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Sachin Tendulkar’s Kerala Blasters pay a visit to his hometown to take on Mumbai City FC on Sunday. It is a key clash for both sides as they look to gain momentum as they look to push upwards in the standings. Mumbai will be looking to get off the bottom of the table while Kerala will look to push on from having registered their first win in the competition a few days back.
Venue & Kick-Off
Mumbai will be looking to home advantage to revive their fortunes, the site of their only win in the competition so far. After another disappointing road trip, the team is back at the D.Y. Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai keen to strike back. The Blasters meanwhile will look to play party-pooper and put in a performance alike the many by Tendulkar in the blue of the Mumbai Indians at this ground.
Kick-Off: November 2 – 7:00 PM (IST)
Form Guide
Mumbai were seventh until about 9:00 PM last night; that was until FC Goa netted a late winner in stoppage time to take all three points against Delhi Dynamos. That result sees Mumbai now bringing up the rear and Peter Reid and his men will be keen to not stay there for long. While they have been woeful away from home, they are 1-1 (1 win, 1 loss) at the D.Y. Patil, beating Pune handsomely while being trumped by the boys from the North-East.
Kerala picked up their first three points of the season with a come-from-behind win over Pune in their last league match. Their coach will demand more of the same energy as they move further West across Maharashtra on their travels Sunday evening.
Mumbai City FC: Lost 0-3 at Atletico de Kolkata; Won 4-0 versus FC Pune City; Lost 0-2 versus NorthEast United; lost 1-5 at Chennaiyin FC.
Kerala Blasters: Lost 0-1 at NorthEast United; Lost 1-2 at Chennaiyin FC; Drew 1-1 at Atletico de Kolkata; Won 2-1 at FC Pune City.
Possible Line-Ups
Mumbai City FC (4-2-3-1): Paul, Ribeiro, Friedrich, Cmovs, Nabi, Letzelter, Stohanzl, Didika, Moritz, Anelka, Subhash
Czech centre-back Pavel Cmovs will slot straight back into the starting line-up. He is a good defender both in the air and in the reading of the game. He was sorely missed in the game against Chennai where the defence came a cropper. Young Raju Gaikwad will certainly make way while Tiago Ribeiro could reprise his left-back role from the games against Pune and NorthEast United.
Captain Syed Rahim Nabi could be shifted to the right with Peter Costa benched to give the back four a more solid look. In midfield, Johan Letzelter and Jan Stohanzl will sit behind the attacking trio of Andre Moritz, Subhash Singh and Lalrindika ‘Didika’ Ralte with Nicolas Anelka leading the line.
The Frenchman, of course, will regularly drop deep and look to play provider, swapping roles with either member of that trio. The defence will definitely be the main worry for coach Peter Reid and he is hoping for a tighter net in that area tomorrow as he stressed that he doesn’t want his team to concede cheap goals.
“We have got to defend better and we have got be a threat. We got to be more professional and disciplined in our defending and in attacking. We have to be a bit more ruthless. There have been some extenuating circumstances,” said Reid.
“We didn’t have probably our best attacker (Nicolas Anelka) in the first three games for obvious reasons. We got Andre (Moritz) back a 100 per cent, so I am expecting more from us from an attacking point of view. Certainly, the more concern for me is the defence. I want us to get stronger and not concede cheap goals,” concluded the Mumbai coach.
Kerala Blasters (4-3-2-1): James, Jhingan, Hengbart, Gurwinder, Chettri, Pearson, Hossain, Renedy, Orji, Hume, Sabeeth
According to Kerala player/coach David James, his team performed better in the first two games, but got no points, while they’ve not played that well in the previous two and come away with four points from them.
“The irony is that in some sense we are getting worse but we are getting better results. As a manager and a player, I have got to look back at things and work out why we are not continuing the decent performances. I thought North East was a very good performance, the game against Chennai, even more so.”
“Kolkata was a scrap and Pune was a win but it wasn’t the ideal win. Having said that it is a game of winning and doesn’t matter how you win. We are starting to get the points which we want. If we can get the performances to match the points, I will be a very happy manager,” he added.
As James mentioned, he’d be delighted to take the points any day, and that could mean a place in the starting line-up for their hero from the last game, Nigerian Pen Orji, while the rest of the team picks itself.
Iain Hume will be the main danger for Mumbai as he has been really good at scoring and assisting.
Key Facts & Stats
- Kerala are the only team in the competition yet to play a match at home.
- Mumbai scored more goals in one game (5 against Pune) than Kerala have managed in total in their four games so far.
- Andre Moritz is still the second-highest goal scorer (3 goals) despite scoring all of them against Pune.
- Iain Hume has the second highest number of Shots in the tournament (15) after Elano.
- Both teams have had their only wins so far against FC Pune City.
Players to Watch
Nicolas Anelka: He did not have much joy in his debut against Chennai as Bernard Mendy, Mikael Silvestre and Marco Materazzi all worked tirelessly to keep him quiet. He will up against another Frenchman in Cedric Hengbart and this contest could go a long way in determining the outcome of this game.
Letzelter/Stohanzl vs Mehtab/Renedy: There’s no Freddie for Mumbai and that will mean a sizable portion of the midfield load will fall on the shoulders of Stohanzl. He will have to partner up with Letzelter as defensive cover and provide support to Moritz and the wide men in attack. Their battle with India veterans Mehtab Hossain and Renedy Singh will dictate who wins the midfield.
Iain Hume: Coach Reid is delighted to have Cmovs back in contention and that tells you a story about how important he is to this Mumbai defence. This is the acid test tomorrow – can the Mumbai defence keep it tight at the back? Hume was named Player of the Week recently for his fine all-round showing and you can bet Cmovs and co. will have their hands full with him and Orji around.
Prediction
With Mumbai looking for a win, the game is bound to be open. This will present the visiting side with good chances and even with the re-entry of Cmovs, I think Mumbai will fail to keep a clean sheet.
However, Anelka has a game under his belt and should play much better at home and his link-up play with Subhash, Moritz and Didika could unhinge a stingy Kerala defence. All of the results in Kerala’s games have not been more than by a goal. This one will be no different. With the added motivation, I expect Mumbai to nick it.
Mumbai City FC 2-1 Kerala Blasters
