Comment: Let The Foot Do The Talking...

There’s something about East Bengal. Anything they do comes out in a grand way. And why not? After all they, along with Mohun Bagan, are the two clubs who have a huge fan following. They have a charisma which is difficult or rather impossible to match.

Subhash Bhowmick couldn’t do much last season and one cannot blame him as he had to complete someone else’s incomplete work and ensure that it ends up well, if not bad. The spectacular 3-0 victory over Mohun Bagan was the highlight of his time and almost everyone felt that the glory days are back.

This season, Bhowmick was given the free hand to choose his squad and get his foreigners. Players like Sunil Chhetri, Subrata Paul, Surkumar Singh and others weren’t offered the due amount they have in the market purposely which saw them leaving for greener pastures.

His team had a good balance of experience and youth and the fans were roaring when they caught the glimpse of Sebastian Omar from Argentina and Jan Berger of Czech Republic. Ali Dayoub was brought in the Asian player slot but there was trouble again with his International Transfer Certificate (ITC).

Then follows the tour to Jagannath Puri where you could see photos of their players lifting heavy weights, do ball exercises, etc. You had the media giving in daily details of the camp. An article went on to compare Bhowmick’s style of shared leadership to Arsene Wenger, John Buchanan and Greg Chappell! That was hard to digest even back then!

Talk Talk

When it came to declaring the ambition, Bhowmick boldly declared that his aim is to do well on the continental stage and even better Dempo’s record of having reached the semi-finals of the AFC Cup by winning it!

Wasn’t it quite bombastic? Was too much spoken too soon? You may state that coaches all over the world speak highly about their team in the pre-season and pronounce that they hope to win such and such trophy.

Sometimes these statements do help in boosting the confidence though a couple of losses and it increases the pressure on you to deliver. Hence, it’s always a better ploy to stay in touch with reality rather than making those grandiose and verbose comments which needlessly come back to haunt.

This is exactly what has happened at East Bengal. A successful tour to Myanmar was followed with a horrendous 3-1 defeat at the hands of Tata Football Academy (TFA) boys. If you thought this was a shocker, what followed was even worse. A 4-2 loss to Chirag United which just kaput the whole bubble of a great pre-season.

Now you have the club officials questioning the team’s tactics and selection of foreign players and thus, appointing the football secretary to look into the matter. Where’s the coach’s power and respect gone?

For the last few days, we haven’t heard anything from their camp except some negative vibes. It’s make or break time for East Bengal and Subhash Bhowmick. There’s no time for showy statements and even if they do come, the same media who glorified and put him on the same stature as Jose Mourinho, would bring him down.

So, it’s always safe to let the foot do the talking...  

Rahul Bali.     

What Do You Think? Did The Statements Made During Pre-season Increase The Pressure On East Bengal?