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#1 Carles Cuadrat’s tactical tweaks floor Odisha
Bengaluru FC began the encounter aggressively and asserted themselves almost instantly. They pressed the hosts high up the pitch whereas they were also willing to play through the lines and expose Odisha’s deficiencies in the defensive third. Consequently, they were rewarded with a goal in the 37th minute when Juanan scuffed his effort over the line.
After that though, Carles Cuadrat decided to alter his tactics and though that seemed a slight recipe for disaster at the start of the second period, it worked a charm towards the end, meaning that the Spaniard was vindicated in this tweaks.
Firstly, he instructed his players to back off and abandon the pressing philosophy deployed in the opening 45 minutes. In the process, Odisha were denied space in midfield, meaning that they had to search for defence-splitting passes from within their half.
The above also restricted the space Jerry and Nandhakumar enjoyed in the first half. The pair were forced to play with their back towards the goal for major parts after the break and were not allowed an opportunity to run at the defence.
The above also enabled the visitors to nullify the threat of Xisco Hernandez. The former Bengaluru FC midfielder is an exemplary passer of the ball but he lacks the explosion to jink past a couple of defenders. Thus, with minimal spaces available ahead, the Spaniard was forced to play backward or lateral passes, thereby ridding the hosts of any incision.
Additionally, Cuadrat’s ploy of switching Ashique Kuruniyan and Nishu posed an entirely new set of questions to the Odisha defence, considering the latter’s ability to cut inside.
Football is usually a game of terribly tiny margins and those facets usually come to the fore in an encounter as cagey as the one Pune witnessed on Wednesday. And, more often than not, the decisive tilting scale embodies a slight change in personnel or strategy.
Fortunately for Bengaluru though, Cuadrat delved deep into his tactical hat and unfurled a rather shrewd rabbit, when his side craved it most.
