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In their final game of the Indian Super League (ISL) 2021-22 season, Bengaluru FC (BFC) will square off against SC East Bengal at the Tilak Maidan on Saturday. Although the Blues under head coach Marco Pezzaiuoli failed to make it into the top-four, BFC have played an incredibly high-octane brand of football this season.
Ahead of their last game of the season, Pezzaiuoli was asked by Sportskeeda whether he feels he can play this brand of football more successfully in the upcoming season with the same core group of Indian players. The German gaffer replied:
"I think yes, when you look all through the season, how opponents created fewer chances against us, how many chances we created, how little ball possession our opponents had against us. ATK Mohun Bagan and FC Goa have over 500 passes in most games, but they had lesser against us. That means we're doing something very well. And I think the Indian players also prefer the style because you're near to the goal."
Furthermore, the coach opened up on how he feels Bengaluru FC's style of play has forced more ISL teams to play offensively.
"When you drop back, you need to run a lot without the ball," he said. "It's more intense. When you look at how the opponents played last season, they dropped deeper last season than they did this season. I think after a few games, the opponents analyzed how we played and many teams like Kerala Blasters FC, Mumbai City FC, Goa and ATK Mohun Bagan had to play more offensively and play higher against us."
The detailed ISL fixtures are available here.
"We have Indian players who need to step up" - Bengaluru FC boss Marco Pezzaiuoli on the team's attacking woes
Bengaluru FC have accumulated 26 points from 19 games this season and are currently sixth in the ISL points table. Although they've scored 31 goals in those matches, Pezzaiuoli believes goal-scoring has been a problem for the team when compared to the chances they've created.
Asked by Sportskeeda if the gaffer felt foreign reinforcements were necessary in the attacking department, Pezzaiuoli replied:
"I don't think this is only about foreigners. We have Indian players who need to step up. We have seen Sunil Chhetri. I don't think we gave him enough assists or he was also not lucky not to score more goals. Because normally, for him two penalties are clear 100% goals.
"Prince (Ibara) scored some goals but he also needed to increase his number of goals as a striker," he added. "But I don't divide between Indian players and foreign players. Players who are playing in the attack need to score more goals."
But the German also opined that going into the market and making reinforcements won't necessarily solve the problem.
"It's not about going out there and getting a new striker," he said. "If you remember, Lewandowski didn't score many goals at Dortmund in the beginning. It's a team effort that eventually falls in place."
