"I'm sure that we will see a nice change at Bengaluru FC in a few weeks or months" - Gerard Zaragoza

Bengaluru FC head coach Gerard Zaragoza recently heaped praise on his current set of players and expressed his optimism about the transformation of the club under his style of play.

Speaking to the ISL's official website ahead of his side's home game against Chennaiyin FC on Wednesday (February 7), Zaragoza said:

"You need to have the capacity to adapt to the new country, new club, and new players. For me, in my style of life, I have a style of football, and I have these players, and I need to try to arrive in the middle and we have to try to arrive in the middle. That means that the players we have are the best at the moment. We are going to work hard. We are on the right wave. We have a lot of young talented players who are knocking at the door and I am sure that we will see a nice change in a few weeks or months."

However, Zaragoza also clarified that it will take time and buy-in from the players to adapt to his style. He added:

"I am a type of person that likes to have control over everything and in football, of course. I like to take control of the game, it means whether we have the ball or not, we control the situation. But this is a process that needs time to work, and needs the players to understand too."

The 41-year-old is a familiar name for the club, the fans, and the city, having already served as Carles Cuadrat's assistant during the 2018-19 season when the Blues lifted the ISL title. He replaced Simon Grayson as the head coach last December.

"The only thing we want to do is to bring joy to our supporters" - Gerard Zaragoza

Admitting that the team has to display a good brand of football, produce positive results and bring joy to their fans in every game, Gerard Zaragoza said:

"The only thing we want to do is to bring joy to our supporters. They are too important for us. They are the fire in our veins. When we are in the changing room and we go outside and listen to them, it’s amazing. The players know that not just the players, even when the other clubs come to the Kanteerava, they know the importance of our supporters. They pay for a ticket to come to us, and when they go home, they need to say, ‘We enjoyed today’. This is the most important thing."

On his relationship with Bengaluru FC's former head coach and the current Technical consultant, Albert Roca, the Spaniard further added:

"I know what Albert Roca means for the BFC and the city. We have been friends for a long time. From when I was with Carles, we always said that maybe one day we will work together. We were always in touch, not only about BFC, but about football in general."

With 11 points from 13 matches, Bengaluru FC are currently 11th in the 2023-24 ISL points table. With nine more matches to be played before the playoffs, last season's finalists need to start bagging three points in as many games as possible to have any chances of making the top six.