SC East Bengal drew 1-1 with Bengaluru FC in their first game of the new year, sharing a point with their opponents. Here are the three key talking points from the game.
An improved SC East Bengal
With caretaker manager and future assistant Renedy Singh in-charge of the game, East Bengal were quite impressive in both halves. They had the lead in the game until the own goal, and were resolutely defending in the second half as well.
While it isn’t the result that they wanted, they will be happy not to be on the losing end, and about their better performance on the pitch.
Bengaluru still can’t kill off their games
To put things into perspective, Bengaluru had 66% of possession, but only managed two shots on target throughout the entire game. They had 549 passes in contrast to East Bengal’s 195, but could not create enough chances despite having the majority of possession.
Problems in attack have been bothering the team since the beginning of the season, and considering their second half performance, it now seems like two points dropped instead of a point earned.
Adil Khan returns to the lineup
The India international was relegated to the bench under Jose Manuel Diaz, but has now returned to the lineup. And in his first start for the club, he earned the Hero of the Match award to prove his worth.
With the 33-year-old expected to be a regular in the starting line-up now, we can expect to see a much improved SC East Bengal in defense.
