The Indian Super League South Indian derby between Chennaiyin FC and Kerala, which was a very much awaited game, ended in a 0-0 draw. Both the teams are known for their defensive stability and Saturday's game was proof for that.
The fans were expecting a 'cracker' of a match for Diwali but unfortunately that didn't happen. Both the teams lacked in the final third but still got a few chances, which they didn't capitalise on. In the end, the rivals will have to be satisfied with just one point each.
Here are five talking points from the game.
#1 A game of two halves
Even though no one was able to find the back of the net on the night, it was a game of two halves. In the first half of the match, we saw the home side, Chennaiyin FC, dominating over Kerala.
The long balls from Chennai players caused problems for Kerala's Cedric Hengbart and Aaron Hughes. Italian striker Davide Succi and Brazilian midfielder Raphael Augusto were real threats from the home side. Even Kerala Blasters’ manager Steve Coppell admitted his team was poor in the first half during the post-match press conference.
However, the tables turned in the second half. It was Kerala Blasters who had the chances in the second 45 minutes of the game. Striker Kervens Belfort came the closest for the away side after his shot from inside the penalty box went just wide. The Haitian and his teammates had several other chances in the game but weren’t able to score from any of it.
Even though both the teams were good defensively, they will be wishing that they had done better in their attacks.
#2 Chennai's unpredictable attack
When Chennaiyin FC manager Marco Materazzi said that he will be rotating his squad because of the tight schedule, no one expected it to be this unpredictable. The Super Machans have the likes of Jeje Lalpekhlua, Dudu Omagbemi, Davide Succi and Baljit Sahni in the attacking province and it has become impossible to predict who will start for Chennai on a regular basis.
It was Dudu, Rane and Jeje who started for the reigning champions in their last game against FC Pune City and all of them were expected to be rested for Saturday's clash with Kerala. However, Materazzi played a very unexpected forward lineup of Dudu, Succi and Sahni. Italian forward Maurizio Peluso was expected to start on the night but was only named on the bench.
Chennai have another match in four days and no one will be able to predict the team's frontline for the match. Will Rane and Jeje start? Will Dudu or Succi continue in the starting lineup? We will have to wait until the match day to get the answers to all these questions.
#3 The referees killed the flow of the game
There were no clear-cut chances in the game and it was quite a dull game considering the expectations people had from this derby match. The attackers of both sides were finding it difficult to get past the solid defenses of their opponents. When the game gained pace and expectations of a goal grew, the referee blew his whistle for soft fouls.
The referees stopped the game for every single foul they saw and this very much affected the game. They were interrupting the flow of the game instead of having control of the game. In a game like this, the referees should be ignoring the slight pushes and should let the game keep running.
In his pre-match press conference, Marco Materazzi had said that the refereeing in the league is quite good but today's was definitely not up to the mark. Of course, the decisions made by the referees was not exactly wrong but there are times when they should be a little tough in calling fouls.
#4 Hans Mulder's injury turned out to be a big blow for Chennaiyin
As stated earlier, Chennai dominated the first half of the game but they were not the same in the second. The injury of Dutch midfielder Hans Mulder can be given as a reason for this. The 29-year-old was forced to get substituted in the first half after sustaining an injury and this could be the reason for Chennai being weak in the second half.
Italian midfielder Manuele Blasi was brought on for Mulder and he was not quite able to step into the boots of the Dutchman. Chennai's other playing midfielders Raphael Augusto and Siam Hanghal are defensive players, and could not give the attacking thrust like Mulder does.
The former Delhi Dynamos player is one of the key components of the Chennai midfield and it was quite evident on the night. Chennai will be hoping that the player's injury is not too serious.
#5 A pitch invader, the beginning of a chain of problems
The biggest highlight of the match came in the finals minutes of the game. One of the people at the stadium invaded the pitch during stoppage time of the second half and went to a few Chennaiyin FC players. This action of the pitch invader turned out to be the beginning of a big fight on the pitch.
Chennai were in possession of the ball when the invader came on to the pitch and they were forced to kick the ball out. When the game restarted after the pitch invader was handled by the security, Kerala striker Belfort kicked the ball to Chennai goalkeeper Karanjit Singh. However, the Chennai players believed that the Haitian should have just passed the ball to the nearest man in blue.
When the referee blew the final whistle just seconds after the incident a fight broke out between Belfort and some of the Chennai players.
Several other players also got involved in the squabble. We even saw several members of the managing staff including Chennai manager Materazzi get on the pitch. The Italian was unhappy and was seen going after Belfort. However, the former Inter Milan player said in his post-match press conference that he just wanted to talk to the Kerala forward. In the end, the South Indian derby had a controversial finish.
