Hyderabad FC’s lack of output in the final third continues to hurt them in ISL
Hyderabad FC succumbed to another narrow defeat in the Indian Super League (ISL), this time to Kerala Blasters at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Saturday.
This was Hyderabad's fourth defeat of the season, to go with the draws they have played out in their other three games. They are ranked in the 11th position in the points table at the moment, with three points in their kitty.
This is definitely not the way the club's management would have envisioned the new campaign to go for them, and one can only feel sorry for the happenings.
The Nawabs seem to be in a phase of transition. With so many outgoings in the summer transfer window, it appears as if they will need some more time to get back on their feet.
The dual transfer bans that were imposed upon the club earlier this year also took some juice out of their spirit. Although they managed to make some good signings after the bans got revoked, things have not been the same at the Maidaan in Gachibowli.
On Saturday, Hyderabad maintained good possession and in fact, ended up with more of the ball than their opponents did. However, as their head coach Thangboi Singto said at the post-match press conference, it is not a statistic that helps win games.
"Yes, we had more possession than Kerala Blasters today but football is not won through such stats," Singto said.
It is only the side that scores more goals that win matches in football, and Hyderabad have failed to do that in the ISL this season. Unfortunately, they have scored just four goals in their campaign so far, one of which was an own goal against Mumbai City.
Hyderabad also had more shots on target as well as shots in general than Kerala, but they failed to get even one past goalkeeper Sachin Suresh. A lot has been written about the Nawabs' inability to create outputs in the final third, but in Kochi, they were perhaps more attacking and aggressive than the Blasters.
The problem lay in their attackers converting those chances into goals. Jonathan Moya, their signing from Costa Rica, who headed home a goal in the dying stages against Punjab FC to give them a draw, was largely ineffective on Saturday. He was also responsible for missing at least a couple of sitters that should have at least been on target.
The Hyderabad management's hands were tied by the injury sustained by Brazilian attacker Felipe Amorim. Their reluctance to bring Aaren D'Silva on in the latter stages of the game showed their lack of trust in the young Goan striker, who had his time in the sun earlier this season but failed to capitalize.
Moya, to be fair, was fantastic off the ball and was even seen pressing the Blasters' center-backs, Hormipam Ruivah and Milos Drincic, more often than not.
He would be disappointed with the lack of service from Mohammad Yasir from the right wing, but the 31-year-old will admit that he should have been more clinical in front of goal.
The goal that Hyderabad conceded was owing to a lapse in concentration
The goal that Hyderabad conceded in the 41st minute came from a sudden lapse of concentration - a folly that has been their unmaking throughout the season - and with their morale down. Although the half-time whistle came soon, they could not quite bring themselves to change the scoreline.
Hyderabad's midfield seemed to be a bit toothless owing to the absence of Joao Victor, who was brought on later in the second half. Victor, as expected, started pulling strings immediately, and changed the entire outlook of the side. Up till then, Petteri Pennanen and Sahil Tavora had hardly been able to unlock the tight Blasters' defence.
Tavora, to be fair, did most of the dirty work by marking his opposition's central midfielders toil hard. Pennanen, meanwhile, was tasked with putting in the shift to minimise the gaps found in the Hyderabad defence owing to them playing three men at the back.
While the formation was supposed to be 3-5-2-1, for most of the part, they reverted to playing 5-2-3, and it hardly changed when they lost possession.
Joe Knowles, running in from the left wing, took on opposition defenders rather well, but once again, the final product was missing when coming face-to-face with the goalkeeper.
It was expected of the Nawabs to play more crosses given that Mark Zothanpuia and Mohammad Rafi were tasked with the wingback positions, but one hardly saw any of that. Most of the play went through the middle, where the lack of a creative number ten (or attacking midfielder) seemed apparent.
The sooner Hyderabad's management addresses this lack of creative output in the final third, the better for them. They are doing well by keeping the ball for long periods of time, and their transition from defense to offense was interesting to see on Saturday.
Although Nikhil Poojary played the right center-back's role instead of Nim Dorjee Tamang, who is nursing a niggle, the former did not seem out of place at all. He did extremely well by keeping Adrian Luna and Kwame Peprah on a tight leash.
Kerala Blasters did not seem like the best side on display on Saturday. Manager Ivan Vukomanovic admitted it when he said in the post-match conference that Hyderabad were a far better side than their position in the league table suggests.
Hyderabad's fortunes have been affected severely by the rescheduling of their next home game against Mohun Bagan to Bhubaneswar on Saturday owing to the counting of votes at the Maidaan in Gachibowli post the elections in Telangana.
Bhubaneswar's Kalinga Stadium, traditionally seen as a Mohun Bagan stronghold, will hardly feel like a home venue for the Nawabs, and in a manner of speaking, they will have to play two away matches against a strong Mohun Bagan side this season.
They travel to NorthEast United and Odisha FC after that before ending the year with a home clash against Jamshedpur FC on 21 December.