ONGC held Mohun Bagan to a goal-less draw in an I-League Round Five match here and Odafa was made ineffective with Bhattacharya ordering his two central defenders marking the Nigerian goal machine.
Asked at the post-match press conference about double marking of Odafa, Bhattacharya said, "Mohun Bagan are absolutely nothing without Odafa. If you check Odafa then Mohun Bagan cannot do anything."
"This is not the opinion of me only, everybody will say this. When Odafa scores or he is in form, Mohun Bagan will win. If he is not in form, they will suffer. Odafa is a great player and we know his ability," he added.
Bhattacharya said that he had a simple plan before the match -- making Odafa ineffective and Syed Rahim Nabi to a certain extent.
"I told the boys that we can win the match if we check Odafa and Syed Rahim Nabi. Odafa was the main threat and everybody knows it. Today, we implemented almost all our plans. Odafa did nothing today," he said.
Mohun Bagan assistant coach Mridul Banerjee expectedly did not agree with this view, saying that the other 10 players will have to support him.
"It is not like that and I don't think that we are totally dependent on Odafa. He is a great footballer but he needs support from the other 10 players," he said. More
