Bengaluru FC has continued their unbeaten run with another solid 2-1 win over Odisha FC in the Indian Super League. Sunil Chhetri scored for his team and broke the deadlock with a stunning header. While it was Cleiton Silva scored the winner late in the game. He helped secure all three points for Carles Cuadrat’s men.
Here are the talking points from the match-
Sunil Chhetri getting fired up gradually
Two goals in as many matches and even the way of scoring has been similar for the Indian captain. Chhetri gave Bengaluru FC the lead in the 38th minute. He rose up high to head the ball past Arsdeep Singh in goal.
The chief creator of the buildup has to be Harmanjot Khabra. It was he who whipped the ball in with his left foot. It was laid on a plat for Chhetri to head it home.
The Indian captain admitted in the post-match chat that Khabra has paid extra attention to his crossing in training and therefore it is paying dividends for the team. Chhetri has looked more dangerous for the last couple of games and it seems like finding the back of the net has given him more confidence to do it more regularly.
Yet another refereeing error that hurt a team
This ISL season has already been heavily criticised for the quality of officiating and in this game, Odisha FC was on the receiving end of things. Manuel Onwu was judged offside by the linesman when the replay showed he was well behind the Bengaluru FC defensive line when the pass was played. Onwu went on to score and the goal was cancelled which later came back to haunt Odisha FC.
It was a brilliant pass played by his fellow forward Diego Mauricio which released Onwu on the counter as he skipped past the defenders to slide it home past Gurpreet Singh Sandhu only to see it get cancelled for a wrong offside call.
Deshorn Brown deserves to start ahead of Kristian Opseth
The new signing, Kristian Opseth has not yet got going this season. With every passing game, the lanky forward looks more and more out of place in this Bengaluru FC team. Opseth’s movement has not been the best as he hardly gets involved in the buildup and even when a chance popped up against Odisha he was unable to convert it.
On the other hand, Deshorn Brown who has been the second choice for Cuadrat till now has made an impact from the bench. The Jamaican held off Steven Taylor and laid the ball beautifully in Cleiton’s path.
It was the move which produced the winner. Cuadrat mainly prefers to use Brown’s pace and physicality later in the game. That is when the opposition defenders are tired. Despite that, now it is time to back Brown and give him the start that he deserves.
