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East Bengal FC head coach Oscar Bruzon stated that his half-time team talk did the trick as his side scripted a comeback from 0-2 down to defeat Punjab FC with a 4-2 scoreline in the Indian Super League (ISL) at the Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata on Tuesday.
East Bengal FC trailed to goals from Asmir Suljic and Ezequiel Vidal but stormed back in the second half with goals from an own goal from Suresh Nongmeikapam and David Lalhlaansanga to claim a memorable victory. The Spanish head coach shed light on what changes for his team after the interval in the post-match press conference and said as quoted from ISL.com, "I felt that we were inferior to them. They were better in all the areas, in all the sectors, in all the actions, and in all the positions. So, we were looking like a rival who didn't even want to put up a fight today." "The reality is that I elevated the tone in the half-time because it's a shame playing a game at home with all the supporters that they didn't even shout at us. After the talk, in the second half, everything changed. So, the problem was not a tactical problem, the problem was not missing the foreigners, it was a problem of belief, courage and attitude," he added. "So, after such a bad first half, I think that I need to praise my players because in the second half they played like lions in every action. I'm happy that I could do the substitutions. So, I think that is a beautiful story of a comeback of East Bengal FC in line with the history of our club," remarked. Bruzon also pointed out the contribution of captain Cleiton Silva in the comeback win as he used him effectively to execute a key tactical switch in the second half. "We were not having control in central areas. Another point that helped the team is that Cleiton started to play more deep to help the central midfielders. And when you have more control in the central areas, the outside players get the benefit of that," he said. "I think that Cleiton was one of the players also making the difference, helping the midfielders, having that control that we didn't have in the first half. Cleiton showed that for this team he's more important than just one striker. He is the captain and he understood that in the second half we need to bring up our game," he added. The Spaniard also revealed his desire to always coach a team to achieve victory even in extreme situations and his side responded with a flawless performance in the second half. "I consider myself an attacking coach. I always say that my idea of the game is always creating more chances than the others," Bruzon said. "So, I'm not going to come here to try to win games 1-0. We want to take the risk to win games. So, if we are minimizing risk, being scared, we are not understanding what we are doing. I think that the second half is the foundation of what we are doing in the last few weeks. So, there is nothing different. What is the exception is what happened in the first half," he added. Bruzon went on to thank the fans for their unwavering support during the game and was glad that his team were able to send them home happy. "It's unbelievable that with the poor first 45 minutes of the game, they were on the side of the team. So, our fans deserve everything and we want to give back good episodes of football like what happened today, especially in the second half," he said. "If that can help to get them excited and to be more proud of this team, we are always going to be the proudest people to make them happy. I think that today there are a lot of reasons for them to go home and enjoy a beautiful night," he concluded. (ANI)
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