ISL 2023-24:  Lack of goals and a team in flux marks Bengaluru FC’s dismal campaign

Back in December, after Bengaluru FC’s 4-0 shellacking at the hands of Mumbai City FC, the then head coach Simon Grayson had said that he saw no leaders on the pitch.

Four months on, the man who took over from Grayson following that harrowing night, Gerard Zaragoza sang the same tune after an identical thrashing by Mohun Bagan Super Giant on Thursday.

It was a bold assessment to make about a side that had two Indian National team stalwarts in Sunil Chhetri and Gurpreet Singh Sandhu. But as the twin defeats — two of their heaviest at home — showed, there was more than a kernel of truth in it.

The campaign was BFC’s worst in Indian Super League history — 22 points from 22 matches — and the outfit didn’t win a single away fixture.

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That it came barely 12 months after the club was back challenging for the biggest prizes in Indian football made it more disappointing. It was a penalty shoot-out away from regaining the ISL title last season and also finished runner-up in the Super Cup.

Grayson first, and then Zaragoza, may have bemoaned the lack of leaders, but the drift has been palpable for a while. After nearly eight years with just three full-time head coaches, Zaragoza is the team’s third in the last three years. And against superior opponents like MCFC and Mohun Bagan, the feeling of being out-coached and out-thought was unmistakable.

Grayson first, and then Zaragoza (in pic), have bemoaned the lack of leaders in the BFC outfit
| Photo Credit:
Focus Sports / ISL

The shuffling of playing personnel also left the side undercooked. If the loss of defender Sandesh Jhingan was a body blow, BFC has never quite replaced Brazilian attacker Cleiton Silva, who scored 16 goals across 2020-21 and 2021-22. Ahead of 2023-24, star striker Roy Krishna left after a solitary season.

The development of N. Sivasakthi, who had a breakout year in 2022-23, has also stuttered, and Englishman Curtis Main proved a damp squib in his eight appearances. Chhetri, 39, had just five goals to show, and the net effect was that BFC scored just 20 times, another record low.

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There were indeed a few quality Indian players who came in, like Halicharan Narzary last June and Chinglensana Singh and Nikhil Poojary this January-February. But they were far from fully integrated.

“The reality is that we need to improve,” Zaragoza said. “But we are on the [right] way. I am happy with the signings of Indian players. We will work with them individually and collectively during the pre-season. I am sure next season we will be better.”