5 reasons explaining the struggles of Kerala Blasters and FC Goa
Both Kerala Blasters and FC Goa have made a dreadful start to their respective inaugural Indian Super League campaigns. Having scored only a single point, whilst sitting seventh and eighth respectively, the duo have failed to impress fans and critics alike.While FC Goa boast the legendary Zico alongwith the mezmerizing Robert Pires, Kerala Blasters flaunt former England goalkeeper David James and Michael Chopra.Still, these sides have fared poorly when compared to the other six franchises involved.We analyse 5 reasons that might be responsible for these lackluster performances.
#1 Players played out of position
The opening match of the Indian Super League saw Lalrindika Ralte operating as striker for Mumbai for some time. Soon the trend of many of the Indian players playing out of position developed with all the other franchises too. However, Mumbai City FC were quick to realize their mistake, as they reverted ‘Didika’ back to his favored attacking midfield position.
It seems as if the Sachin Tendulkar co-owned side has not learnt its lesson yet. Sandesh Jhinghan, Gurwinder Singh and even Penn Orji, have been deployed fairly badly. Although, Jhinghan who is naturally a center back, has operated to the best of his abilities as a left back, the other two haven’t been that good in their roles. Gurwinder Singh, who is also a center back, has been utilized as a defensive midfielder while Orji, who is a forward has played as a midfielder alongside Mehtab Hossain.
The problem has been that with Oriji bombing forward, space has been vacated behind him very frequently, and is too much for Hossain to cover and this has led to frequent counter attacks. Jhinghan is the only player to have adapted excellently to his new role, as the Blasters still look for balance.