Dysfunctional pivot
Roca signed Cameron Watson in Aug 2016, with a view to shore up the midfield for the champions of India. While the Australian has an impressive passing range and is a willing worker in the centre of the pitch, he is no Alvaro Rubio.
Watson may have the ability to shut out opponents but initiating attacks from deep in his own half – playing the role of a deep-lying playmaker, so to say – is not exactly his cup of tea.
With Watson alongside Lenny Rodrigues who offers similar attributes – that of a destroyer (for the lack of a better term), Bengaluru have lacked the dynamism and creativity that is expected of a typical midfield pivot. This should ideally be akin to a combination such as Javier Mascherano and Xabi Alonso at Liverpool under Rafa Benitez or Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin at Arsenal, but Watson and Lenny offer more or less the same things.
Add to it the fact that one of their best creative players - Eugeneson Lyngdoh - is playing in an advanced position as opposed to setting up attacks from deeper down, and we have a genuine conundrum for the Blues that transcends from defence to attack, covering the key central stretch.
