Kerala Blasters have not had it easy in the final third of the field…
The last time Kerala Blasters faced Mumbai City, the result turned out to be catastrophic for the Yellow Army. They were beaten 6-1, with Modou Sougou scoring a poker in the fixture in Mumbai last season. The then-head coach David James was sacked a few weeks later.
Thursday’s Indian Super League (ISL) fixture between the two teams was nothing like it. The centre-back partnership of Jairo Rodrigues and Gianni Zuiverloon stood tall against Mumbai City’s attack for most of the game. It took a poor lack of defensive awareness in the 82nd-minute for Amine Chermiti, who started upfront in place of Modou Sougou, to hit the hammer blow. But otherwise, the Blasters defence, devoid of injured Sandesh Jhingan, were holding on pretty well.
Upfront, Bartholomew Ogbeche is the kind of striker that the team has sorely missed in the last few seasons – the Nigerian has a powerful strike on him, can hold the ball well and can find the net from any angle. The concern, for Eelco Schattorie, will be in the middle of the park.
Jeakson Singh is only 18 and needs time to be able to make mature decisions on the field. His partner, Moustapha Gning looked solid against ATK but was less assured against the Indian midfield duo of Raynier Fernandes and Rowllin Borges. But the real issue rises when Blasters are asked to break down a well-organized backline.
With Mario Arques ruled out with an injury for a month, the only creative midfielder on the bench was fan-favourite Sahal Abdul Samad. But the Keralite, according to Schattorie, is not ready to play in his system yet, especially after missing a few weeks of pre-season on account of being away with the national team.
However, he might need to incorporate the Kerala-born lad into the starting lineup soon, given the team’s woes in midfield. Sahal is a good ball-carrier and has an eye for a defence-splitting pass.
Sergio Cidoncha, who was deployed in behind Ogbeche in first two matches, has drifted in and out of the games. He’s certainly not looked like the Spanish player that impressed for Jamshedpur in the early stages of last season – he simply needs to improve.
Amrinder Singh produced a belter of a save to keep out Ogbeche’s close-range strike towards the end of the game. But even if that had gone in, the narrative would have remained the same.
Kerala Blasters’ last back-to-back home wins came in December 2016. Moreover, a season-opening win against ATK was how David James’ team started the campaign last season, before going on a winless run of 14 matches. Blasters need to be consistently picking up wins and for that, they need a better – creative – midfield.
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