Bhubaneswar: Odisha FC would look to take advantage of home conditions to bounce back from back-to-back defeats while East Bengal would aim to snap a five-match losing streak when the two struggling teams square off in an Indian Super League game in Bhubaneswar Tuesday.
The two sides would seek to immediately find their footing in this campaign since the Red & Gold Brigade are yet to open their account, whereas the Juggernauts sit at the 10th spot with four points from as many matches.
A duel between these two eastern outfits often produces fireworks, and the fans at the home turf of Odisha FC must be gearing up for an end-to-end battle at the Kalinga Stadium.
Odlsha FC have a lot of confidence to draw from their seven-game-long unbeaten streak against East Bengal, in which they have struck 23 goals.
With the Kolkata side giving away two goals per match on average in this campaign, it is to be noted that the Juggernauts have struck at least twice in each of their last seven home games, thus setting an exciting match-up altogether.
East Bengal have faced defeats six games in a row now, five of them this season and one to close out the previous campaign. Only NorthEast United FC (10), Hyderabad FC (8) and Jamshedpur FC (7) have lost more games in succession in the ISL than the Red and Gold Brigade.
With this being Oscar Bruzon’s second game in charge of East Bengal, the coach would want the team to adapt to his plans and pounce upon an Odisha FC unit that is yet to operate at the optimum levels under Sergio Lobera’s watch.
East Bengal FC have some sharp strikers such as Dimitrios Diamantakos and Cleiton Silva in their ranks. They can launch offence at the Odisha FC defence from set-pieces — a facet of the game that Lobera will have to set his team up for diligently.
The two teams have locked horns eight times against each other in the ISL, with Odisha FC winning six matches and East Bengal FC emerging victorious once. A solitary game has resulted in a draw.
“We need to manage the squad well. If you have a very good squad, you have more chances to win the game. If you have good options coming from the bench, we can change the game,” said Lobera.
“We need to manage the timings and substitutions.”
Bruzon, on his part, said a win is the need of the hour for East Bengal to increase the confidence levels of the players.
“We need to understand where to shape, the offensive triggers, to be more intense, to win duels, win second balls, to go big on the defensive transitions and to have fewer spaces in between our lines. We need a positive result to keep everyone in full confidence,” he said.
PTI