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FC Goa managed to return to the top of the Indian Super League table with a convincing 3-0 against Odisha FC at the Fatorda Stadium in Goa. It was a brace from the free-scoring Ferran Corominas combined with Brandon Fernandes' first goal of the season that sealed the three points for the home side.
Although one could say that a 3-0 win could be termed flattering for FC Goa, the home side were definitely untroubled right from the first minute. Goa, as usual, dominated the possession stats but it was some intelligent pressing and a mistake from Jerry Mawihmingthanga that led to the first goal.
With Jerry taking too much time to release the ball, Jackichand Singh found himself in a favourable position to play a through ball to Hugo Boumous and the Frenchman played an inch-perfect pass to Coro. Predictably, the all-time ISL top-scorer put the ball in the back of the net to help his side go in front.
Although Odisha committed more and more mistakes in the first half, FC Goa played within their limits and rarely dominated the proceedings. At the other end, Odisha's strike-man Aridane Santana was guilty of not putting away the chances that were created by the likes of Nandakumar Sekar and Narayan Das from the left flank.
In the second half, Odisha started off very well as Xisco's presence combined with Goa's error-prone passing led to some chances but the visitors were yet guilty of not converting good opportunities in front of goal.
It was only two goal-keeping errors from Arshdeep Singh that helped FC Goa to get a dominating scoreline as Brandon Fernandes and Coro scored the second and third goal in the 85th and 89th minute respectively.
For the second goal. the young Arshdeep made an absolute meal of a regulation save from Brandon Fernandes's chancy shot while the third goal was made possible with the Odisha custodian spilling the ball off a corner-kick. Eventually, in the scramble that occurred in the box, Coro was fouled and he put away the resulting penalty in a cool and composed manner.
This win helped the home side go to the top with them leading second-placed Bengaluru FC by 2 points. Here are three reasons that led to this result.
3. FC Goa's diligent pressing game and quick transitions
The possession stat for the game read 54-46 in Goa's favour but even when they lost the ball, the home side put in the requisite work-rate to get the ball back. The first goal came off such good work from the duo of Ferran Corominas and Brandon Fernandes. Coro dropped back to get the ball back from Jerry while Brandon was also pivotal even though he managed to get lucky by clipping the Odisha winger.
With Jerry not going down to earn a foul, the ball fell kindly for Jackichand Singh who then released Hugo Boumous into the box with a good through ball. The Frenchman didn't make any mistake and laid a delightful ball for Coro.
Even before and after the first goal, Goa's pressed at the right moments and on the right players like Shubham Sarangi, Narayan Das and Jerry. This put the visitors under serious trouble as they were pretty slow in their transitions.
On the other hand, Goa were always pretty quick in transitions with 2-3 passes being enough to have them in front of the goal. Hugo Boumous, had a very big part to play in this as he was always raring to have a run at the Odisha FC defenders.
2. Odisha fail to make use of their possession and chances
Following on from the previous point, Odisha FC were guilty of being very slow with the pace of their game. They dwelled too much while being in possession and this allowed FC Goa to regain the shape quickly.
Martin Perez Guedes who had come into the starting line-up in place of Xisco was particularly culpable of playing too many passes which didn't help in the team going forward. One wonders whether Odisha could have done much more if the duo of Perez Guedes and Martin Tebar could have released early balls to bring Nandakumar Sekar and Jerry's pace into the equation as they had the ability to trouble Goa's full-backs Seriton Fernandes and Mandar Rao Dessai.
Also, the visitors couldn't finish off some very attractive opportunities with top-scorer Aridane Santana being at fault for not gambling with quite a few crosses. Santana missed a pretty easy chance from Nandakumar Sekar's cross in the 16th minute when the Spaniard's open header went way over the cross-bar. Perez Guedes also didn't put away a half-chance when Aridane Santana played a defence-splitting pass from the left flank. The situation demanded a first-time shot but Perez Guedes took an extra touch and that made the angle very difficult for him. In the end, Guedes only managed to get a corner-kick off his deflected shot.
Apart from these chances, striker Santana was happy with just being behind Goa's imposing central defender Mourtada Fall which meant that he couldn't get on the end of some decent crosses from the wings. This was surprising considering that quite a few of Odisha's goals this season have come off crosses.
Even in the second-half, Odisha had their moments but the best chance probably came when Xisco Hernandez' header forced a fantastic low save from Mohammad Nawaz in the 58th minute.
1. Goa pretty flexible with their formation
A constant feature from Goa's play under Sergio Lobera in the past two and a half seasons has been the fact that almost all players can slot into different positions while being in possession.
This was yet again seen in the match against Odisha FC with just Mourtada Fall being the lone man at the back for the majority of the match. While full-backs Seriton Fernandes and Mandar Rao Dessai bombing forward was no surprise, even centre-back Carlos Pena was given the freedom to make use of the space on the left-wing.
This meant that Goa almost created a four-man forward line with Ferran Corominas also dropping back on occasion to spray passes to the likes of Mandar Rao Dessai and Jackichand Singh and later on Len Doungel.
Like mentioned above, this helps FC Goa keep the ball with themselves and frustrate the opponents. If Odisha FC tried to get the ball, it opened up space on the wings which always played into the pace of Goa's frontmen.
Although Odisha FC being slow in transitions did help FC Goa, Ahmed Jahouh and Lenny Rodrigues's defensive wall also made sure that there was literally no room through the middle for the likes of Daniel Lalhimpuia, Martin Guedes and Aridane Santana to exploit.
