Outside of the Boot was on hand for Ashley Westwood’s post-match comments after Bengaluru FC got three points against FC Aizwal.
Bengaluru FC got an important three points in the title race, but it wasn’t comfortable with FC Aizwal making a good case for themselves and nearly preventing a home win. Ashley Westwood seemed content with the performance, but not so much with the referee…
On the referee:
“They didn’t try to win it enough, and we didn’t try to lose it. The ref tried his best (laughs), but we did enough to get the three points”
“Obviously if I comment (on the referee) i’ll get fined. I got fined two lakh rupees last year, so that’s why I won’t be commenting. But we will be sending a letter because there were some strange comments after the game.”
Ashley Westwood did say after the game that he spoke to the ref about the excessive stoppage time. Ref said “blame your players, they wasted too much time”
On the performance:
“It was a good win for us, maybe not as good a performance, but we got the three points and played plenty of youngsters, played some good fine-flowing football upfront with Vineeth, Udanta and Doungel. The lads worked hard. We could have added more, scored more goals if we were a little bit more composed. But we got a clean sheet and we won, which is what we are really concerned about at this stage”
On the injuries:
“The injuries, for Doungel, was a kick on the calf; Zuala twisted his ankle so that isn’t something you can help and Vineeth was the one with a soft tissue on the groin. So one out of three was a non-impact injury. Vineeth is the one who has played a lot, traveled a lot recently. So we played some fresher legs today with Len and Udanta.”
On tactics:
“5 days in 14 games is a lot, and we can’t have Kim playing all of them. But we played well with what we had, it was important we pressed on the ball when we didn’t have it. We played with a different dimension, something we haven’t tried before. We played with three forwards, something like a 4-3-3. They worked hard, caused a little bit of trouble but they could have been a little bit more composed”
On half-time team talk:
“Just told them to relax, have a bit of composure. Towards the end of the game I know they got a bit more tired, so the game would become more open. But it was important we kept winning the ball back higher up the field. We got one goal from a set-piece and should have had another from open play, but we got the three points”
On FC Aizwal:
“Long range shots is something they do well, we did see the videos on them. But they didn’t carve us open; they did have a few chances but nothing that concerned us. It was important we won the ball back in their half and not ours, and we did that well.”
Co-founder and Chief Editor here. Obsessed with tactics. Keen follower of young players. Creator of #TalentRadar.
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