BFC coach Roca rubbishes Portugal's tight schedule remarks

Bengaluru FC coach Albert Roca played down his Delhi Dynamos FC counterpart Miguel Angel Portugal's remarks on tight schedule in the ISL, saying one cannot complain about it as it is a part of competition.

"I don't think it matters. It is good to have more time to prepare, but this is a competition where we sometimes have to play four days later," Roca told reporters at the post- match press conference last night here.

"Next time, it is for us (the shorter recovery period) and we have to go to Goa. We cannot complain about that. It is our job," he added.
 

Portugal had complained about the recovery time and training facility given to Delhi after they were thrashed 4-1.

"I extend my congratulations to Bengaluru FC for winning the match. They played very well, but I only hope in their next match, Bengaluru gets four days for recovery and my team gets seven days. That is the difference. The conditions were not similar for both sides," Portugal said.

Criticising the training facility given to his team, Portugal added, "My team trained on artificial ground. My team usually trains on natural pitch."

Roca said he would like his team to play aggressive football in the next three successive away games.

"As a coach I would like us to play the same, but it is almost impossible from a mental point of view no matter how much I prepare them for different circumstances. We have three games away and we will try to play our game and get all points," he said.

Roca said his team is working on scoring goals from set- pieces.

"Carles Cuadrat (Roca's assistant) is doing a very good job there on set-pieces. It is a weapon," he said.

Erik Partaalu had scored twice on set-pieces in the first half of the match.

Roca said he was impressed with Miku's performance.

"Miku is one of the top players in ISL and he deserved to score. He had so many opportunities. He passes well and keeps the ball when necessary and overall he did a good job," he said.

Asked about the reason behind taking off Udanta Singh, Edu Garcia and Juanan, Roca said, "We have a game in four days so we need to conserve energy and play a little more defensive against Delhi.