Can't believe you guys are ranting so much about Bengaluru FC. Every team has its dip. Four months back we were raving about BFC being the first team in the AFC Cup finals. They can't get that bad with the same set of players in five months. Mandar Tamhane can't get bad in five months. Some of you guys need to know the game of football, understand its unpredictability and savour its uncertainty.
Mandar Tamhane not a long back was praised for his shrewd signings along with Pradhyum Reddy. In fact in the first season, all domestic signings were made by Mandar and Pradhyum. Ashley came in much later. After three great seasons we can excuse BFC for this, or at least I'd like to think so. If you notice these players have been training since July, they played in the AFC Cup, then the ISL, now its the I-League. These players are humans not machines.
Why would Mandar put his huge reputation on the line and sign some shitty players on purpose? player signings are a lottery. Thierry Henry was a legend at Arsenal and a flop at Barcelona. Would you blame the coach of Barcelona for signing a shit player?
Parth, I've heard is very arrogant and needs to learn the art of patience if he needs to survive in football.
And now in a different note, these are the latest rumours I've heard about the real reasons behind the sacking of Nicolai Adam.
Truth be told, Nicolai was indeed a perfectionist who wanted each of his players to be perfect. He was relentless at times, not even giving the players a break in between his strenuous sessions. Some of the players even threw up at times. But you could argue that this was his way of improving these players. No one could doubt his commitment to the cause.
Problems crept in when he tried to sack some of his Indian coaching staff because they were simply not good enough. This led to a mini India versus foreigners revolt. Nicolai allegedly wanted to replace the team manager and goalkeeper coach and get in foreign staff. However the team manager was reportedly very close to Kishore Taid, Manager Strategic Planning of AIFF and a Bhaichung loyalist. Apparently Kishore is also tipped to be the future GS of the AIFF. So the story goes that the team manager used the good offices of Kishore Taid to champion his cause and deflect moves of his sacking. In all probability he could be behind the instigation of the players to sign the letter of "abuse" against Nicolai. Nicolai celebrated his birthday in December and there were videos of him celebrating with the players. It is strange that just a month later these players have complained of "abuse". Besides it seems difficult for a player of 15 years to go to such a level. These guys are not a Vardy or a Mahrez to do a Ranieri on Nicolai. This whole drama in all probability has been orchestrated by officials of the team (read Indian officials) who felt Nicolai was a threat to their job. in the end it was left to Abhishek Yadav to clean up the mess.
One thing is for certain, Kishore Taid, thanks to the blessings of his godfather Bhaichung Bhutia, is increasingly exerting his influence on Indian football.
If u were the coach of BFC, would u have signed Lenny, Khabra, Ralte, Mandar, Arindam and played Daniel as one of your key strikers, if u wanted to replicate last year's I-League and AFC performance? These are all key positions btw.
Also, since players are not machines, u got to build the right bench strength so that u can rotate players so that they remain refreshed and injury free. I dont see any key BFC player is out of action due to injury so far. How many "extra" matches BFC players have featured in after the I-League this year? 1 QF, 2 SFs(Home n away) and the Finals of AFC - 4 matches in all in the so called off season. Post that they got few days' rest before joining their respective squad in ISL and we have all seen how many matches the likes of Chhetri, Eugeneson, Khabra, Lenny have played( they didnt qualify for SFs and got some extra days' of breather) with the sole exception of Vineeth who played almost all matches for Kerala till the finals after his return from AFC finals.
On the contrary Bagan and EB players have featured in the CFL Leagues(maybe inconsequential for many who are not from Kolkata, but there is a huge pressure in Kolkata to win even the CFL Leagues!); Bagan already has played 4 AFC matches so far this year (to BFC's nil) and they had more regulars in ISL from their current team , hence your logic of "humans and not machines" holds good for these players in such case.
U got to invest on atleast 2 similar profile players for every position, so that u can rotate them; but I reckon Parth has'nt done that(going by the ageing team that he has this year - and hence less budget);probably 3 yrs' success got into him too early and he felt system alone can take the team to the next level(or he took other teams for granted) and perhaps he has been eyeing profits from this vertical after having been in this business for 3 years; while there is nothing wrong in this thought process, but the ROI model doesn't work out in 3 years' time, especially for a team which is 3 year's old. He should have invested more this time on getting quality players. Remember this time b'cos so many teams closed down, the supply for quality players were more than the demand, unlike other years; hence we generally haven't seen players getting obscene amount this time around. With BFC's success as their equity, they should have encashed upon this, rather than let go off things. Certainly a Brendon Fernandes(who is probably the most consistent for Churchill this season) is more talented than a Lenny for example.
@Soccerlover... Just playing matches doesn't add to fatigue. Its travel, the intensity of the occasion that also drains you mentally. Playing an AFC Cup quaterfinals, semi finals and then a final would certainly be draining.
Why not sign Mandar? Khabra? Arindam? They are all decent players. Mandar is one of the best left wingers in India. He doesnt get into the Indian team because of politics. Arindam is decent. Khabra a utility player- although not the best in India at the moment. But then were Darren Caldeira and Thoi Singh the best signings in BFC's first season? But they won the League with them right? You cannot compare Lenny and Brandon, they both play in different positions. Brandon just came back from a knee ligament injury. It would have been risky to sign him. Would you have preferred signing Lenny over Brandon in Jan or not. It is easy to say Brandon is better than Lenny now rather than in Jan.
Precisely so; Bagan also is playing Home n Away - which involves travelling and thats the reason I am saying u need to have bench strength. BFC, unfortunately BFC doesn't have that.
If Thoi Singh was instrumental enough to win I-League for BFC, why would they let him off! Thoi and Ram Malik (dont know whether u have heard about him!) are of the same mould and both have reached their BBD use! Also I understand Brendon is playing in the same position (CAM) as Lenny - hence the comparison.
Khabra is very decent as a right back in BFC. Good overlap running and good crosses and more over not a single goal leaked from his side. Mandar also showed pretty good performance . Only the flop is Sena ralte and Lenny.
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Mandar Tamhane not a long back was praised for his shrewd signings along with Pradhyum Reddy. In fact in the first season, all domestic signings were made by Mandar and Pradhyum. Ashley came in much later. After three great seasons we can excuse BFC for this, or at least I'd like to think so. If you notice these players have been training since July, they played in the AFC Cup, then the ISL, now its the I-League. These players are humans not machines.
Why would Mandar put his huge reputation on the line and sign some shitty players on purpose? player signings are a lottery. Thierry Henry was a legend at Arsenal and a flop at Barcelona. Would you blame the coach of Barcelona for signing a shit player?
Parth, I've heard is very arrogant and needs to learn the art of patience if he needs to survive in football.
Truth be told, Nicolai was indeed a perfectionist who wanted each of his players to be perfect. He was relentless at times, not even giving the players a break in between his strenuous sessions. Some of the players even threw up at times. But you could argue that this was his way of improving these players. No one could doubt his commitment to the cause.
Problems crept in when he tried to sack some of his Indian coaching staff because they were simply not good enough. This led to a mini India versus foreigners revolt. Nicolai allegedly wanted to replace the team manager and goalkeeper coach and get in foreign staff. However the team manager was reportedly very close to Kishore Taid, Manager Strategic Planning of AIFF and a Bhaichung loyalist. Apparently Kishore is also tipped to be the future GS of the AIFF. So the story goes that the team manager used the good offices of Kishore Taid to champion his cause and deflect moves of his sacking. In all probability he could be behind the instigation of the players to sign the letter of "abuse" against Nicolai. Nicolai celebrated his birthday in December and there were videos of him celebrating with the players. It is strange that just a month later these players have complained of "abuse". Besides it seems difficult for a player of 15 years to go to such a level. These guys are not a Vardy or a Mahrez to do a Ranieri on Nicolai. This whole drama in all probability has been orchestrated by officials of the team (read Indian officials) who felt Nicolai was a threat to their job. in the end it was left to Abhishek Yadav to clean up the mess.
One thing is for certain, Kishore Taid, thanks to the blessings of his godfather Bhaichung Bhutia, is increasingly exerting his influence on Indian football.
If u were the coach of BFC, would u have signed Lenny, Khabra, Ralte, Mandar, Arindam and played Daniel as one of your key strikers, if u wanted to replicate last year's I-League and AFC performance? These are all key positions btw.
Also, since players are not machines, u got to build the right bench strength so that u can rotate players so that they remain refreshed and injury free. I dont see any key BFC player is out of action due to injury so far. How many "extra" matches BFC players have featured in after the I-League this year? 1 QF, 2 SFs(Home n away) and the Finals of AFC - 4 matches in all in the so called off season. Post that they got few days' rest before joining their respective squad in ISL and we have all seen how many matches the likes of Chhetri, Eugeneson, Khabra, Lenny have played( they didnt qualify for SFs and got some extra days' of breather) with the sole exception of Vineeth who played almost all matches for Kerala till the finals after his return from AFC finals.
On the contrary Bagan and EB players have featured in the CFL Leagues(maybe inconsequential for many who are not from Kolkata, but there is a huge pressure in Kolkata to win even the CFL Leagues!); Bagan already has played 4 AFC matches so far this year (to BFC's nil) and they had more regulars in ISL from their current team , hence your logic of "humans and not machines" holds good for these players in such case.
U got to invest on atleast 2 similar profile players for every position, so that u can rotate them; but I reckon Parth has'nt done that(going by the ageing team that he has this year - and hence less budget);probably 3 yrs' success got into him too early and he felt system alone can take the team to the next level(or he took other teams for granted) and perhaps he has been eyeing profits from this vertical after having been in this business for 3 years; while there is nothing wrong in this thought process, but the ROI model doesn't work out in 3 years' time, especially for a team which is 3 year's old. He should have invested more this time on getting quality players. Remember this time b'cos so many teams closed down, the supply for quality players were more than the demand, unlike other years; hence we generally haven't seen players getting obscene amount this time around. With BFC's success as their equity, they should have encashed upon this, rather than let go off things. Certainly a Brendon Fernandes(who is probably the most consistent for Churchill this season) is more talented than a Lenny for example.
Why not sign Mandar? Khabra? Arindam? They are all decent players. Mandar is one of the best left wingers in India. He doesnt get into the Indian team because of politics. Arindam is decent. Khabra a utility player- although not the best in India at the moment. But then were Darren Caldeira and Thoi Singh the best signings in BFC's first season? But they won the League with them right? You cannot compare Lenny and Brandon, they both play in different positions. Brandon just came back from a knee ligament injury. It would have been risky to sign him. Would you have preferred signing Lenny over Brandon in Jan or not. It is easy to say Brandon is better than Lenny now rather than in Jan.
If Thoi Singh was instrumental enough to win I-League for BFC, why would they let him off! Thoi and Ram Malik (dont know whether u have heard about him!) are of the same mould and both have reached their BBD use!
Also I understand Brendon is playing in the same position (CAM) as Lenny - hence the comparison.