Bengaluru FC head coach Gerard Zaragoza spoke about his first few days in his new role and shed light on the style of play he wants to implement as they prepare to host NorthEast United FC at the Sree Kanteerava stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday. 

The Spaniard got off to a winning start with the Blues as they edged past Jamshedpur FC in their last match. Zaragoza revealed how he has spent the last few days trying to change the mood around the place and alter the way his team is approaching games. 

“It's always a challenge when a new coach comes in. My expectation, as I said before the last game, is to take each game at a time. We were happy with the result, worked hard for a week and now it's time to, once again, bring a positive side of BFC to the ground,” Zaragoza said during the pre-match press conference. 

“The biggest positive is that we won that game. We changed the mentality of the players, how they faced the game, how they fought together and all these changes made me proud. We spoke a lot during the previous 24 hours and that's something we tried to bring in this week,” he added. 

“I wanted them to be together as a unit, press a little higher. We wanted to protect Gurpreet and that's what we did,” he continued.

The 41-year-old admires the way NorthEast United FC play their football and feels the Highlanders will be among the competitors for the playoff spots come the end of the league phase. 

“We worked hard during this week to analyze their weaknesses. They have a lot of good players and probably the best team in the set-pieces. It's a team that I like with the way they play,” he said. 

“They aren't in the Top 6 right now, but I'm sure they are fighting to be there,” he added. 

The Spaniard wants his team to make certain tweaks to their gameplay to be able to reignite their campaign and spoke about the football he wants to see his team play. 

“We want to be able to control the game, with and without the ball. If we don't have the ball, we can still control the game and bring them where we want,” he said. 

“Even with the ball, we want to control, but be vertical. We want to arrive in the box and get shots away,” he added. 

Speaking about the broader target for the season, Zaragoza preferred to stay in the present. 

“Our target is Sunday. We don't know what will happen in the Super Cup or the Top six, for us our minds are only on NorthEast United,” he said. 

We have got new energy: Keziah Veendorp

Bengaluru FC midfielder Keziah Veendorp accompanied Zaragoza in the press conference and spoke about the lift they have received with the arrival of the new head coach. 

“When we didn't win too many matches, we tried to stay positive, but of course it's not too easy. I felt that with the new coach, we also got a new energy and for me, that's the biggest improvement,” Veendorp said. 

“I tried to play every week and it's up to the coach, of course, the last game I played I was happy with my role. As I said, I'm really positive and looking forward to the game on Sunday,” he added.

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Bengaluru FC2023-2024