AFTER FINALLY GETTING ON BOARD WITH THEIR FIRST POINT, Churchill will want to continue to keeping adding to their tally of goals. This becomes of utmost importance in tonight's fixture against a grazed BFC side.
We have seen the attacking prowess of Churchill the way the second half was played against Mumbai FC. The defence of Churchill has been low on the communication front. There were instances in the previous games where Churchill defence almost switched off to allow the lurking strikers ease of entrance into their own box.
A simple play like a shielding defender expecting the keeper to come and collect the ball almost cost them dearly. With such weak co-ordination between players, it does the goan side no good against any team and if done against a side that has scored seven times in four games, is inviting trouble. Tactically, Churchill will have to pack their midfield and throw in rushing strikers to press the BFC defence when they are with the ball.
Alfred Fernandes, Coach of Churchill Brothers SC said before the game,
"We are looking forward to our home match and they are coming from a loss while we are coming from a draw. So some positives are there and maybe their confidence can be low after that defeat. We have some tactical plans on how to contain them and since they are such a strong team with quality players, we have to come up with something extra"
He continued,
"Our confidence is very high after our last match because we came from a goal down and we nearly upset DSK Shivajians. In the last ten minutes, we were literally camping in their area. Sometimes luck has to be on your side. Hopefully, tomorrow luck is on our side. We have been playing against the best teams and we are not intimidated"
Bengaluru, with the squad of great depth that they have, East Bengal was the first team to push down the defending champions and it gives every team to do the likewise. The side from Bengaluru always make they play from the back. Either long floated balls from their back line to the front runners or making short passes from midfield to penetrate into opposition defences.
The champions have not looked at their best when it comes to finishing in front of goal as they struggled in their game against Chennai City. That would be an area of improvement that Albert Roca would want to look at coming into the fifth game of the season.
Coach of Bengaluru FC, Albert Roca shared his thoughts about this fixtures saying,
"We want to get back to our winning ways again. We know how difficult tomorrow’s game is going to be. It will be even harder than it was against Kolkata. We have to be ready mentally to prepare for this game. You know the league does not give you too much time to prepare for the games. But for everybody, it is the same. If we want something then we have to go out and try to get it. We have to be ready to work hard, to run a lot even more than them if we want to win"
He added,
"Obviously I can’t disclose how we are going to play tomorrow. But the way that we play, we cannot change a lot. We cannot play long balls and we have tried always more or less to play our game. We don’t want to think too much or cry about the last result and I will adjust to see how my team reacts"
Prediction
It will be interesting to see Churchill can breach the defence of the Champions. On the other hand, even if Bengaluru are not able to score tonight, it would highlight many things about Bengaluru. From a crack in the defence to a slight wobbly forward line. Otherwise, it thoroughly looks like a one-sided affair with Bengaluru showing no mercy to a shaky Churchill team.