Simon Grayson, the head coach of Bengaluru FC, is happy with his team’s performance so far in the 2022-23 Hero Indian Super League (ISL), but feels his team is still finding the right mix between being more creative and have a strong defense.
At the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Thursday, the Blues will take on Odisha FC in Round 4 of the Hero ISL. Grayson’s team has won four points from three games so far this year.
The Blues defeated NorthEast United FC in their first game of the season. In their subsequent games, they were held back by Chennaiyin FC and lost to Hyderabad FC. Along with Bengaluru FC goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Grayson spoke at the pre-game press conference about his team’s recent performances, his thoughts on Odisha FC and much more.
Some quotes from Grayson’s press conference are included: What do you think of the team’s performance so far? I think we’re doing okay, but being okay won’t be enough in the long run to get us where we want to go. We were very happy with our progress after watching preseason games and practices, but league competition is different.
ISL 2022-23: Our defense seems to be quite strong
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Stronger teams, a faster pace and more spectators are present. In my opinion, when you consider the big picture, our defense seems to be quite strong. Even against Hyderabad FC on Saturday night, we gave the three teams we played relatively few chances. We didn’t need to make many saves. Images taken from outside the box were missing. That was satisfying.
Possession of the ball and producing more chances are probably areas where we need to improve. There is also a learning curve. For me, there is a learning curve. I’m still learning the basics of Hero ISL, my players, and various locations. Like I said, playing in the Durand Cup is different from playing in the Hero ISL.
You need to adopt a different mindset. I still have a lot to learn in many areas. I hope to keep improving. I will apply what I learned from the previous games so that we can get the right mix between being extremely strong defensively and being more creative with more chances and more shots on goal, which is how I want to play. Although our team includes people who are capable of achieving that, I think that, in general, we are currently not operating in a balanced way.
Has the availability of Roy Krishna changed at all? I’ll let you in on a little secret: he’ll be free on Thursday. Due to injuries, we have been experiencing pain for the last three weeks. There will also be some players who will not be available. But Roy and a few others will be there. He will be available despite missing the game this weekend.
We couldn’t afford to play him because he missed a lot of the game
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We have experienced absences of key players, as I already mentioned. Prince (Ibara) missed our preseason and the entire current season. For us he is a key player. He has once again experienced the pain of an injury that has not yet fully healed. It will be difficult for some of the players to join the group and perform well because not all of them will be available.
You talked about keeping possession of the ball and generating more chances. What importance does Javi Hernández have there? Javi missed three to four weeks of pre-season training and barely trained with the team for the four or five days leading up to the game against NorthEast United FC, which is why he didn’t start the season. He was too dangerous.
We couldn’t afford to play him because he missed a lot of the game. He wears it as a starter (against Hyderabad) after coming off the bench (against NorthEast United FC and Chennaiyin FC). Javi is one of those players who can impact the game in various ways.
I think the longer he plays for the team, the better player he will be. But the first three games were out of my control because of how bad he was because of the injury he sustained in the Durand Cup.
