ISL 2020-21: SC East Bengal set unwanted record as offensive struggles continue

On Thursday, Indian Super League (ISL) new boys SC East Bengal set an unwanted record as their goal scoring woes continued against Jamshedpur FC at Tilak Maidan.

The Red and Golds failed to find the back of the net in their fourth consecutive match, which meant that they have now gone 360 minutes without scoring a goal in their first ever ISL campaign. With this, they broke the previous record set by Jamshedpur FC at 331 minutes.

On the positive side, the Kolkata giants, however, did manage to lodge their first point after holding off Jamshedpur to a 0-0 draw while playing with one man down for a major part of the match.

https://twitter.com/AnalystAdi/status/1337066196621987845

East Bengal’s struggles in the offense first came to the fore in their opening match against ATK Mohun Bagan. Chances were created in plenty, but Balwant Singh, Jacques Maghoma and the likes were wasteful in front of goal. The same story continued in the second and third matches as well, as Robbie Fowler’s side suffered defeats at the hands of Mumbai City FC and NorthEast United FC.

It is not like that Fowler had not foreseen the problem, but then again, he had little time to do anything. East Bengal entered the ISL at the last moment and had only a few weeks to assemble a squad and prepare for the gruelling competition.

Lack of a quality foreign goalscorer in the ranks was noted way before the season had started but hopes were pinned on Balwant, Jeje Lalpekhlua and Aaron Amadi-Holloway. However, Balwant and Jeje have been misfiring while Holloway is still nursing a pre-season injury.

Things is, East Bengal could not secure the signing of the centre forward they wanted in the transfer window and now have to wait until January. Until then, Fowler must find another way or else, it might be a little too late.