ISL 2015: Kerala Blasters FC 2-0 FC Pune City 5 talking points

Kerala Blasters FC did their business as they trounced table toppers FC Pune City 2-0 in the Hero Indian Super League on their home turf on Wednesday. Terry Phelan's first game as Kerala coach saw the hosts score once in each half to provide glimpses of why they were finalists in the first edition of the League with goals off the boots of Christopher Dagnall and Sanchez Watt.The result did not hamper the top position of David Platt and Company as they still held on to the top spot but only on goal difference, but must have boosted the morale of the hosts Kerala Blasters who dominated the 90 minutes against an in-form team.Below are five talking points of the match

#1 Pune City\'s woeful defensive display

Johnson(R) seen blocking an effort on goal by Chris Dagnall

The Pune defence was all over the place. If it wasntfor Roger Johnson and their keeperSteve Simonsen, it could have well turned out to be a cricket score,as the Kerala Blasters wereall over the table toppers from the word go in this encounter.

The first half was a non-stopattacking onslaught from the Kerala side as they bombarded the Punes box with chance after chance.It could have turned into a perfect platform for the home side to claim revengewho were beaten 1-2 in their away match earlier in the season. It wasthe brilliance of defender Johnson who held the fort for Platt and Company from what could have been a thrashing.

#2 Form of Dharmaraj Ravanan

The usually reliable Ravanan was nowhere close to his best on Wednesday

Dharmaraj Ravanan, the trusted lieutenant of David Platt was completely off colour. The first goal that the Kerala Blasters scored through Chris Dagnall was the result of a careless mistake from former Dempo defender Ravanan. He was a mere spectator when Dagnall took the shot for the second time to score in the top corner as keeper Simonsen had no chance whatsoever to get to the effort.

The defender had a very quiet game which was uncharacteristic of the player. David Platt cannot afford to have any of his players put in such lacklustre performances as the we enter the business end of the competition. The coach has to take tough decisions as to whether he could trust Ravanan in future crunch ties.

#3 David Platt missed a trick opting for a defensive approach

David Platt’s cautious approach to the game backfired miserably

David Platt’s plans to play with a solid defence with as much as six defensive players behind the ball turned out to be a tactical blunder and ironically all these players but for, Johnson were mere spectators and the seasoned campaigner Ravanan was all over the place.

Lenny Rodrigues did come up with some moves from the middle, but those were just glimpses of his brilliance which could not match the way the Kerala blasters went about their business. Twenty shots at goal compared to just the six by the visitors said a sad story of the failed ploy of the Pune side.

#4 Errant match officials

The level of refereeing has been suspect on many occasions this season

The match officials did have their role to play in this encounter but failed to influence the game in the right way. The level of refereeing has been of some concern in this edition of the ISL. Though fouls and infringements were aplenty, one would feel the referee erred on most occasions in recognising the said infringements.

There were a couple of cards flashed, but they were just the tip of the iceberg of numerous unpunished fouls the players exchanged during an intense 90 minutes of play.

#5 Pune\'s Indian contingent failed to show up

Kerala striker Mohammed Rafi had a good outing against Pune City

Indian players in the Pune side were all off colour, while on the other side, for Kerala, Mohammed Rafi was close to his best. He outpaced the rival defence with his sheer speed and good ball control, but the one person he could not beat was Johnson who was solid as a rock.

Thanks to wayward striking from the home side’s forwards or else Pune could have been 0-3 in the first 20-odd minutes of play. Christopher Dagnall, Sanchez Watt and Mohammed Rafi all missed sitters and Pune Keeper Simonsen came up with his best performance yet.

While Kerala had trouble finding the target, Pune players were struggled to find teammates, as their numerous misplaced passes made the opponents’ job that much easier.