#2 An unbalanced Kerala side might struggle again this season
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After a fairytale start to the ISL in season one, Kerala struggled last season as a leaky defence saw them finish at the bottom of the table. Whilst last season’ worries of seepage of goals at the back might have been taken care of, they certainly lack quality in the middle this time around.
Coppell went for the jugular today, playing Antonio German next to Duckens Nazon up front. However, that left a big hole in the middle with Mehtab Hossain and Elhadjy Ndoye to marshall the midfield. Whilst neither of them are pushovers, they certainly lack the finesse and the touch to unlock defences.
With Faroukh Choudhary and Mohammed Rafique failing to provide much from the wide areas, their best bet was the maverick runs of their forwards.
Whilst German and Nazon did connect on a few occasions, it was never enough to give the Kolkata defence any jitters. In fact, even when the home side went for it all at the end, they had to resort to playing three strikers up front. However, even then, their best bet of scoring came from set pieces. If Kerala are to make any inroads after two defeats in two games, they certainly need to sort out this situation.
