Hyderabad FC 1-3 Chennaiyin FC: 5 Talking Points and Tactical Analysis | ISL 2019-20

#4 The undefined roles of Hyderabad FC midfielders made the job easy for Chennaiyin FC

Only Phil Brown knows why he is deploying Adil Khan in the midfield instead of the back-four

Hyderabad FC started the game by fielding themselves in a narrow version of 4-3-3 with Adil Khan, Marko Stankovic, and Rohit Kumar playing in the midfield. But, very few could understand what roles Phil Brown assigned to the trio.

Of the little which was comprehensible, it looked as if Adil Khan's job was to help out the defence when Chennaiyin FC had the possession, Marko Stankovic's chore was to take shots from distance, and Rohit Kumar's task was to press the defenders when they held on to the ball for a long duration.

Whenever either of the three players got the ball, they passed it to Marcelinho or Nestor Gordillo and they carried forward the attack. Their utility in the attacking half of the pitch was very limited.

Chennaiyin FC, on the other hand, played with a discernible 4-1-4-1/4-2-3-1 formation. Anirudh Thapa helped Germanpreet Singh in front of the back-four whenever the opposition had the possession and helped initiate counters alongside Rafael Crivellaro.

Despite getting the upper hand in crucial statistics like ball possession, passing accuracy, and number of successful passes completed, Hyderabad FC never looked like asserting their dominance. A huge chunk of it can be played on their lackadaisical midfield.