Odisha coach believes that interim Bengaluru Naushad Moosa is tackling the situation long after head coach Carles Cuadrat has left …
Odisha has had some encouraging performances in the Indian Super League (ISL) 2020-21 recently, but there haven’t been enough such matches to get them off the ground.
the Kalinga warriors have earned just one win this season in the form of a 4-2 win over the Kerala Blasters and have just seven points in 12 games. They will look for a positive result against Bengaluru FC on Sunday. the Blues emerged victorious by a 2-1 lead the last time the two sides met in December, when the Blues were led by Carles Cuadrat who has since split from the club after poor form.
However, the Blues have failed to secure a victory in three games under the guidance of interim coach Naushad Moosa.
“It’s always difficult to know how a team will react after a coach leaves. Sometimes they get excited, sometimes there’s a bit of chaos, and sometimes it’s not a big difference, ”Baxter said.
“But I think the coach has a job to do because it’s a great club. The coach comes in now and tries to put his own spin on things. He doesn’t always want to do the same things, and it’s always a difficult task. So I think he’s tackling it well for the moment, but it’s still a problem, ”he added.
Bengaluru are currently suffering their longest streak of six games without a win (D1, L5) and Baxter believes his side can beat any team.
“We had chances to beat bigger clubs like ATK [Mohun Bagan] but to do this against anyone – not just Bengaluru – we have to defend well, take our chances and play our own game. If we do this with quality, I think we’ve shown that we can lead everyone closely. “, did he declare.
Odisha roped to Rakesh Pradhan on loan from NorthEast United for the remainder of the season. The left-back made his debut in the 1-1 draw against Hyderabad last Tuesday.
“I thought he (Pradhan) made a confident debut. He came a lot further forward and exploited that flank maybe more than Hendry (Antonay) did. He needs to know the balance within our team, but he has progressed and his left foot is natural. So I thought (Pradhan’s debut at Odisha) was good and we have to see what we do in the next game.
“We were the best when we tried to make some changes. We’ll take a look at the energy levels of the players and make a decision based on that, but we don’t want to make a lot of changes. The team we’ve put together has been put together, ”Baxter said.
The team relied heavily on Diego Mauricio for the goals. The Brazilian has scored half of Odisha’s 12 goals so far this season.
“Football is a team sport and there are individuals on this team. I want everyone on our team to feel they have a right to be themselves. Diego is better when he’s in the team but he does better at what he does well. ” So my job is to put Diego in a situation on the pitch where he’s good, and put him in a state of mind that feels he can speak out. When we do this Diego is a valuable player for us, ”Odisha’s coach said.
