British coach's target will be to try and win every game
[caption id="attachment_32544" align="alignnone" width="580"]
East Bengal coach Trevor Morgan with Romeo Fernandes and Rowlin Borges at the training on Wednesday. Image Source: Xtra Time[/caption]Kolkata: It’s ‘Now or Never’ for Trevor James Morgan as far as winning the I League this season is concerned. The same theme “Now of Never” was the collective goal drilled into the psyche of Sourav Ganguly and his men by sports psychologist Sandy Gordon to guide them through their campaign in the 2003 World Cup.
Morgan similarly want to set the same theme for his boys as the gaffer feels this is the best possible opportunity to win the coveted title which is missing the trophy cabinet of the Kolkata giants.
“Since I first came here it was now or never really because of the expectation that you have here. We brought in more quality than we had last year. So everybody is expecting us to win the league. What we have to ensure first and foremost is to work hard than our opposition. That’s what I will be looking at as the coach.”
On being asked how tough will it be for his side to win the I League, he said, “Nothing is going to be easy. We have some tough trips and teams to play. We won’t be taking any- thing for granted. If we deserve to finish top we will, if we do not deserve we won’t.”
The British coach is targeting winning as many games as possible in the I League.
“We will be targeting to win every game that we play. That will always be a target while I am here. If we don’t win it we have to ensure we are not beaten. Of course there will be time when we do get beaten and I will accept that if the other team is better than us. We have a lot of quality players. But what matters for us is to try and find out the players who can win us the I League.”
The pressure is building on the East Bengal players as well. Yesterday senior pro Mehtab Hossain commented that he would want to leave the club if he does not win the I League this season. Morgan though is not going to put pressure on his players to win the I League.
“Well that’s Mehtab’s opinion. The expectation comes from the media and supporters. It doesn’t come from me to the players. We try and keep that away from the players. If you are a footballer you want to win. You want to go to a club that is capable of winning the league. We are capable of winning the league so are the other teams.”
East Bengal has put up a decent side compared to contenders like Bengaluru FC and Mohun Bagan. The gaffer was asked about being tipped as the favourites to win the I League, Morgan said, “I don’t take any notice to that because Chelsea had a great squad last season but they were not able to do anything. Both Manchester City and Manchester United got a good squad yet Leicester won the league. It’s not a question about what you have got but how quickly everybody gels together.”
Meanwhile Rowlin Borges, Romeo Fernandes and Anwar Ali joined the practice session on Wednesday. Senboi Haokip, Lalrindika Ralte and Robert Lalthlanuana will be joining the practice from Thusrday. The addition of Romeo and Rowling will undoubtedly add strength to the side.
“The addition of Rowling Borges and Romeo Fernandes will add much more depth to the side. Yeah, they are both promising. But to be promising and actually doing it on the field are two different things. They are good additions no doubt. Romeo’s got the experience of playing in abroad. I like what I saw of Rowling this morning,” said the gaffer.
It looks like East Bengal is likely to go in with an all Indian defence line up for the first match against Aizawl FC on January 07. With Ivan Bukenya still not joining the squad, it looks Morgan have to settle with playing both Anwar and Gurwinder for the first match. Morgan reiterated that he will not rush with Bukenya who is likely to jointhe squad at the beginning of next year.
“There is no point playing him immediately after joining the side. That will be unfair on him and also the players who have been training. Let’s wait and see when he turns up and what sort of shape he is in.”
Anwar, who joined the training today had earlier won the I League couple of seasons back with Mohun Bagan. According to Anwar, “I won the I League couple of seasons back with Mohun Bagan. All I want is to win the I League with East Bengal as well and that will be something very special.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ7ojkfXXjg
0 comments:
Post a Comment