I-League: Bagan have an edge over us, says East Bengal coach

East Bengal's Dutch coach Eelco Schattorie believes going into the high-voltage Kolkata derby, their arch-rivals Mohun Bagan have an advantage as they are high on confidence after their unbeaten streak so-far.

"They (Mohun Bagan) have been unbeaten so far in the league, so they are high on confidence. Going into tomorrow's encounter, I believe they will have an advantage," said Schattorie at the pre-match press conference on Friday.

Saturday's clash, which will be the Dutchman's first local derby as a head coach, has not brought happy news as some of his players like Gurwinder Singh and Raju Gaekwad will miss the match due to injuries.

"I will be missing Gurwinder and Raju and there is cloud of doubt over Deepak (Mandal) too," said Schattorie.

Though the coach believes their opponents have the edge, he also sees this as an opportunity to get back to the winning ways.

"It will be my first derby, emotions and tensions are attached with this age-old rivalry, there will also be pressure around, but I see this as a chance to get back to winning ways," he said.

Speaking on his defence that has looked rusty at times in the league, the Dutchman said: "We have scored 10 goals and have digested 10 too, but out of that there were only two goals that happened because of defensive errors, the rest from set-pieces. I don't think the defence can be blamed for this."

Asked if he will play goal-keeper Subhasish Roy Chowdhury in place of an out-of-form Abhijit Mondal, the 43-year-old said: "May be. A lot of teams attack us with long-balls and I believe a taller goalkeeper will be much safer."

Even though Schattorie believes Bagan are stronger going into the encounter, he hopes to exploit the chinks in the rival armour.

"Bagan is unbeaten and will play with a lot of confidence, but we will try and exploit the weak spots they have," he said.