthlamuana, who himself hails from Aizawl, said he was excited to play alongside Bernard Mendy against his hometown club,

"It always helps to have experienced players in the team. Mendy is very versatile, and the team has a lot of confidence in him... I know a lot of Aizawl FC players because I'm from Aizawl, they like to a play possession game. This is their first season in the top division so they lack experience. It will be their speed versus our experience."