The Delhi Dynamos faced the Kerala Blasters at the Kochi Stadium, Kerala. Coming off after their dominating 3-1 victory over defending champions Chennaiyin FC 3-1 away, the Gianluca Zambrotta-coached team started as favorites.
The game began on the balanced note, with Kerala Blasters being the slightly better side in the first half. As the game grew, the Lions started to control proceedings and grew into the game well. At the final whistle, the game ended in a 0-0 draw, with both teams happy to share a point each.
Sandesh Jhingan was awarded the man of the match for protecting his goal well and keeping opposition striker Badara Badji out of the game for most of the time.
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Here, we take a look at the five talking points from the game
#1 Richard Gadze is the real deal
Badara Badji is a finisher, a striker who’ll dominate defenders in the box. If you’re playing a counter-attacking system, or with a formation which defends heavily and trusts on set-pieces more than open-play, you need to have a player like him up ahead.
Delhi Dynamos, on the other hand, are doing exactly the opposite. Playing with inverted wingers as part of the top three, the Lions need to understand that 22-year-old Senegalese striker is not just what it takes to keep possession and play with the ball at the feet.
Playing a possession-based game play, with quick inter-linking passing a feature of their game, Delhi needs players who can pick passes and through balls, and Badji is surely not the man for that. Richard Gadze, on the other hand, is a good striker upfront who can link-up play with his back to the opposition goal and can involve his attacking team-mates to the game.
Losing three brilliant balls in the box would not help the Senegalese’s case here. The player also rendered Marcelinho less effective, usually going solo or playing too right over the pitch. In hindsight, Richard Gadze combined brilliantly with attacking wingers Lewis and Marcelinho in the last game against Chennaiyin FC.
#2 The clear difference between Marcos Tebar and Mehtab Hussain
Mehtab Hussain, a name in many famous Indian footballing stories, is slowly but steadily, on the wane. The central defensive midfielder is being a shield to his defence and is playing as a third central defender, just sitting above the pair of Cedric Hengbart and Sandesh Jhingan. The player made no telling or even, debatable contributions in attack and almost all of his passes were in his own half, except for the set-pieces, throughout the game.
Marcos Tebar, on the other hand, is the deep-lying playmaker for this Delhi Dynamos team. With Milan Singh operating slightly ahead of him, the Spanish wizard operates from a position similar to that of Mehtab, but in a completely opposite way. Marcos never tackles hard but never backs off from one. All of his passes are forward, and some of them even finding players in the final third. The player had a 92% passing accuracy last game and seemed to be in a zone of himself in this match too.
Always finding space for himself to operate, Marcos doesn’t just break opposition plays, he also looks to convert defence into attack, and that is what is missing from Mehtab’s, and thus, Kerala’s, game. Steve Coppell would need to look into this facet of his team’s game soon to ensure they don’t end up like last season.
#3 Antonio German’s new positioning will not help Kerala Blasters
If you’re 24 years old, fast, 6 feet tall, burly-built and have scored goals by the dozens, you would expect yourself to start upfront. Sadly, that’s not the case with Antonio German. The Englishman has speed, has a great presence in the box and has the ability to link-up play. Add to that a vicious left-foot and you have an almost complete package. Playing a man with these attributes on the wing? NO!
Steve Coppell, the gaffer, got it all wrong there. German deserves to be in the centre, playing as the centre forward or the support striker. With pace and ability to dribble, the striker is being wasted on the left wing. Michael Chopra is no super-finisher himself, and crossing into him wouldn’t help the Sachin Tendulkar owned-side much.
On the wings, German looked bereft of ideas. At times, it looked like he passed to Josu due to the closing of the left angle on the field for him. Making the task easy for Sana, German did not track back much to support the Spanish left-back. Nazon, on the right-wing, was almost absent throughout the game.
#4 Delhi Dynamos have clear ideas on the pitch
Exaggeration you may call it, but there’s a certain pattern to this Delhi game-play, which all of us have seen. Every player-turned-coach seems to be inspired by a certain set-up/game-play he’s been a part of and Zambrotta looks to be inspired by the Barcelona-setup, masterminded by the great Johan Cryuff.
With the possession-based football, Zambrotta has turned a new leaf in Indian football never seen before. The team chases together and is not shy of passing the ball back to keep possession. With Kean Lewis and Marcelinho operating from the wings, they have two players with the ability to break defences with both off-the-ball running and key passing.
Thus, one look at the gameplay and you see a similar setup. With Marcos Tebar establishing himself in the role similar to Sergio Busquets at Barcelona, the team is always calm and never looks daunted with the ball. Without it, they have a stable defensive set-up with Rocha leading the line and giving them enough experience and stability.
The players are willing to run for each other and only target-man Badara Badji looks a misfit in the attacking third.
With Florent Malouda making his ISL 2016 debut, Richard Gadze would be praying to get on the pitch. In Milan Singh, they have a tireless runner who’s not shy of putting in a hard tackle, similar to Ivan Rakitic.
Obviously, these players do not have the same quality as their Barcelona counterparts, but they have a similar ideology on the pitch.
#5 Steve Coppell needs to add hunger to his team
The Kerala Blasters need to step up their game. Period. The finalists of the first season just don’t seem to be playing a hard brand of football, coupled with a winning mentality. The team played with three foreign strikers, and yet, could not find the back of the net, which should be a major worry for Steve Coppell.
Mehtab Hussain keeps passing horizontally or back to his defenders and Michael Chopra sometimes looks like a liability to the team’s attack. Playing as the centre-forward, Michael Chopra will be remembered more for his theatrics than his work in the box or his goals.
No runs at defenders whatsoever throughout the game, and you come out willing to want a little more from the first Indian scorer in the English Premier League.
With Mamath no great forward passer of the ball, Mohammed Rafique has been asked to do too much from the centre of the pitch. The team has thrown everything available on their platter on the pitch attacking-wise but the goals just don’t seem coming.
After coming on, Ndoye looked as the only player fighting to win. For a team with the highest fan-base in the country, it’ll be good for them to sort out these issues as soon as possible and ensure they give their loyal supporters something to cheer about.
Steve Coppell, looks content on the touchline and it’ll be hard for him to change the attitude of his players. They might have got their first ISL points this season, but if things go on this way, they might look harder to come in future.
