ISL: Albert Roca's change in fortune with Bengaluru FC

Representational PictureBengaluru FCs remarkable debut in the Hero Indian Super League has been masterminded by coach Albert Roca But had not things not gone in his favour towards the end of last season he wouldnt have been occupying that seat in the first place Roca was brought in by Bengaluru FC in July 2016 and the immediate task was to ensure the side advanced to the knockout stages of the AFC Cup They did scored a famous win over Malaysias reigning champions Johor Darul Tazim but then faltered at the final juncture against Al Quwa Al Jawiya ILeague was nextAs expected they started strongly with three wins but it was followed by a sevenmatch winless run which deterred their fight for silverware This included being trounced 31 by East Bengal in the comforts of their home soil The club did pick up form late in the season which saw them win their final four matches to finish fourth on the table This was certainly an underachievement for a club of Bengalurus stature which had on paper the highest budget Soon there were whispers that Roca would be shown the door at the end of the seasonThe Federation Cup was supposed to be his last assignment In the Federation Cup group stages Bengaluru only scraped past before eventually going on to win the title in extra time against Mohun Bagan The title assured them of a berth in the AFC Cup playoffs and worked in the favour of Roca as the club did a uturn by offering him an extension for another year And what a year it has been for Roca so far Bengaluru FC have been utterly dominant in the ISL garnering a record 40 points They have defeated every club in the group stages and have looked comfortable in most of their matches Their winning percentage of 722 percent is the best ever in the 22yearold history of Indian footballs top tierAll this is certainly down to Roca who handpicked his team In the last four seasons Bengaluru never had a foreign top scorer Roca identified the clubiquests weakness and their overreliance on Sunil Chhetri Hence he decided to go all out for Miku and made him the highestpaid foreigner in the league The Venezuelan has also repaid the faith shown by Roca by scoring 14 goals It must be noted that last year Roca didnt have a plan B They started with a fourman defence before moving to three at the back Their passandmoveiquest brand of football was considered slow and not effective against teams who would sit backHowever this season in the ISL there have been matches where they have been second best in terms of possession like against NorthEast United at home But Roca relied on his teams quick counterattack to sting the opposition after soaking up the pressure From starting with one foreigner at the back to opting to field Juanan and John Johnson in defence the team has been versatile in their choice of tacticsIn February the club played seven matches in all competitions and were victorious on six occasions In fact going into the playoffs they are unbeaten in their last 12 games It isnt that Roca hasnt chopped and changed his players during the frantic schedule but whats worth highlighting is that the performance levels haveniquestt dipped for which Roca deserves all the plauditsCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever