ISL: "Don't compare Indian Players to Foreigners," says Bengaluru FC manager Marco Pezzaiuoli

Bengaluru FC head coach Marco Pezzaiuoli looks confident and pumped up ahead of his debut Indian Super League season. The former Eintracht Frankfurt Technical Director was appointed as the head coach of The Blues replacing Carles Cudrat in February this year. But his first official game in charge only came in April against Nepal Army in the AFC CUP. While facing the media for the first time ahead of his debut ISL season, he answered all the questions pretty well, sharing his personal views on various topics.

Preparation for the New Season

The German-born Italian gaffer opined that they have prepared pretty well in the pre-season and he is confident of better results this season compared to the previous one. Speaking on the same, Marco said, "We have prepared well in the case of bubble, it's not easy. The team is now in two months of training. We started in Bellary, then we were divided for some time, some players were in Durand Cup and some went on international duty. Then some got sick but now everyone is fit and we have had good training sessions so we are ready." He further adds, "The main goal is to do much better than the last season, we have got two games against Jamshedpur and Chennaiyin in the first week so we want to play good football and as the season progresses you will see the difference."

Foreign Players Cap and Developing Youth

ISL has introduced a new rule this season which limits the number of foreign players to 6 in the squad and 4 in the starting eleven. This might present a new challenge for the coaches while trying to pick their best XI. Pezzaiuoli shared his views about the same as well. He said, "When you want to develop the whole country then it's a good idea from the federation to reduce the foreign players. Still, foreign players along with foreign coaches and staffs are very important for the experience to develop Indian players and football as a whole."

Quizzed about the Durand cup campaign he said, "That's why we went to Durand Cup with our youngsters to develop our young players as we don't have a reserve league and 20 matches are not enough to develop players. So foreign coaches and players play an important part in it. And here at BFC, we have got a good mixture of Indian and foreign players so I am very happy."

Adding more on training young and inexperienced players, he said, "Experience matters but it's not the most important factor for me. If the player is talented then age doesn't matter, Sunil Chhetri was young once but he got a chance to develop. So the only issue is adaptability as we didn't have a lot of time together due to various reasons but this is a step-by-step process. We have lots of talented players and they will come through eventually."

Difference Between European and Asian Football

Marco Pezzaiuoli comes up with vast experience in managing and working for teams across the globe. He has managed the German National Team at the junior level. At the club level, he has worked in Germany, Korea, Japan, and China before coming to India. He shared his experience of all those places and said, "You need to adapt and respect the culture as a football coach when you go to a new country. I coached in Korea in 2002 when they were highly successful in World Cup and it was easy for me as players were talented and highly motivated. At Guanzhou, we had a high level of quality domestic and foreign players and it was the same in Japan as well. In India, quality is a little bit different but players are highly professional here. Indian players are more open-minded here and have got great potential, the only thing they need is experience and exposure which will come with time."

Further, Marco asserted how we need to support our players. He said, "Indian players need to be looked at more positively. You can't compare ISL to Premier League or Bundesliga as the difference in experience and history is huge between the two leagues. So Indian players have to be given time and they should be supported, only then they will get the motivation to perform better and their game will improve."

Marco Pezzaiuoli's confidence in his players and support staff would come as good news for the Blues fans as they take on Jamshedpur FC on 20th November in their first match of the season.