
NEW DELHI: It has been far from smooth sailing for ISL debutants SC East Bengal, losing their opening two matches. To add to those woes, head coach Robbie Fowler's comments about Indian players not being coached properly before has not gone down well within the country's football fraternity.
The former Liverpool striker clarified his statement on the eve of his team's clash against NorthEast United FC.
"The comments were taken out of context. My comments were directed at my team. My philosophy is to coach a team to the best of my knowledge and abilities. I understand from where the people got the wrong context. My intention was not to disrespect anyone. I would never ever do that. There are lots of good players in India. Some not great by all means.
"There are technically gifted players here but sometimes they need a better understanding of the game. That's being a realist and trying to better the system. Communicating better on the pitch, knowing when and when not to tackle, when to run and standstill. The understanding of the game can be better."
There have been lots of talk going around regarding reinforcements especially considering injuries to defender Danny Fox and striker Aaron Amadi Holloway and the team's lack of a seventh foreign player but the 45-year-old wanted to focus on what he has at the moment.
"We have a lot of players (that we are looking at). I think we have got to be sensible. We have an idea of who we can and can't bring in. We have to be realistic. We have to look at players who would want to come here. Then spend two weeks in quarantine. It is a tall ask. We have made some phone calls. Not just a striker... lots and lots of things we can discuss. We have to try to be the very best that we can and that means to bring in someone who can be the best for the club."
NorthEast, on the other hand, are currently third and have made an unbeaten start to this edition, winning their opening contest while drawing the other two.
Though coach Gerard Nus is happy with the start, he knows the team needs to improve on their scoring from open play. So far, NEUFC have scored four goals out of which three have come from set-pieces.
"We want to compete. We are going in a good direction. We have to improve a lot. We are working to create chances from open play as well as set-pieces. We will not have only one plan."