ISL 2017: Bengaluru FC have no answers to Steve Coppell’s ‘defensive’ team

In the last two matches, John Johnson and Juanan were substituted and thereafter, the club has leaked in a late goal. Against Chennaiyin FC, they did manage to get the equalizer but eventually allowed the opposition to score the winner. Against Jamshedpur FC, Juanan was taken off and they gave away a penalty.

The decision to go all-out in attack hasn’t paid dividends for Albert Roca partly due to the poor finishing of his strikers. Also the Indian contingent in defence has committed crucial errors in the final minutes of the game.

Rahul Bheke gave away a needless free-kick from which Dhanpal Ganesh headed home the winner and the former East Bengal defender was once again at fault for fouling Sameehg Doutie inside the box. His performance against FC Goa too was deplorable.

Certainly playing your third game in seven days isn’t easy however, Roca’s side had four relatively fresh players but still they couldn’t test Subrata Paul in goal as much as they would have liked. The only real save he had to make was in the 77th minute while the rest were long range tame efforts.

Bengaluru FC have scored 14 goals this season and all have come from inside the box. Teams have done well to stifle the likes of Udanta and Chhetri to ensure that there is hardly any service provided to Miku, who is arguably one of the best strikers in the league. It is seen that when Miku has been shorn of chances, although he does create a few of his own, Bengaluru struggle as a unit. Although they had 10 shots on target, not many of them really troubled the Jamshedpur citadel.

The problem for Bengaluru is that the rest of the pack, even those who made their way from the bench, do not threaten enough to trouble the opposition.

It’s fair to state that Bengaluru played into the hands of Steve Coppell. In the second half, they had two brilliant opportunities fall for Kervens Belfort and Jerry Mawihmingthanga who wasted their chances. Coppell brought in Doutie, whose pace was always going to trouble the Bengaluru defence.

It was a perfect away performance from Jamshedpur as they won the bragging rights of the first ’Steel’ derby in the ISL. His emphasis is on clean-sheets and to create one or two chances later in the game in the hope of picking three points. He knows his team’s limitations and always has a plan laid out.

In spite of Mehtab Hossain being substituted due to a back injury, Bengaluru struggled to open to Jamshedpur defence. Their full-backs, the two Shouviks, kept Chhetri and Udanta sedate. If Udanta isn't given space to run into, the winger has struggled as witnessed in the last three outings (before Baljit Sahni was sent-off for Pune City).

This win shall certainly propel Jamshedpur FC’s confidence up a notch as they once again lived up to the tag of having the best defence in the ISL.