He believes in the Samurai philosophy, keeps his hair tied during matches as a mark of ‘‘respect towards opponents’’. But the rest is all about attack for East Bengal’s Belgian coach Philippe de Ridder—14 goals have come his team’s way in the last four matches, including the three against arch-rivals Mohun Bagan today.

For the team, the 3-1 scoreline today in the quintessential derby clash means they are four points clear of Mahindra United at the top. And the 19 goals they have scored so far is the highest in the league — Bhaichung Bhutia, who opened the scoring today, has nine in his bag and is the joint top-scorer.

More importantly, East Bengal have got into the winning habit. They now have logged four straight wins against teams like defending champions Dempo, last year’s runners-up Sporting Clube de Goa, Mohammedan Sporting and now Bagan.

Credit here, must go to Ridder. He has transformed East Bengal’s season by doing what his predecessors never dared to. He has fielded greenhorns and bench-warmers like defender Anupam Sarkar and striker Gouranga Dutta, who got his side’s third goal today. East Bengal’s second goal came from S. Malsawmpluanga, after which Bagan drew some consolation through Mehtab Hussain.