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Chennai City FC started their new campaign in a coruscating fashion with a thumping victory over Indian Arrows 4-1 in the opening game of the Hero I-League 2018-19 season.
New manager Akbar Nawas was known for his offensive football, and it became viable that his team has started to tick from the first minute.
The visitors took the lead when Skipper Amarjit took full advantage of the counter-attack to slot the ball behind the back of the net. Afterwards, it became a regularity of how much Chennai City FC would score past them.
Spanish Striker Pedro Manzi looked too hard to handle and netted one before the half-time. Succeedingly, he struck twice after the interval to take the game away from Indian Arrows. Chennai City's Number 11 Romario added one more to his tally to put in a rampant performance.
In this piece, we shall look at the five talking points from this entertaining game.
#1 Unreal understanding between Pedro Manzi and Nestor Gordillo
Spanish international Pedro Manzi and Nestor Gordillo had quite an understanding to run riot in the attack department. They have not played before in their careers, but they combined really well to produce the first three goals.
Nestor had an early chance before the 10th minute to equalize the score, but he did not beat Prabhsukhan Gill.
Albeit, Nestor found the striker with an extraordinary ball who went one-on-one to level the score fourteen minutes before the half-time.
The hosts doubled their lead when Manzi threaded through the defense in a counter-attack in the 49th minute.
He bagged his first hat-trick through a penalty when Anwar Ali handled the ball inside the penalty box. Additionally, these two had a couple of chances where they could have put the game beyond the eyesight of the opponents.
It looked only a formality with their hunger to pile up the score. Manzi was deservingly awarded the Man of the Match for that triumphant outing.
#2 Skipper Regin Michael dictating the play from the midfield
Chennai City FC Skipper Regin Michael operated deep in the midfield to shield the back four from getting exposed. The midfielder was stupendous by making duels apart from one moment where Indian Arrows ran over the midfield to score the first goal.
Gaurav Bora and Sandro Rodriguez were the other two midfielders, but they were operating higher up the field to contribute to the attack. Amarjit and Jaekson struggled to match the physicality of the Indian midfielder and lost possession on numerous occasions.
His presence in the middle of the park eased the jobs of the defenders and broke down many counter attacks of the opponents to make their life tough in the midfield. Indian Arrows were struggling to find any sort of rhythm and found it hard to pass the ball on a trot.
He made a crucial tackle on Rahul to break down the play in the 28th minute, leading to the first goal. Akbar Nawas would be proud of the performance from his skipper to lead his side from the front.
#3 Shambolic defending from Indian Arrows
Indian Arrows opted for a back four of Anwar Ali, Narendar, Asish Rai and Gurkirat Singh. The average of the defenders is 17, and they showed inexperience with poor positioning and physically getting bullied by the attackers of Chennai City FC.
Jitendra Singh was the opted registra in the side, and he was all over the place. He was exposed on many occasions, leaving his defenders to do extra spare work at the back.
Full-backs Asish Rai and Gurkirat Singh looked unconvincing and were totally rattled by Nestor Gordillo and Romario Jesuraj who were outstanding throughout the game.
Life was too easy for Manzi and Nestor who combined to cause havoc at the back. The first two goals could have been avoided, but the amount of understanding between the defenders were not up to the mark.
These resulted in a headache for Indian Arrows manager Floyd Pinto as his side scuffled to hit the top gear.
#4 Romario rattles through the right flank
Romario Jesuraj was utilized in the right flank by the Chennai City FC Abdul Nawas. His off the ball movements and ability to beat defenders with blistering pace were red-hot. He won the ball back from the corner which lead to the second goal of the game.
The Indian winger did not contribute towards the first three goals, but he took the stamina out of the opponents with his work rate in both defensive and offensive part of the game.
Most of the attacks from Chennai City FC were found to be from the right wing and Gurkirat Singh was found totally rattled.
The 22-year-old did not look threatening under the former manager Soundararajan despite making 15 appearances last campaign.
It looks like the Singapore International Abdul Nawas will be bringing the best out of the winger who looks hungry growing forward to contribute to the game with plenty of goals in the forthcoming games.
#5 Zero calmness with the ball for Indian Arrows
The visitors did not show any sort of calmness with the ball. They were not able to keep the ball for too long and did not keep their momentum going from start to end of the whistle.
Things would have been even worse if Chennai City FC had finished off their easy chances which came their way. These situations arose because the midfielders and defenders lost the ball at an important area of the pitch. They were way too many circumstances where they nullified by the high pressing Chennai City players.
Sandro Rodriguez, in particular, oozed from the midfield to get the momentum going for the hosts. He was the only midfielder who unsettled in middle of the park by pressing high up the pitch to retrieve the ball back and acted as a bridge to feed the attackers.
Floyd Pinto would be hoping for a much-improved performance against Shillong Lajong following an unimpressive outing overall today.
