Kerala Blasters 5-1 Hyderabad FC: 3 reasons why Eelco Schattorie's men ran riot to post their second victory | ISL 2019-20

#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.