The BFC B Head Coach Discusses His Side’s Successful Defence Of George Hoover Cup, Youth Development And More…
On the effort that went behind retaining the title…
We lost our opening games in both seasons. Last year against MEG, and this year against ASC. The losses helped us in a way, where they made the boys realise the importance of playing good football and not being relaxed. In the first game, we were leading 2-1, and we were sloppy to concede an equaliser and then the winner for ASC. So they now know and realise that if you want to be playing high-level professional football, you cannot be relaxed, especially when you’re playing for a team like Bengaluru FC. Given that we’re a much younger side compared to the last season, retaining the title was quite tougher than winning it for the first time.
On the competition in the Super Division…
I must say that the level of football has certainly increased. There were quite a few high-scoring games last year, and not so many this time around. So the level has definitely gone up. Even the clubs are taking a lot of interest. It’s a much-needed thing for football in the city and it’s a positive sign for the future.
On stand-out performers in the squad…
I have quite a lot of younger boys in BFC B. We have only six from last season’s reserve side, and there are almost 22 boys from the U18 squad. So, I have to manage the squad accordingly, given that the Elite League is going on as well. While we’re getting more games, we need to work hard to balance the squad so that we can get the best out of all our players. With the likes of Edmund, Suresh, Kima, Ajay, Patra, and other first-team boys, it’s about giving them game time. It’s not about strengthening the team as such, but more about them needing competitive action. They’re first-team players and they need to constantly be in action. Unfortunately, they aren’t getting that many minutes in the first team, so by getting them here, we can keep them in that match intensity. So everyone in our team has been doing well and they know how important it is to give their one hundred percent.
On making it to the first team…
All my four players on the wing have done really well this season – Leon, Roshan, Biswa and Bhutia. I hope they can make the move up to the first team. The Head Coach Carles Cuadrat is always there for games, so he keeps tracking their progress. We discuss after games, and he is always giving me feedback in terms of what he is looking from these boys, because I have to recommend players accordingly. Let’s hope we have some players moving up the ranks soon.
On involving younger players in the games…
The likes of Emanuel, Bekey, Rafi, Akashdeep, Jagdeep and Johnson have featured regularly while the others have come on mostly in the second halves of the games. Right now, our philosophy is to groom our own players. That’s reason why we decided to move our U13s to the residential set up in Bellary and bringing our U18s to Bengaluru. The juniors will develop more over there, while the U18s will get enough competitive action here. Furthermore, we have been constantly monitoring the progress of all our teams in the Baby Leagues. We’re trying to groom players and get their basics right from a young age because we believe that it will help us develop better footballers.
