"Why wouldn't you put round pegs in round holes?" asks Simon Grayson, when questioned about his coaching philosophy, and the reason behind Bengaluru FC's turnaround this ISL season.
"You might do something complicated and stupid, but it's gonna make your life a lot more difficult," Grayson, Bengaluru FC's head coach, tells ESPN.
Therein lies the key to Bengaluru's resurgence this season. Their eight wins in a row is due to their philosophy of allowing players to express themselves within the framework of the team's system.
The system
It's something that Grayson has had to work hard to find. He played the 3-5-2 system in the victorious Durand Cup campaign to begin the season and continued with it into the ISL as well. But things quickly went south as Bengaluru won only one of their first six games.
They had 41 shots in their first six games, but only 11 of those were on target. They were just not enough of a threat to worry opponents often enough.
So, after just three ISL games, Grayson ditched the 3-5-2 to go with a 4-4-2 against Odisha FC, and then a 4-3-3 against East Bengal.
"The reason why we changed was we were not creating enough opportunities. Our wing-backs were probably not playing as high as we'd like them to, or we weren't keeping the ball enough. When you look at the stats, the number of crosses, the number of shots, the number of shots on target we had, would've been the lowest," says Grayson.
But later on in the season, with results still not particularly improving, Grayson decided to go back to his 3-5-2 system.
"We went back to it because I just felt that it suited us. And you could see the players were understanding the work that we were doing on the training pitch as well."
The Javi Hernandez tweak
Early on in the season, the three Bengaluru midfielders were structured with two holding players behind Javi Hernandez in the number 10 role. However, one of the major factors for the turnaround has been the change in this structure.
Grayson says that as the no.10, Hernandez was playing with his back to goal too often, with too much to do on his own.
"You want your creative player on the ball as much as possible, but not in positions and areas where they cannot impact games enough." So, Hernandez became a no. 8, starting a bit deeper so that he could run on to balls and carry it forward.
Hernandez was impacting play a lot more with a lot more touches on the ball. In Bengaluru's eight-game winning run, he had an average of 62 touches per game, which is more than the number of touches he had in any of Bengaluru's first 12 games of the season.
The little tweak needed Rohit Kumar to be brought into the side as well. "We thought that bringing in Rohit would make it a midfield that complemented each other really well," says Grayson.
"I think it's no coincidence that Rohit coming in has given us a different dimension to our game. They complement each other really well. Suresh (Singh) sits and breaks up play a lot, Rohit does that too, but he can break forward and get on the pass and tackles as well, Javi is the more creative one, but he does the hard grafting as well."
That midfield tweak has automatically helped Bengaluru in the attacking department. According to Grayson, after the change, his side is able to create more chances while also taking pressure off his attackers.
"Early on, our attackers got one chance a match if they were lucky, so when they got that chance, they were under pressure and snatching at it. Now, we create more, that relaxes the strikers as well," he says.
Sivasakthi brings a new dimension in attack
Sivasakthi Narayanan's biggest strength is his ability to play on the shoulder of the last defender to make runs in behind. Grayson believes that it is integral to the way that he wants his team to play.
"Sunil [Chhetri] used to do it at one point, age slows anyone down, but of course he's got other qualities he brings, Roy [Krishna] likes working in a partnership, and we have tried worked on getting the ball to them in good areas."
Sivasakthi is one of the rare Indian strikers in this league who continues to play in the central position. Grayson says it's just a decision that benefits the team.
Sivasakthi's first ISL goal: Reading defence, instinctive finish and a glimpse of his potential
"He wants to play down the middle. So when we've played 3-5-2 and then switch to a 4-3-3, a lot of the times Siva's had to come off because it suits the team. So you make decisions that is to benefit of the team and not the individual."
Sivasakthi's six goals this season (all scored in the last eight games) are a testament to Grayson's faith in him. He's scoring goals, he's stretching defenders, he's allowing Krishna and Hernandez more space to work with, and he's been one of the life-bloods of this Bengaluru turnaround.
The attempted high press shelved
Early on in the season, Bengaluru were a disjointed side, and that showed in how they went about winning the ball as well. Pressing is always done in packs, but with Bengaluru, it looked like it was a bunch of individuals running behind the ball.
Grayson says that another tweak he made during the season was to abandon the high press.
"We tried to press a little bit high up the pitch in the early part of the season and weren't quite able to stop the opposition from playing out, which left us a little bit vulnerable, three on three at the back."
The change was to initiate the press a little deeper on the field, so that they could use the strengths that their strikers weren't being fed to during the early part of the season.
"We now do it like a middle block and try and win the ball there and then counter attack really quickly. We do that, because we've got some pace in our team from wide areas and central areas," he says.
Forward passing first
In Bengaluru's 3-0 loss to Hyderabad at the Kanteerava Stadium, in their 4-0 loss to Mumbai away, and in their 1-0 loss to Odisha away, their top passers were all their centre-backs. In the last eight games, their centre-backs haven't attempted more than 25 passes in any of those games.
Is right, gaffer! ��#WeAreBFC #BFCKBFC ⚔️ #NothingLikeIt pic.twitter.com/cmQfh91TRq
- Bengaluru FC (@bengalurufc) March 2, 2023
"When we weren't winning, we had more possession in a lot of games, but what's the point of possession if you're going to do nothing with it?" Grayson asks.
"Defenders pass forward, midfield players receive on the half turn, look to pass forward into strikers. Again, it doesn't have to be a 40 yard pass. It can be a five yard pass, but at least if you pass it forward, you break the lines of the opposition. [Early in the season] We had it and we played it across the back. I could defend against that now!" Grayson quips.
Grayson set up drills that encouraged players to pass forward. He says that his players were too apprehensive and afraid of mistakes.
"That's common when you're going through a bad run. We did make mistakes, which resulted in goals against us, and us losing games."
With some flexibility and some improvements to his team, Grayson has masterminded one of the ISL's best comebacks. His side aren't done yet. "We'll play with heart and our heads in the playoffs," he signs off.
Bengaluru FC will face Kerala Blasters in the Knockout 1 match at the Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru. The match will start at 7.30 PM and will be shown LIVE on Star Sports and Hotstar