Carles Cuadrat defends Bengaluru FC’s style – We do not commit many fouls

Bengaluru FC coach Carles Cuadrat explained that while physicality is an important aspect of football, his team don’t necessarily look to commit fouls. He acknowledged that he has strong players in his squad but they use their physique to their advantage well within the rules of the game.

“Every game is physical. In the end we are in a professional sport and physicality is very important. I am very happy with my players because we play within the rules. I think that we are a physical team with good physical players like Ashique (Kuruniyan) and Suresh (Wangjam) also the big guys like Erik (Paartalu) and Juanan, they are really fit. But at the same time, we are team who do not commit a lot of fouls and we are playing the game in the right way,” said Cuadrat.

The Spanish boss was questioned on his decision to bench Udanta Singh in their last two outings and whether he would play a bit-part role from the bench this term. It must be pointed that the winger signed a contract extension at the end of last season which will keep him at Bengaluru until 2022-23 season.

“Udanta is a very valuable player for us. He is from the national team, he has good pace and it is important to have players with good pace because they break the defensive line of the other team. But at the same time, I have to try to get a balance team and I think that now Cleiton (Silva) playing on the right and Suresh helping us in the center of the pitch, we have a good balance in the team.

“So it is true that in the last two games, I have been using Udanta to try to take advantage of the space when the game is more open. So I am happy with the performance of him against NorthEast United and Kerala Blasters. It is good for the team that he appears in the second half,” reasoned the Bengaluru coach.

Odisha FC have been in poor run of form this season as they are yet to register a single win. Not just their results, but their performance has failed to uplift the mood in the squad. Cuadrat was asked if his team could possibly get complacent against a team who are in the bottom half of the Indian Super League (ISL) table.

“I know my players very well, there is no complacency. There is no room for that. They are very competitive and for sure, they will try to get the three points. But at the same time, we know how football is. We have seen a lot of games where the team who is not getting results suddenly change things.

“For sure teams like Odisha are very dangerous. We are all conscious of that. We know that they have been fighting for the points, it was not happening until now but one of these days they will win a game because they have the quality for that. They have a good coach (Stuart Baxter), good players and so it has to happen.

“So, there is no question that we are ready for the game and we are not overconfident. We are never complacent against any team in the ISL because we know that any team can beat any team in this league,” explained Cuadrat.

He further elaborated by stating that Odisha have some important players in their ranks such as Diego Mauricio and Cole Alexander. Cuadrat also mentioned that they have been analysing the strengths and weakness of their opposite team in order to devise a game-plan for Thursday’s match.

“We saw Diego Mauricio scoring wonderful goals against Jamshedpur. He was also very important for the team when they were losing and they came back from being two goals down, that shows they have mental strength. They also have two powerful central defenders with a lot of experience. I especially like Cole Alexander.

“I think he is one of those players who give a lot to the team. He has a good background and experience in international games for South Africa and he is one of those quite players who is doing a lot for the team. So, we have been studying the opponents and we will try to avoid their tricks and try to manage the game.”

Rahul Bheke was rested in the last game against Kerala Blasters and instead Pratik Chaudhari was handed an opportunity to partner Juanan at the back.

“We are preventing Rahul Bheke for the game. He will not be in the list but it is just a prevention because of his muscle situation. We are going to have him for the next game,” said Cuadrat.