Punjab FC head coach Panagiotis Dilmperis was of full praise for Bengaluru FC despite suffering a narrow 0-1 defeat against the Blues at the Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Friday.

Naorem Roshan Singh broke the deadlock just before the half-time break with his left-footed strike, which ultimately proved to be the decider. This victory allowed Bengaluru FC to extend their unbeaten run to five games and made them the first team to register five consecutive clean sheets in their opening five matches.

Luka Majcen returned to the squad after recovering from a jaw injury but did not feature in the match. Norwegian forward Mushaga Bakenga came off the bench in the second half and had the best chance of the game in the 74th minute; however, his powerful strike rattled the crossbar, denying the Shers the opportunity to score an equalizer.

When asked about his decision to bench two of his starting forwards, Dilmperis said, “(Mushaga) Bakenga was injured. For the last three days (he was) without (a) session. He did (a training) session yesterday, and we knew he could play (for) 25 minutes. Even the 35 minutes plus the extra time was a risky thing.”

“Luka (Majcen), we shouldn't use him. It's safer not to use him. But we want him in the locker room. He's transferring the passion and the mentality that we want,” he added.

The Blues' defender Chinglensana Singh was sent off around the hour mark after receiving his second yellow card. However, Punjab FC could not capitalize on their numerical advantage, despite creating a couple of clear-cut chances in the latter half through Ezequiel Vidal, Bakenga, and others.

In this context, the Punjab FC head coach remarked, “Most of the time, the teams that play with a plus-one player cannot manage the plus-one player. We went safe. We play against the Bengaluru FC. We don't play against a team that we can just play directly 4-4-2, even if we didn't have a second striker to use.”

“Bengaluru FC, in my opinion, since the first day that I saw them in the Durand Cup, are the best team in the league,” Dilmperis opined.

The Greek head coach urged his players to be more precise inside the opponent's box to convert their chances. Dilmperis introduced tactical changes in his approach against Bengaluru FC; however, the Shers struggled to execute them completely, suffering their first defeat of the 2024-25 season.

While sharing his assessment of their overall performance, he said,

“It would be very risky if we play 4-4-2, for example, with two strikers. We try to go from the side and also from the middle. We have a couple of chances if our finishings and our transfers with the ball in the box had more quality. For example, we don't want this keeper (Gurpreet Singh Sandhu) to have long balls. It's an easy job for him. So, we worked all week with tough, low service. We didn't do it, but it's very natural.”

“We have a lot of young boys. We are a young team, and it's hard for us to manage these circumstances,” Dilmperis signed off.

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Punjab FC2024-2025