East Bengal: Will Aleksander Pantic play against Jamshedpur FC?

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East Bengal lost Jose Antonio Pardo to a long-term injury and decided to part ways. They didn't waste any time to bring in replacement Serbian defender Aleksander Pantic who was waiting for the visa to arrive in India.

It seems Pantic is not only here, but he has also joined the rest of the team at Jamshedpur to start training. Even though he should start to train with the first team on February 20, the coach could still wait to start him.

Similar to most teams in the ISL 2023-24, East Bengal have been plagued with injuries on top of players missing games with suspensions. However, depending on how Pantic performs, it can turn out to be a blessing in disguise for East Bengal.

However, the same cannot be said for their other two new foreigners. Neither Felicio Brown Forbes nor Victor Vazquez have been able to find their footing yet. Additionally, the injured Saul Crespo is yet to recover from his injury.

As a result, their attacking chances have hit a lower rate with no creative flow of passes from the midfield to the final third. Coach Carles Cuadrat is holding on to East Bengal's top-six chances with his defensive style of play.

However, even that will suffer if Pantic doesn't start and perform well for the Red and Gold Brigade soon. Captain Cleiton Silva saved them in their last match against Hyderabad FC when he won the match by scoring the only goal.

They are currently sitting in 8th place in the Indian Super League table, only two points behind the 6th-placed Jamshedpur FC. Hence, their next match against Jamshedpur FC will be extremely crucial and the coach could decide to play Pantic off the bench.

Arriving at Jamshedpur, Pantic should start with light training, focusing on his fitness. Hence, he could start the match on the bench and gradually make his way into the starting XI as East Bengal will at least need to win against teams like Chennaiyin, Punjab, and Bengaluru next.