ISL 2019-20: Chennaiyin FC 2-2 Odisha FC | 5 Talking Points 

Odisha FC twice came back from a goal down to peg Chennaiyin FC back to a draw at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai this evening in the Indian Super League. Aridane Santana scored the second equaliser in the 82nd minute, to join Jamshedpur FC's Sergio Castel at the top of the goalscoring charts.

Xisco Hernandez had equalised three minutes after Nerijus Valskis gave Chennaiyin the lead in the 51st minute. Valskis, though, popped up again in the 71st minute to head Chennaiyin into the lead, that they ultimately could not hold on to.

The draw didn't really do either team any good in terms of the table, even as Chennaiyin jumped up a spot ahead of Kerala Blasters, into 8th place. Odisha remain in sixth, and three points off a spot in the top four, with Chennaiyin a further point behind them.

Here are the main points of discussion from the game.

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#5 Odisha dominate the first half

Odisha controlled possession, got into good areas, and created plenty of chances in the first half.

In the first half, Chennaiyin were almost a non-entity in an attacking sense. Odisha controlled possession, got into good areas, and created plenty of chances, but they were far too wasteful. Josep Gombau's side had 8 shots in the first half, but only one was on target.

Tactically, Odisha were superb before the break. Marcos Tebar and Vinit Rai were outstanding with their passes into space, and Xisco was occupying the space in between the lines. Masih Saighani had a torrid evening, as he could never get to grips with Xisco's movement.

Combining with Jerry Mawihmingthanga and Aridane Santana, Xisco caused the Chennaiyin defence all kinds of problems, and he should have given Odisha the lead midway through the half, when he skied a shot off a superb cut-back from Nandhakumar Sekar.

Odisha lost that impetus after the break, though, and that allowed Chennaiyin to get a foothold in the game.

#4 John Gregory's substitutes prove game-changers

Nerijus Valskis's brace was helped by Gregory's substitutes

Chennaiyin head coach John Gregory clearly didn't like what he saw in the first half, and that meant an early bath for the Afghani midfielder Saighani, who was taken off to be replaced at half-time by Germanpreet Singh.

Dragos Firtulescu replaced Thoi Singh midway through the second half, as well, and Chennaiyin looked a much better team with the Romanian on the pitch. It's surprising that Firtulescu doesn't start more games ahead of Rafael Crivellaro, on the evidence of what both players have shown so far this season.

His corner also led to Chennaiyin's second goal, when he put the ball on a plate for Valskis to head past Arshdeep Singh in the Odisha goal.

Germanpreet, in his own way, was a big influence in the game. He got closer to Xisco, and didn't allow the Spaniard the time to turn and look up before passing. That meant that Odisha's creative lanes were cut out, and Gombau had to change the way his side attacked to come out of the game with anything.

Firtulescu could have also had an assist for a potential winner in injury time, through another set-piece which found the head of Valskis, but the Lithuanian just pulled his header wide.

#3 Gombau's muddled thinking stops the Odisha charge

Marcos Tebar was never comfortable when moved to play at centre-back

Before the break, Vinit Rai and Marcos Tebar combined to give Odisha the edge in the middle of the park, with crisp passing and intelligent pressing. But inexplicably, Rai was taken off at the break, to be replaced by Bikramjit Singh.

Just five minutes later, Bikramjit gave the ball away under no pressure and led to Valskis's first goal. Odisha had truly lost the impetus in midfield with Bikramjit being tentative, but Gombau only proceeded to make it a bigger challenge for his side to win the midfield battle, when he pushed Tebar back to centre-back after Carlos Delgado was forced off.

With Sajid Dhot and Rana Gharami on the bench, and being natural centre-backs, it was surely a better option to introduce one of those two at that time, rather than Martin Perez.

That meant a double whammy for Odisha. Tebar is not a natural centre-back, and was never comfortable in the few minutes he played there, before being taken off. The absence of both Tebar and Rai in midfield, then, meant that Anirudh Thapa and Firtulescu could go on to dictate proceedings with their passing ability.

Even though Odisha managed to equalise and take a point out of the game, one can't help but feel that but for some curious decisions from the manager, they could have gone away with all three points.

#4 Chennaiyin's centre-backs are a big worry

Lucian Goian hasn't been at his best this season

Both Eli Sabia and Lucian Goian are hugely experienced players, and have played enough in the ISL already. They have also played six games together this season, but sometimes, they feel like novices who have seen each other for the first time.

Goian is a superb tackler, he is strong in the air, and he has a presence physically, but is his daredevilry in the tackle really helping Chennaiyin? It's not for the first time that Goian has been dragged out of position and all over the pitch, in his quest to make tackles.

It worked last season with Mumbai City FC, when Joyner Lourenco was just sitting back and covering the spaces behind Goian, but Sabia has still not realised that he has to cover a larger amount of space, when starting with Goian.

There were multiple occasions in the first half, when Goian got dragged to the flank to try and help Tondonba Singh against Jerry Mawia, and the space he vacated was cleverly occupied by either Aridane or Xisco, which meant an overload on Sabia.

Gregory needs to find a way to make it work for his side, with his centre-back pairing. The Chennaiyin manager has never really shown an inclination to drift away from his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation, but maybe, it would not be a bad idea to have Saighani slot in alongside Goian and Sabia, to make it a three-man back-line, and then build from there.

#5 Gombau's away struggles continue

Odisha have now picked up four points from four away games this season

Josep Gombau has been a manager in the ISL for more than a season now, but his away record is truly shocking. With Delhi Dynamos last year, and four games for Odisha this season, Gombau has a record of 3 wins in 13 away games.

In some ways, the manager's inability to adapt his side to different scenarios has been his undoing. He's tried to build a style of play, keeping possession, hurting teams with his midfielders, but the soft underbelly of his teams have been exposed far too often.

He hasn't found a settled centre-back pairing yet this season, just like last year, when there was all that chopping and changing happening. He complicates things too much with his substitutions, which means that some players are out of their natural positions.

If Odisha are to harbour any hopes of making the playoffs this season, they cannot do it if Gombau's away record remains similar. They still have five games on the road, and in difficult places like Goa, Kolkata and Bengaluru. They will have to defend a lot better against those teams to stand any chance of getting the wins they need.

Gombau has lost eight of his 13 away games in the ISL, and that really is a record that ought to change, from Odisha's perspective.