“We need to build a balanced squad,” says East Bengal boss Stephen Constantine after their 3-3 draw against NorthEast United

East Bengal and Northeast United played out one of the thrillers of the current Indian Super League season as they shared the spoils in a 3-3 draw. The red and Golds started the game with a goal from Cleiton SIlva whereas the Highlanders answered back with two quickfire goals from Parthib Gogoi and Jithin MS. However the Kolkata outfit found their footing when new signing Jake Jervis restored parity with a stunning bicycle kick strike just right before halftime. The second half saw Cleiton SIlva complete his brace with a fine spotkick but a late equalizer from Imran Khan ensured that the Highlanders brought back a point home after a tough fight.

East Bengal coach Stephen Constantine was not happy with several things on the night as he criticized the lack of concentration and quality on the night. He also blamed the complacency that was shown by his players as they thought they would bath three points easily against the Highlanders after scoring the opening goal.

“I think there are lapses in concentration, lack of quality and game awareness. We had a plan for the game and we scored first. We thought that we are a big team and we would roll over NorthEast United FC, but we became a little casual and complacent. All three of their goals were down to us. You can’t say those were fantastically worked goals. It was down to us not doing our job at the right time. This has been the story of our season from day one, but it is what it is. We have got three games left and we look forward to it,” Constantine stated at the post match press conference.

Jake Jervis scored his first ISL goal and it was one sight to behold with a beautiful bicycle kick. The big Englishman has more or less cemented his place in the starting eleven with his performances in the last two matches. Constantine shared that Jervis needs to work on a few areas as he was out of action for three months before joining East Bengal. The English tactician is focused on making him fit ahead of the Super Cup.

“That’s why we brought him,” Constantine said when asked about his goal. “I thought he did okay. There are some things that we need to work on with him. He hasn’t played for three months so for him to finish 90 minutes today was a big plus for us. We have three games left and by the time we get to the end of the season, he will be match fit. But then we have 40 days where we need to wait for the next tournament (Hero Super Cup),”
Constantine shared the importance of building a balanced team and hence he feels that they have a lot of areas to work on. He also stressed on the players who were missing and felt that he lacked quality options even on the bench.
“We’re lacking in a lot of departments, not just the right hand side (of attack). VP was missing, Mobashir (Rahman) was missing, and you could see how stretched we were. Even on the bench, we didn’t have many options. We need to build a balanced squad, a competition in each position and we don’t have that at the moment,” the Englishman concluded.
East Bengal will next face Chennaiyin FC on 12th February as they travel down south to play at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium as they come towards the end of the current league season.