Football
ISL 2020-21: East Bengal coach Robbie Fowler — ‘Some Indian players look like they have never been coached before’
East Bengal head coach Robbie Fowler was a little critical of the Indian players after his team's 2nd consecutive loss in the ISL.
SC East Bengal suffered a second consecutive loss in their debut Indian Super League (ISL) campaign on Tuesday as Mumbai City FC humiliated them 3-0 at the GMC Stadium in Bambolim, Goa.
Speaking after the game, East Bengal head coach Robbie Fowler was a little critical of the Indian players, saying that ‘some of them looked like they have never been coached before’.
“We played two great teams and when you commit mistakes they will punish you. We will learn from that and we will soldier on. There is a little bit of work to do on the training park," Fowler said in the post-match interaction.
https://twitter.com/sc_eastbengal/status/1333804186794819584
"Positives [from the game]? Probably that we didn’t concede more [than three goals]. We are a new team, who are learning. Lot of our players can do better. But we are showing glimpses [of good football]. Defensive errors cost us. Players were dragged out of position and made some silly mistakes," he conceded.
On being asked how the team has reacting to the back-to-back losses, Fowler said, "I am devastated, myself. I hope players are hurting as much as me. We have to go again in 4-5 days [vs NorthEast United FC].
“We are still coaching players, in all honesty, some Indian players look like they haven't been coached before. We are trying to get them to play in our system and the intricate passing we do. We have to learn pretty quickly. We have to be better.”
Mumbai City players celebrate a goal against East Bengal (Source: ISL)
“We will coach the players because in all fairness few of them have probably never been coached before and that is what we are doing. We will try and make our Indian players better and that takes good coaching and I don't think they had that in the years gone by.”
“We looked OK. I think the quality was at times ok. I think individual lapses cost us. We have to do better in terms of concentration. Concentration level in football is huge. I think we need to learn quickly,” he concluded.
Fowler’s comments that Indian players needed good coaching to get better did not go down well with a section of the Red and Gold fans. These fans took to social media to express their concerns about how these comments would hurt the unity of the team and how a coach should not start playing the blame game so early into the season.
However, it appears that Fowler’s comments were mis-interpreted. As assistant coach Tony Grant later clarified on Twitter, the former Liverpool legend only meant that some Indian players haven’t been coached the way he wants them to play in, keeping possession of the ball with short passes.
