I’d be worried if I was Stimac: Bengaluru coach Cuadrat laments lack of Indian goalscorers in ISL

Bengaluru FC coach Carles Cuadrat expressed concerns over the lack of Indian goalscorers in the Indian Super League, highlighting the poor numbers of his players Udanta Singh and Ashique Kuruniyan who are part of the national team.

“If I am in the place of Stimac, I will be worried,” Cuadrat said ahead of Bengaluru’s game against ATK on Saturday where he expected to ring in the changes.

“Udanta [has] only one goal and zero assists; Ashique only one assist, zero goals…it’s scary. I gave them a lot of opportunities, but the results are not there,” he added.

The Spanish coach pointed at the foreign players occupying key positions in the ISL sides as one of the reasons why India are struggling to find a new crop of players that can replace the old guard in the team. “We are still depending on Sunil [Chhetri],” the 51-year-old said.

“A lot of commentators are saying ‘you have to find a replacement for Sunil’. Yes, you have to. But it is not arriving. You have to understand that all teams are professional and all teams have foreign managers who are here to make an impact and they bring players from England, Holland, Spain, etc.” he added.

Most teams in the ISL have deployed foreign players in key areas of the pitch leaving the Indian players to adapt and play in positions that aren’t natural to them. But Cuadrat insisted that unless Indian players prove their worth in those key positions, the ISL clubs will continue to rely on overseas talent.

“[Ferran] Corominas is scoring a lot of goals and this is what is taking the teams to the top position. We [Bengaluru] are still reaching the top position without a striker who can get 10 goals,” he said.

“We had Miku with that kind of numbers but he is not with us. If you see the numbers season after season, we need a foreigner No 9 who can score goals. Otherwise, you will be in trouble.” he added.

Only two Indian players feature in the top 20 goalscorers in the ISL this season, however, neither of them have managed to get into double figures. With Chhetri now in his mid-thirties, Cuadrat’s remarks shed further light on India’s failure to conjure up attacking players.