Thanks for participating brother @Samyajit We need to make the thread more productive, where healthy football discussions can be done in a more open environment. Now coming at your responses... Rafiq ali sardar played some games for JFC last season. So yeah, he'll get the preference of Boby Mims, I suppose. Yesterday our Indian boys started the training outside their hotel and today they are supposed to start full fledged preseason with the ball at SESA FA. Coming back to the discussion, I've nothing much to say regarding the first xi, because honestly we have very limited resources to choose from. Regarding aaron, yes he'll be used as sub in most cases. He's an utility footballer but because of his strong built and his ball skills, he can actually turn out to be a good holding player. Past record suggests in india these type of footballers were really successful. He was in my list too. Matti steinman, was my player to watch out for. Robbie spoke very highly of him in his last insta live. I'm pretty sure he's gonna start most of the matches. Hopefully he'll turn out to be our next midfield general 😉. I heard, club is closing in on one signing. Most probably by tonight or tomorrow in the evening it'll be officially announced. Regarding your last point, I don't buy this argument. East Bengal club has set very high standard for itself over the years, so anything less than a championship will definitely be considered as a failure not only by the loyal fans but also football viewers across India. It's quite natural. And that's how it should be for a club and institution like East Bengal. Many of our competitor teams haven't assembled their full squad yet, where as East Bengal will start full fledged preseason from this Thursday onwards. Kudos to the club management for the urgency that they have shown in dealing things at the shortest possible timeframe. We often forget to give the due credit and appreciation to those guys at work. I'm very happy with the way they have managed things till now, very optimistic in their approach. Talking about the approach, East Bengal club will play three friendly matches on each week of November, starting from 6th till the ISL starts.
Those who build the team and run the team don't usually think this way @goalkeepar. And as you know, the club name is East Bengal... I don't know if you realise, but in Indian Football it's huge. The name doesn't take part in competitions for the sake of participation only, it takes part to compete and overcome hurdles. That's how the club has been and that's how the club will always be, I can assure you on that. Anyway I appreciate your concern.
I find Ambekar extremely poor both defensively and in attack. Neither has speed, physicality or crossing accuracy. Mirshad purely on the basis of his recent form in i-league. Rafique can be a good number 2. Samad is better suited as a right wing half rather than a full back and Chullova can operate on both wings. Fox at 34 is probably a better fit as a CB than a full back.
Fowler generally plays 3-4-2-1. He wants to play possession and short passes. It takes a lot of time for the team to gel and play this type of football... Possession football will backfire without sufficient practice and good defence .. And he does not have the Indian players who can be good enough to play this style.. Presence of set piece coach is a positive, but that too needs practice and they dont have time.
GK - Rafique Ali Sardar / Sankar Roy (GK department is decent & well covered)
Nevile , Daniel Fox , Narayan Das (N Das is decent ...Rana Gharami as backup.. Not sure if others r gud enough for the defence)
Samad Mallick, Stienmann , Maghoma, Gopi Singh/Eugenson (for set piece delivery - Eugenson has to be fit like before or else go for Gopi singh - not much options there... Not a fan of Sehnaj Singh)
Surchandra Singh , Jeje , Balwant (not a fan of Mhd Rafique or Jairu.. Jeje cannot play in wings ... Hope he is fit...)
Aaron Amadi
2 Choose one surprising element of the team (can be coach or any player) and the reason for picking him Gopi singh for set piece delivery
3 Who's the player of our team to watch out for and why Maghoma , the beast who last played in Championship is the one to watch out for.. He is fast
4 What's your expectation from new East Bengal management in future both near and distant? Robbie Fowler is a career oriented coach.. He left A league suddenlyafter being linked to a premier league club.. Since he failed to get the job, he started looking for other options ... Unfortunately, the domestic squad of EB is very weak... U dont know if Jeje and Eugenson can play like before... Rafique, Jairu & Sehnaj - am sorry) Only JFC squad looks bad than EB....
Hope EB fans give Fowler one more year to prove his credentials... Next year, he would have figured out the best indian players.... Pay transfer fee and get some good indian defenders, midfielders etc from other isl teams next season.... Buy Bikash Yumnam, Himanshu Jangra and other good youngsters who played for Arrows.. Get some good wingers from ileague (from CCFC, Real Kashmir etc)
@SiV brother looks like you have picked 12 players🤔 Let me count it for you, 1. Shankar/Rafiq (GK) 2. Neville 3. Fox 4. Narayan 5. Samad 6. Steinman 7. Maghoma 8. Gopi 9. Surchandra 10. Jeje 11. Balwant 12. Aaron
@EastBengalPride Mirshad is very well built and as a goal keeper has a lot of command inside the 6 yard box. The problem with him is, his defense organizational skills. Good goal keepers are often excellent guides who help to maintain the shape of the defense line. Another problem with him is his passing skills, if you want to build from the back then your keeper has to be comfortable with the ball in his feet. That's also lacking in him. It's good to see East Bengal management has a high hope from him, that's why they kept him in the squad... But he has to improve a lot to claim EB no.1 jersey. Samad and irshad are one of the finest indian talents, especially irshad. Had a wonderful last season with gokulam. Samad has speed, a lot of endurance but tactically lacks sense. Hopefully coaches will work on this aspect of his and he will eventually evolve well as a player.
@SiV Interesting choices, you decided to keep Anthony pilkington out of the starting xi and want to play jeje as withdrawal forward...!!!!!! Seriously!🤔
On paper, JFC Indian squad is not the worst. They have players like Jackichand, Narendra Gehlot, Amarjit, Aniket, Gaurav Mukhi, Jitender.... Among these names three are in indian national team set up and yet you consider them the worst! Again let me repeat myself, ON PAPER JFC IS NOT THE WORST INDIAN SET UP And for East Bengal you can actually make a strong xi which will be at per with others but extremely poor bench strength. Still in Indian football circuit you can never be certain about anything. Hoping for another rollercoaster of a season.
Comments
We need to make the thread more productive, where healthy football discussions can be done in a more open environment.
Now coming at your responses...
Rafiq ali sardar played some games for JFC last season. So yeah, he'll get the preference of Boby Mims, I suppose.
Yesterday our Indian boys started the training outside their hotel and today they are supposed to start full fledged preseason with the ball at SESA FA.
Coming back to the discussion, I've nothing much to say regarding the first xi, because honestly we have very limited resources to choose from.
Regarding aaron, yes he'll be used as sub in most cases. He's an utility footballer but because of his strong built and his ball skills, he can actually turn out to be a good holding player. Past record suggests in india these type of footballers were really successful. He was in my list too.
Matti steinman, was my player to watch out for. Robbie spoke very highly of him in his last insta live. I'm pretty sure he's gonna start most of the matches. Hopefully he'll turn out to be our next midfield general 😉.
I heard, club is closing in on one signing. Most probably by tonight or tomorrow in the evening it'll be officially announced.
Regarding your last point, I don't buy this argument. East Bengal club has set very high standard for itself over the years, so anything less than a championship will definitely be considered as a failure not only by the loyal fans but also football viewers across India. It's quite natural. And that's how it should be for a club and institution like East Bengal.
Many of our competitor teams haven't assembled their full squad yet, where as East Bengal will start full fledged preseason from this Thursday onwards. Kudos to the club management for the urgency that they have shown in dealing things at the shortest possible timeframe. We often forget to give the due credit and appreciation to those guys at work. I'm very happy with the way they have managed things till now, very optimistic in their approach.
Talking about the approach, East Bengal club will play three friendly matches on each week of November, starting from 6th till the ISL starts.
And as you know, the club name is East Bengal... I don't know if you realise, but in Indian Football it's huge. The name doesn't take part in competitions for the sake of participation only, it takes part to compete and overcome hurdles. That's how the club has been and that's how the club will always be, I can assure you on that.
Anyway I appreciate your concern.
Mirshad
Neville Fox Irshad
Samad Steinmann Lyngdoh Chullova
Pilklington Balwant Maghoma
I find Ambekar extremely poor both defensively and in attack. Neither has speed, physicality or crossing accuracy. Mirshad purely on the basis of his recent form in i-league. Rafique can be a good number 2. Samad is better suited as a right wing half rather than a full back and Chullova can operate on both wings. Fox at 34 is probably a better fit as a CB than a full back.
- Please pick your starting xi for East Bengal
Fowler generally plays 3-4-2-1. He wants to play possession and short passes. It takes a lot of time for the team to gel and play this type of football... Possession football will backfire without sufficient practice and good defence .. And he does not have the Indian players who can be good enough to play this style.. Presence of set piece coach is a positive, but that too needs practice and they dont have time.GK - Rafique Ali Sardar / Sankar Roy (GK department is decent & well covered)
Nevile , Daniel Fox , Narayan Das (N Das is decent ...Rana Gharami as backup.. Not sure if others r gud enough for the defence)
Samad Mallick, Stienmann , Maghoma, Gopi Singh/Eugenson (for set piece delivery - Eugenson has to be fit like before or else go for Gopi singh - not much options there... Not a fan of Sehnaj Singh)
Surchandra Singh , Jeje , Balwant (not a fan of Mhd Rafique or Jairu.. Jeje cannot play in wings ... Hope he is fit...)
Aaron Amadi
2 Choose one surprising element of the team (can be coach or any player) and the reason for picking him
Gopi singh for set piece delivery
3 Who's the player of our team to watch out for and why
Maghoma , the beast who last played in Championship is the one to watch out for.. He is fast
4 What's your expectation from new East Bengal management in future both near and distant?
Robbie Fowler is a career oriented coach.. He left A league suddenlyafter being linked to a premier league club.. Since he failed to get the job, he started looking for other options ... Unfortunately, the domestic squad of EB is very weak... U dont know if Jeje and Eugenson can play like before... Rafique, Jairu & Sehnaj - am sorry) Only JFC squad looks bad than EB....
Hope EB fans give Fowler one more year to prove his credentials... Next year, he would have figured out the best indian players.... Pay transfer fee and get some good indian defenders, midfielders etc from other isl teams next season.... Buy Bikash Yumnam, Himanshu Jangra and other good youngsters who played for Arrows.. Get some good wingers from ileague (from CCFC, Real Kashmir etc)
Let me count it for you,
1. Shankar/Rafiq (GK)
2. Neville 3. Fox 4. Narayan
5. Samad 6. Steinman 7. Maghoma 8. Gopi
9. Surchandra 10. Jeje 11. Balwant
12. Aaron
I think you need a reshuffle
Samad and irshad are one of the finest indian talents, especially irshad. Had a wonderful last season with gokulam. Samad has speed, a lot of endurance but tactically lacks sense. Hopefully coaches will work on this aspect of his and he will eventually evolve well as a player.
Shankar/Rafiq (GK)
2. Neville 3. Fox 4. Narayan
5. Samad 6. Steinman 7. Maghoma 8. Gopi
9. Surchandra /Jeje 10. Balwant
11. Aaron
East bengal have the best foreigners after MCFC. But they have the worst domestic players after JFC. Fowler needs to be given time till next year
On paper, JFC Indian squad is not the worst. They have players like Jackichand, Narendra Gehlot, Amarjit, Aniket, Gaurav Mukhi, Jitender.... Among these names three are in indian national team set up and yet you consider them the worst!
Again let me repeat myself, ON PAPER JFC IS NOT THE WORST INDIAN SET UP
And for East Bengal you can actually make a strong xi which will be at per with others but extremely poor bench strength.
Still in Indian football circuit you can never be certain about anything. Hoping for another rollercoaster of a season.