Kerala Blasters 5-1 Hyderabad FC: 3 reasons why Eelco Schattorie's men ran riot to post their second victory

Kerala Blasters finally managed to register their second win of the season by blowing Hyderabad FC by a 5-1 margin at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi. Even though it was Hyderabad FC who opened the scoring, Kerala Blasters stormed back with five goals which also included a brace from Bartholomew Ogbeche.

In the first 10-12 minutes, both teams failed to maintain possession for more than ten seconds but Hyderabad FC made the breakthrough in the 14th minute when Abhishek Halder released Marcelinho with an amazing through ball. The Brazilian winger was left free in the box and he made a simple pass to his compatriot Bobo who tapped it in past a hapless TP Rehenesh.

However, an injury to key Hyderabad defender Rafa Lopez in the 33rd minute opened the floodgates for Kerala Blasters as a slew of mistakes from the visitors' defenders and goal-keeper Laxmikant Kattimani saw the home side go into the half-time break with a scoreline of 3-1.

Seityasen Singh and Raphael Messi Bouli added two more goals in the 59 and 75th minutes respectively to round off a completely one-sided fixture which saw Kerala Blasters moving onto the 7th spot with 11 points.

#3 Kerala Blasters efficiency in the final third

Raphael Messi Bouli added a goal and an assist on a night which saw him at his hard-working best

Although Rafa Lopez's injury did help Kerala Blasters to find more space in Hyderabad's half, credit also needs to be given to Kerala's delivery from the wide areas and more importantly their finishing.

While the likes of Prasanth Karuthadathkuni and Halicharan Narzary have often been wasteful with their crosses, the latter along with Seityasen Singh were very impressive in this aspect of the game against Hyderabad FC.

After Seityasen delivered a threatening cross after indulging in a nice short corner-kick routine for Kerala's second goal which was tapped in by Vlatko Drobarov, Holicharan Narzary also took a simple decision to just roll the ball between Hyderabad FC's defenders and goal-keeper Laxmikant Kattimani in order to gift an easy goal for the prolific Raphael Messi Bouli.

Another goal which exhibited Kerala's or more particularly Messi Bouli's hard-work was the 5th and final goal which was entirely made by the Cameroonian. It was a normal goal-kick from TP Rehenesh which started off the move as Messi Bouli ran rings around Matthew Kilgallon inside the 18-yard-box to put the goal on a plate for Bart Ogbeche. After giving it all to win the initial aerial duel, Messi Bouli seemed to have slipped after trying to dribble past the Englishman Kilgallon but he still managed to somehow flick the ball to Ogbeche while being on the ground. This desire and willingness to make good decisions proved to be the difference between the two sides on the night.

Kerala also made use of these chances to put five past the helpless Hyderabad team. With eight shots on target as compared to Hyderabad's two, Kerala's forward troubled Laxmikant Kattimani on more occasions and reaped the rewards for that.

#2 Lopez's injury and Kattimani's howlers puts Hyderabad's plans into disarray

Laxmikant Kattimani (Far left) had a forgettable night in Kochi. (Credits: ISL)

The game started off on a very scratchy note but it still seemed that Hyderabad had the upper hand between the period when they opened the scoring with Bobo's neat finish to the moment when Rafa Lopez injured his knee in the 29th minute. This meant that manager Phil Brown didn't just lose a key cog in his team but has also had to shift Adil Khan from defensive mid-field to central defense.

This unsettled Hyderabad's game-plan as Adil Khan and Matthew Kilgallon didn't seem to have the requisite understanding to combine well at the back. Further, it should also be mentioned that Marko Stankovic cut a lone figure in the center of the park with Abhishek Halder and substitute Giles Barnes not doing enough work to retrieve balls or make some worthwhile moves through the middle of Kerala's defense.

Tactically, Hyderabad also made an unnecessary decision to move away from the successful strategy of supplying diagonal passes to Marcelinho which worked like a charm in the first 20 minutes.

If Hyderabad's struggles in defense wasn't enough, custodian Laxmikant Kattimani made matters worse with some poor goal-keeping. While he took an ill-advised decision to come outside the 18-yard box when Bartholomew Ogbeche was one-on-one for Kerala's first goal, the experienced Goan's failure to properly catch or punch the ball resulted in a corner-kick that eventually led to the home team's second goal.

If this wasn't enough, Kattimani was also culpable for the 4th goal that Hyderabad conceded as he inexplicably tried to stop a long-range shot from Seityasen Singh with one hand. In the end, the ball only deflected off Kattimani's right-hand to add more misery for the visitors.

#1 Kerala Blasters close down space in midfield to come back into the game

Gianni Zuiverloon along with Moustapha Gning and Jeakson Singh grew into the game (Credits: ISL)

Yet another after-effect of the center-back Rafa Lopez's injury was Kerala starting to close down the space in the midfield area. In the first 25 minutes when Hyderabad FC were in the ascendancy, the trio of Marko Stankovic, Adil Khan and Abhishek Halder dictated the play in the middle of the park.

However, with Lopez's injury forcing Adil Khan to move into a center-back slot, Hyderabad failed to maintain possession in mid-field and this played into Kerala's hands. Not only did the duo of Raphael Messi Bouli and Bartholomew Ogbeche drop deep to collect balls from midfield, defensive-minded players like Gianni Zuiverloon, Moustapha Gning and Jeakson Singh also started to make adventurous forward runs.

In fact, it was Zuiverloon's mazy run and the eventual through ball which released Ogbeche behind the Hyderabad back-line for Kerala's first goal of the match. This meant that an already under-pressure Hyderabad back-line didn't have the luxury of time or space to defend their goal.