Soliloquy

Bengaluru FC players in training.

This essay was first published in Sportskeeda, from where it has been reproduced in its entirety.

There has been little respite for Bengaluru FC from the glare of the media this season, except when former head coach Simon Grayson was sacked, and his replacement Gerard Zaragoza was brought in to take charge.

By all accounts, Grayson was one of the most successful managers of the Blues, and he certainly did his best in the one full season he was at the helm, taking them to the final of the ISL as well as the pre-season Durand Cup.

However, yesterdays matter very little in a sport that is dominated by what the present proffers and the future guarantees, and quite unfortunately, the Englishman found himself receiving the axe, being replaced by Zaragoza.

The Spaniard, who has been a part of the Bengaluru technical team in the past, is expected to bring wholesale changes to the way the Blues go about their business in the final third, and the supporters have taken to him well.

Yet, to believe that the supporters of the club- who form its vital fifth pillar- were happy enough at Grayson’s departure, especially at a time when Bengaluru were attempting to come back into the top tiers of the ISL table.

Bengaluru FC sit ninth in the ISL table and have lost their opening fixture of the Kalinga Super Cup

At this moment, sitting in the ninth position of the league table with a mere nine points to their name is not going to help the Blues in their attempt to qualify for the playoffs.

To make matters worse, losing their inaugural fixture of the Kalinga Super Cup to Odisha FC by a seemingly narrow 0-1 scoreline will not help boost team morale either.

What’s more, they find themselves in a group (of death?) which consists of FC Goa, Inter Kashi and the Juggernauts, making their chances of qualification for the semifinals seem rarer still.

Admitted that club captain Sunil Chhetri and vital cog in the wheel Suresh Singh Wangjam have been called up for national duty, but the others who are at the club have failed to live up big-time, and only time will tell if Zaragoza will survive owner Parth Jindal’s scrutiny.

To be fair, there is only so much that a coach- especially one brought in mid-season- can do at a club when the discomfort it is experiencing has emerged in a top-down shape and not vice-versa.

If recruitment was what the tactical genius Albert Roca was tasked to do along with director of football Darren Caldeira, it would not be an understatement to say that they have failed badly.

One can only assume that Jindal had a more than fair share of say in things that went around the club in the lead-up to the season, and the way they managed the transfer window was apparently without much vision or foresight.

Bengaluru’s recruitment policy will be under scrutiny

Merely fifteen days into the winter transfer window, one of their prized signings of the summer, Curtis Main, has already turned his back on the club and chosen to go back home to England. Ryan Williams remains the sole foreign attacker at the club at the moment.

Keziah Veendorp was another high-profile signing made by the Blues in the summer, and his returns have been far from ideal so far.

Although the 26-year-old has often been tasked to do the dirty work for his team in the holding midfielder’s role, he has found himself in strange waters when asked to press further and assist Javi Hernandez in creating chances.

It is too early to say if Veendorp has been a failed signing for the Blues, and one fervently hopes that it does not turn out that way.

Domestic signings too, have not been at their best this season, with Rohit Danu and Halicharan Narzary, snapped up from a financially struggling Hyderabad FC, failing to hit their straps as yet.

Recruitment aside, Bengaluru have appeared to be quite confused whenever they have taken to the field this season.

Their recent loss in the Super Cup to Odisha will merely propound this defeatist mindset, which only the return of skipper Chhetri can circumvent.

The Blues have tried formations that have seldom worked for them. However, their ability to shift their shape whenever they lose possession has held its grip over their opponents, and given them glimpses into what might happen if they stay true to their colours more often.

It might be quite difficult for some of the players to adapt to the demands of new coach Zaragoza, especially after having worked with Grayson for so long. However, a lot of the players have also worked with him in the past, and that may help the dissemination of the message quicker than one thinks.

Quite naturally, the club is going through a whirlwind of emotions owing to the flurry of changes- both literal and metaphorical- that one has seen since the arrival of Zaragoza as head coach, and it will be unfair to challenge their ambition or restrict it under the confines of a poorly-run leadership group just yet.

However, too many changes may also turn out to be the bane for the club which once defined how organic success can be achieved- without the might of wealth- in the sludge-free backwaters of Indian football.

This essay was also published here.

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