ISL: Kerala Blasters FC vs FC Pune City - 5 talking points

Iain Hume celebrating his goal which won Kerala the matchGoing into their last game of the Indian Super League (ISL) both FC Pune City and Kerala Blasters FC, needed a win to proceed to the final round of the tournament. The final before the semi-final for the two teams was played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi to a packed audience. While Pune tried hard to push for the elusive goal first, then chasing an equaliser, it was the home team which pulled off an unlikely win and thereby cemented its place in the semi-finals.We take a look at the five talking points of the game:

#1 Pune\'s inability to finish off games

Pune City FC missed lots of chances in the match

If there is anyone who is to be blamed for Pune's debacle it is the team themselves. Picture this Pune's first chance in the game came in the fourth minute. In the first half Pune's attacking index was well over 70 percent for the three-quarters, and they had five shots on target. In comparison, in the first half Kerala had just one proper shot on goal which was through the free kick outside the box which they converted.

Even in the dying seconds of the game, Pune got a few chances, but they were just unable to capitalize. Be it Kostas Katsouranis, Dudu Omagbemi, Krisztian Vadocz or Jermaine Pennant; they just couldn't finish the game in their favour. Eventually, they were left to rue all their lost chances, given that they lost the game with a solitary goal scored by Kerala. Perhaps it is also a reminder of how brutal the nature of the tournament really is and how tiring it can be for the players to keep on playing one game after another, without being completely match-fit.

#2 Kerala waited for the chance and made it count:

Iain Hume hit a brilliant free kick that gave Kerala Blasters the lead

In the game that mattered today, all that Kerala had to do was hold fort and wait for Pune to make that one error and that is precisely what they did. Kerala got a free-kick in the 23^rd minute when Iain Hume was fouled just outside the Pune box. The Kerala striker stepped up and hit a low curling kick past the Pune wall and custodian to give them the lead.

After taking the lead, all they had to do was narrow the angles and cut down gaps that Pune were trying to make the most of, and play on the counter. Pune came remarkably close to equalize and perhaps even take a lead later on, but Kerala defended well when it mattered the most

#3 Pune\'s inability to soak in the pressure:

FC Pune City has not been able to soak the pressure

A few days back when Pune thumped Mumbai to go to the fourth position, there was a sense of belief in the camp. Going by Dudu and Arindam Bhattacharya’s interviews, it seemed like they believed that they could win against Delhi and draw in Kochi against Kerala.

However, the reverse of that happened. Even though Pune dominated most of the match against Delhi, they lost to a soft goal and lost through a solitary goal against Kerala as well. The inability of coach Franco Colomba's team to soak in the pressure cost them dearly in the last few matches of the league. The fact that Pune's front line and midfield had been overworked in the last few days could have been reason behind the same. Whatever it was, Pune faltered in the crucial games towards the end which cost them dearly.

#4 Kerala\'s cohesive gameplay

Kerala Blasters played as a team

One of the reasons why Kerala managed to close down all avenues for Pune was that they defended deep and also managed to move forward with equal finesse. Not that Pune played bad, but Kerala managed to shut down Pune, whenever they pressed forward.

After scoring the game's only goal in the 27th minute, Kerala stuck to a defensive gameplay (save for the first quarter of the second half where they attacked all guns blazing) and ensured that Pune didn't find that elusive perfect pass to finish off the game. The cohesive playing style was something that Pune were unable to read and ensured that Kerala cemented their place in the semi-finals.

#5 David Trezeguet couldn\'t live up to his name

David Trezeguet has not been the force he once was

It would not be right to single out one player from the Pune squad for the debacle, but when the player in question is Pune's marquee signing David Trezeguet, tough questions need to be asked about his playing style. While he was on the bench most of the times barring the initial few games, even when he did come off as a substitute there was very little of the erstwhile magic on display.

In today's game, he came on in the second half and was barely visible. Unable to live up to his name of being the poacher, David did create some chances, but failed to capitalise. Being the marquee player and not having played games in the ISL, was not something that we expected from him by his team.