FC Goa coach Juan Ferrando feels that East Bengal will have newfound confidence after their 3-1 win over Odisha FC over the weekend.
While East Bengal are coming on the heels of a huge victory, the Gaurs are set to play their first game in the new year. FC Goa, who finished last year with back-to-back victories, will kickstart 2021 against the Red and Golds on Wednesday.
"There are two points. Firstly, with the new players (Bright Enobakhare, Raju Gaikwad and Ankit Mukherjee) they have more quality and secondly, their confidence - in the last few weeks they were under pressure of being at the last position. Now when you have three points and when you win 3-1, they will play without stress and pressure. So this will be a problem for us," said Ferrando.
With Jacques Maghoma bagging his third goal of the season, Anthony Pilkington netting his first and Enobakhare scoring on his East Bengal debut in the last match, East Bengal's attack looks better.
"It's necessary to pay attention [to them]. When you watch Maghoma, he's a quality player in offence. In my opinion, game by game, they are going to be very compact. It's important to control the spaces, timing and one against one as well because they have good players."
FC Goa have left it late recently and have been forced to dig deep and score injury-time winners against Jamshedpur and Hyderabad (both 2-1 wins) to close out 2020.
"We won the last two games in the last minutes. Of course, we are happy to get three points but for us, it's important to get a good score in the 90 minutes not only the last few minutes," remarked the coach who recently turned 40.
"It's difficult because every game is totally different. For example, when you play against Hyderabad, it's totally different from playing East Bengal. We don't have a lot of time to prepare for the games. In this case, it's difficult to control some details. Of course, we want to improve in every training but the games are so close.
"We need to [be in] control because East Bengal will be in a different emotion. Two weeks ago, their wing-backs were under a lot of pressure to go in attack because they may lose on the transition. Now they are not afraid or scared about their attack. We will have to control because tomorrow we will face a new team."
ISL
Ferrando expects East Bengal to go all out in attack and feels that it's his job to protect youngsters like Ishan Pandita who, despite scoring a crucial goal against Hyderabad, is still learning the trade.
"It's the first time he (Pandita) is playing in a first division league. Of course, Ishan is strong in set-pieces and attack but we need to protect him as he's learning and then step by step, for sure he will have more opportunities. It's not necessary to go crazy and put him under a lot of pressure," he opined.
With ATK Mohun Bagan and Mumbai City appearing like the early favourites for the four play-off spots this season, the coach from Barcelona believes his side can make the top four.
"ATK in my opinion, they are first because they play together for three years. More or less their team is compact. Mumbai have [good] players and their head coach (Sergio Lobera) was in the same team (Goa) last season.
"The other two positions will be difficult because Bengaluru is a strong team and have played together for three years. Next is Hyderabad, if you pay attention to their team, and then Jamshedpur. Three (other) teams for two places but I believe 100 percent in my squad."
Are Goa going in for their seventh foreign signing in the January transfer window? Maybe not.
"We have a target to be in the play-offs, and the second to help our youngsters. We want to promote our young players. Maybe in the next season, we can reduce the foreign players. It's very important when a player like Igor (Angulo) or Ivan (Gonzalez) decides to come to Goa, to find a player not only to help the team but one who can help the young players as well," Ferrando stated.