East Bengal FC head coach Carles Cuadrat will prioritise every single point and wants his players to display their grit and determination as they take  on Chennaiyin FC in the opening fixture of Matchweek 17 in the Indian Super League (ISL) at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata on Monday.

The Red and Gold Brigade have never won against Chennaiyin FC in the ISL in their last seven outings. It’ll be an important outing for both sides, who are stuck at 15 points in the league table. Notably, both East Bengal FC and Chennaiyin FC are coming off defeats in their last outings against Jamshedpur FC and Mumbai City FC, respectively.

East Bengal FC created numerous goalscoring opportunities in the Jamshedpur FC match, but failing to convert those chances cost them three points despite taking a one-goal lead.

“It’s important that we create chances, and we create very clear chances that our forwards can score goals from,” he said in the pre-match press conference.

Cuadrat shared his respect for opponent head coach Owen Coyle and is anticipating a challenging outing against the former ISL Cup winners. He acknowledged that despite being in different circumstances in comparison to the Marina Machans, both sides’ primary target will be securing all three points from the match.

“We don’t have to compare ourselves with Chennaiyin FC; we’re in different situations,” he stated.

“They’ll fight for three points for sure, as they also want to get to the playoffs. I have a lot of respect for Owen Coyle and how he always gets results. It’ll be a very difficult game,” he added.

The Spaniard remains optimistic about securing their spot in the ISL playoffs for the first time in the teams' history.

“There are chances. Every point is important,” he opined.

“We fight for every single point and determine our final point tally. We might be in the playoffs. It is possible. It’s in our hands to have a good run of results; we have a never-say-die attitude, and we will give our all to get a win against Chennaiyin FC,” he signed off.

We don't deserve the position where we’re: Prabhsukhan Singh Gill

 

Goalkeeper Prabhsukhan Singh Gill attended the press conference with his head coach ahead of their next home game against Chennaiyin FC. The 23-year-old custodian has solidified his position as the first-choice goalkeeper for his team and has also kept six clean sheets and saved 31 shots in the ISL 2023–24 season.

Gill revealed his decision to join the Kolkata-based club and shared his journey thus far with East Bengal FC.

“First of all, the biggest reason for joining East Bengal FC was head coach Carles Cuadrat. Only because I worked with him before. I made my ISL debut under him. So, I have known him for two or three years,” he said.

“When we started in the Durand Cup, things started slowly. We didn't have a good game against Bangladesh Army. But after that, we have trust in each other that we will do well. And fortunately, we did well in the Durand Cup, and then we had a great Super Cup also,” he continued.

He believes they don’t deserve the position where they are now placed at the points table. He is hopeful that they are fully committed to achieving a positive result against Chennaiyin FC at home.

“We are a little bit unlucky in ISL because we are not getting the results,” he said.

“We don't deserve the position in which we are placed right now. But we are still working on that, and hopefully, we'll get a good result tomorrow (on Monday),” he concluded.

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East Bengal FCChennaiyin FC2023-2024 Carles Xiques Caudrat