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East Bengal coach Fowler: ‘Some Indian players look like they’ve never been coached’

Fowler said that there was “work to do” and make the players better

fowler-sceb-east-bengal-isl SC East Bengal head coach Robbie Fowler gestures during the ISL match against Mumbai City FC | ISL Official/PTI

After SC East Bengal were routed 0-3 by Mumbai City FC in the Indian Super League match on Tuesday at the GMC Athletic Stadium in Bambolim, head coach Robbie Fowler expressed his disappointment in the team. Some Indian players looked like they haven’t been coached before, he said, adding that there was “work to do” and make these players better.

“I am devastated myself. I hope players are hurting as much as me. We have to go again in 4-5 days (vs NorthEast United FC). We are still coaching players, in all honesty, some Indian players look like they haven’t been coached before. We are trying to get them to play in our system and the intricate passing we do. We have to learn pretty quick. We have to be better,” said Fowler, not naming any of the players.

“We played two great teams and when you commit mistakes they will punish you. We will learn from that and we will soldier on. There is a little bit of work to do on the training park,” he added.

SCEB are languishing at the bottom of the ISL table after two losses from as many matches. They lost against arch-rivals ATK Mohun Bagan 0-2 in their ISL opener. In the match against Mumbai City, East Bengal looked sloppy and unorganised, causing Fowler to worry over his squad.

“We will coach the players because, in all fairness, few of them have probably never been coached before and that is what we are doing. We will try and make our Indian players better and that takes good coaching and I don't think they had had that in the years gone by,” Fowler said in the post-match interaction.

He further said that as a new team, SC East Bengal had much to learn and are showing glimpses of good football.

“Positives [from the game]? Probably wasn’t more [than three goals]. We are a new team, who are learning. Lot of our players who can do better. But we are showing glimpses. Defensive errors cost us. Players were dragged out of position and made some silly mistakes,” Fowler said.

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