ISL 2018-19: "Loss against Mumbai makes us stronger in other aspects and puts our team in a test to try different things", says Carles Cuadrat

Bengaluru FC are back amid home comforts as they host the dark horses of the season in NorthEast United on 30 January at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium.

For the very first time this season, the Blues succumbed to a defeat and for the first time, they saw their spot at the pinnacle been displaced by the most in-form side in the division, Mumbai City FC.

NorthEast meanwhile, are in a battle for the 3rd and 4th spot with ATK, FC Goa and Jamshedpur, but a dominant display against the struggling Chennaiyin FC last time out must have boosted their morale heading into the high-voltage clash against Sunil Chhetri and co.

The fact that Bengaluru's unbeaten record took a beating against Mumbai opened a forum for a large pool of discussions from the entire footballing community at India, as the race to the top 4 of the ISL table is gathering pace.

However, Carles Cuadrat was unmoved, as he claimed that although he was disappointed to see his side lose their maiden game of the season, winning the trophy and sticking to the basics holds key. He asserted:

“We are fighting for the title, and at the end of the day, that's what we want the most. We were disappointed to lose out on our unbeaten streak but nobody is going to give us a gift for a record, what we want is to make the playoffs."

As far as the team news is concerned, the Spanish mastermind confirmed that star striker Miku is recovering well alongside Nishu Kumar, and both of them could feature after a couple of games. Meanwhile, Rino Anto is set to be drafted into the setup as he has recovered fully.

When asked about the Highlanders' prowess and structure, Cuadrat remarked:

“NorthEast are a very tough team and have had a good season so far. For them, tomorrow's clash is an important one and I'm sure they'll put on a tough show. They have good strikers in (Federico) Gallego and (Bartholomew) Ogbeche. We have to try and take advantage of our opportunities to win the game."

Last years' runners-up haven't been able to find the back of the net with astute ease, but Cuadrat is happy to accept the challenge as it opens the door for experiments.

"It makes us stronger in other aspects of the game. It puts our team in a test to try different things. One thing we tried last week was to try and use a talented player like Edmund (Lalrindika), the 19-year-old as been scoring a lot of goals with the B team, so why not test him? We are lucky that we are on top," he added.

Eelco Schattorie, meanwhile, much like all other visiting managers, expressed his knowledge of the supreme and heightened abilities and balance of Bengaluru FC, but affirmed that his side will play the way they do, and not sit back and try to hit their opponents on the counter, like Mumbai did.

“I don’t think there is a specific blueprint to beat them, it can happen once or twice. Many times you can try to convert a set piece and end up conceding on the other side. You can see it in two ways – either Bengaluru will be down that they lost their first match and don’t have their main striker, or they will be hungry to prove themselves again. I don’t want to think more about Bengaluru, I want to focus on ourselves.”

The Dutchman mentioned that apart from Provat Lakra, who is nursing an injury, the entire squad is available for the acid test against BFC.