Red and Gold’s to leave for Aizawl tomorrow
Kolkata: East Bengal coach Trevor James Morgan is unfazed with the loss of points in back to back matches in I Legaue. The Kolkata giants failed to get full points against arch rivals Mohun Bagan and Shillong Lajong respectively. The Red and Golds were a goal down before Willis Plaza restored parity for Morgan’s side. East Bengal leads the points table with 21 points from 9 matches.
The Red and Gold footballers returned home on Thursday from Shillong. Coach Morgan seemed to be in a hurry to leave for his home from the airport. He didn’t seemed bothered with losing points in the last couple of matches.
“Nothing happened, we are still on top,” said the gaffer as he whisked past the reporters along with Abinash Ruidas.
East Bengal’s new foreign recruit Christopher Payne failed to impress against Shillong Lajong yesterday. The Aussie striker had to be substituted in the second half with Robin Singh.
Club football secretary Santosh Bhattacharya, who accompanied the team to Shillong, said to the reporters, “Payne has just joined the team. He needs time to acclimatize with the conditions here. He needs to settle down first.”
On being reminded that the fourth foreigner has been the weak link in the East Bengal team this season, Santosh Bhattacharya said, “Yes, we also admit that Amirov did not live up to our expectation. But the we all know he came from a condition where it is freezing.”
East Bengal will be travelling to Aizawl tomorrow morning to play Aizawl FC on February 20. On being asked about the team staying back in Siliguri to play Lajong, Mr Bhattacharya said, “We wanted to give the players some rest. Similarly, we are travelling to Aizawl a couple of days ahead so as to get used to the conditions.”
In spite of having quality players in each position, the result has not reflected so. The strategy of the gaffer has a left a lot to be desired. The football secretary though decided to pass the buck on Morgan.
“I am a non-technical man to comment on the strategy of our coach. All I can say is we have selected the best players and hope to win the I League this season,” signs of Mr Bhattacharya.