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The 2019-20 season of the Indian Super League began on an overwhelming note for Kerala fans as their home side Kerala Blasters pipped ATK 2-1 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi.
Kerala Blasters head coach Eelco Schattorie fielded his team in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Bilal Khan made his ISL debut in between the sticks. Brazilian Jairo Rodrigues and Dutchman Gianni Zuiverloon formed the centre-back partnership, with Mohammad Rakip and Jessel Carneiro flanking the defense to complete the backline.
Jeakson Singh and Moustapha Gning played ahead of them as the trio of Sergio Cidoncha, Halicharan Narzary, and Prasanth K played feeder to their lone striker Bartholomew Ogbeche.
ATK's head coach Antonio Lopez Habas too fielded his team in a similar formation. Pritam Kotal, Agustin Garcia, Carl McHugh, and Prabir Das completed the back-four whereas Jayesh Rane and Pronay Halder played in the defensive midfield position.
Javi Hernandez, Michael Soosairaj, and David Williams played a line ahead of them, creating chances for their striker Roy Krishna.
Carl McHugh opened the scoring charts for ATK as his volley following an Augustin Garcia cut-back slotted right at the top corner. Kerala Blasters captain Bartholomew Ogbeche restored the parity after converting a penalty before doubling it at the dying embers of the first half.
The second half saw no goals scored as the scoreline remained unchanged.
#5 Jhingan a big miss for in the Kerala Blasters defensive unit
Kerala Blasters suffered a massive jolt in their pre-season as their defensive stalwart Sandesh Jhingan tore his ACL muscle in the build-up to India's match against Bangladesh. That compounded Eelco Schattorie's defensive issues that already had an injured Zuiverloon and Jairo.
The defenders allowed too much space for ATK forwards and the Kolkata side should have killed the game in the first half itself. The back-four gave a better account of themselves in the second half but there is scope for a lot of improvement.
With Jhingan out for the first half of the season, head coach Eelco Schattorie needs to align his defense accordingly as tougher test in the form of Mumbai City FC and Hyderabad FC awaits.
#4 The profligacy of ATK forwards costs them the match
After scoring only 18 goals in the 2018-19 season, the management left no stone unturned to ensure pumping the ball in the back of the net was the least of ATK's concerns. Their new recruit David Williams, in fact, promised the fans of lots of goals in the pre-match press conference ahead of their clash against Kerala Blasters.
But, when it came at delivering at the big stage, they all flopped big time.
With a completely new setup, the communication in the final third was missing. Roy Krishna, through on goal after making a dash from the halfway line to the penalty box, decided to lay it off for Javi Hernandez for a simple tap-in but the Spaniard couldn't reach in time.
Earlier in the game, Javi took too much time to pull the trigger as defenders covered him with the goal gaping at him without the 'keeper. David Williams failed to connect a simple tap-in from inside the six-yard box later in the second half.
With so much heavy spending in summer on their forwards, it looks like ATK have made the same mistake yet again. Michael Soosairaj was the only forward who performed up to his mark as his close knit dribbling skills earned ATK a lot of free-kicks.
#3 ATK waste their set-piece opportunities in the second half
Kerala Blasters realized that ATK could hurt them if they allowed the game to be operated in a free way. Committing advanced fouls high up in the pitch is a tactic being used commonly by many teams nowadays and the Kerala Blasters were no different on this front.
ATK got a lot of free-kicks from dangerous position but the deliveries from Javi Hernandez let them down. The deliveries were either too low, failed to cross the first man, or completely waywards on a number of occasions.
Edu Garcia substituted him in the 74th minute to make amends for it but the move came too late. He delivered a good free-kick in the 84th minute but it was headed away by Jairo Rodrigues.
In the dying minutes of the game, he found Balwant Singh in a free header with his corner-kick but it was well above the bar.
#2 Kerala Blasters make most of their little chances
Kerala Blasters didn't have too many chances in the game. But then, they made the most of the little ones they got. The two goals came eventually which paid off their tenacity.
After Bartholomew Ogbeche hit the bar from a corner-kick, Jairo Rodrigues tried to pounce on the rebound but Pronay Halder tugged the former's shirt clumsily. The resultant penalty was calmly converted by their captain.
The goal oozed confidence into the side as they started to pass the ball around with fluidity. Ogbeche eventually gave them the lead at the stroke of halftime when his powerful strike landed straight into the top corner.
They got a couple of half-chances later in the second half but none of them were complete ones. The creativity which Sahal Abdul Samad can bring in the attacking third was missing as he was brought in only in the 80th minute of the game.
Kerala Blasters need to raise their attacking flair as they can't be dependent on the individual skills of Bartholomew Ogbeche all the time.
#1 ATK undone by refereeing errors in the first half
There was not a single manager who didn't criticize the refereeing in ISL last season, and by the looks of it, things don't seem to change. And, this time the victim was ATK.
The first questionable decision came in the 24th minute of the match when David Williams found himself through on goal after collecting a pass from Roy Krishna in his left-wing. But, the assistant raised the flag although replays suggested the opposite full-back played him on.
Just before Kerala Blasters were awarded a penalty, ATK's Michael Soosairaj got his legs swept in the penalty box by Sergio Cidoncha but referee awarded the benefit of the doubt to the opposition as he wasn't in the perfect angle to make the judgement. The game could have panned out in a completely different fashion had ATK been 2-0 up.
ATK's misfortune continued in the 85th minute when the ball struck the arms of Moustapha Gning, but the referee heeded away the requests once again.
Refereeing errors have forced leagues across the world to implement VAR. Maybe, it is time for ISL to finally implement the software.
