NorthEast United travel to the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Wednesday to face second-placed Bengaluru FC. The Highlanders got their 2019 off to a good start with a 1-0 victory over Chennaiyin FC. A victory against Bengaluru, will put them in pole position to qualify for the knockouts for the first time in the league’s history.

At the pre-match press conference, head coach of NorthEast United Eelco Schattorie was present to share his thoughts on the enticing encounter. “We should have won the reverse fixture earlier in the season. The game tomorrow is one where we need to be on the edge. We need a win, we need three points. The biggest issue for Bengaluru is the absence of their main striker. Lucky for us, he will be not be playing,” he began.

When asked if he would try and explore similar tactics to what Mumbai City did against Bengaluru, Schattorie replied, “Mumbai is a counter-attacking team. My team is not that kind of team. I don’t think that is a specific blue print. I don’t want to focus too much on Bengaluru. I want to focus on ourselves. We could have scored more in the last game. We all have confidence. The strategy is more or less decided from my team’s point of view.”

As the race for the top 4 heats up, gaining a victory seems all the more important for Schattorie and Co. “The thing in football is that people are always calculating, but nobody knows what to expect. The only thing I hope is that ATK and Jamshedpur lose all their remaining games, so that I don’t have to worry too much. I’m not a guy who keeps calculating. Our next game is against Bengaluru and that is what we are focussing on,” he said.

Throughout the season, questions have been raised over NorthEast united’s over-reliance on Bartholomew Ogbeche. At the conference, Schattorie was asked the same question to which he answered, “I always like to be transparent. There are a few facts that on the goal-scoring front, we are highly dependent on Ogbeche. There is a dependency but there is nothing I can do about it. It is what it is.”

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