PREVIEW - Facing Mumbai defence a major challenge for Kerala Blasters attackers

IF KERALA BLASTERS were a striker they'd be benched a long time ago.

It's been almost 11 months since Kerala Blasters have won a match. And about 10 and a half months since they have scored a goal. In this campaign itself, they have played 3 games and failed to score a single goal; the only team still to open their account til now. And playing Mumbai City at this stage is not the best of prospects. 

There are many reasons why the KBFC attack hasn't delivered so far, as detailed in our piece here. There are ways KBFC can fix this in this campaign, but it's not an overnight prospect. And they don't really have that much depth in the squad. There are no miracle talents sitting on the bench who can come up and change everything. Which is why Michael Chopra gets to play full 90 minutes and in an attempt to avoid rocking the boat, head coach Steve Coppell only took two substitutions in that dullard of a draw against Delhi Dynamos. 

Mumbai City, meanwhile, are in a completely different situation. On Friday, Kerala will play to avoid the bottom of the table, while Mumbai will aim for the top. Kerala have scored the least amount of goals in ISL so far, while Mumbai City have conceded the least amount of goals (1, the same as current table toppers NorthEast United). And although Mumbai City are also short of a few pretty important players because they are away at Bengaluru FC playing in the AFC Cup, but managed to get around it in the best way possible, thanks to their squad depth. In the absence of Norde, Udanta and Chhetri, the likes of Boithang Haokip and Leo Costa have stepped up to fill their gap. They have scored in every single game so far and although it's a bit too early, look like a possible title contender. 

So what can Kerala Blasters do to stop them in Kochi? A few things. Their full-backs will have to be extra vigilant in this game. The Sony Norde-Boithang/Jackichand wing combo didn't get going in the last game because Mumbai were a man down and on a defensive footing. This time, both may start and provide some electric runs and crosses for Defederico. Secondly, Duckens Nazon will have to work better with Michael Chopra. In the match against ATK, the Mumbai defence was rattled by the way Javi Lara was sending in balls for Belencoso. And in the end it was Lara who got the goal (although Mumbai were down to 10 men by then). It doesn't hurt to emulate that strategy. 

Also, trying to channel their attacks through the central midfield might help. Partly because the wing midfielders will have to act as blockers for the likes of Norde, partly because Mumbai City will be missing their intimidating defensive medio Pronay Halder who picked up a double booking in the previous game. And it's more than possible, given the mutual understanding and collective passing abilities of the trifecta formed by Sandesh Jhingan, Cedric Hengbart and Mehtab Hossain in the central defense and midfield. 

So, will Kerala Blasters manage to hold Mumbai off for 90 miniutes? Unlikely. Mumbai City have been very efficient up front and have scored every time they have played this season. And for the first time they will have Sony Norde on the left wing instead of Sehnaj Singh, that's a significant bump in quality. The best hope for KBFC would be to somehow, with all their might, score an early goal and hope to contain Mumbai to a clean sheet or one goal. 

It's not like things are all bleak for Kerala Blasters. Their midfield worked well against Delhi Dynamos and so did the defence. Only the frontmen were lacking, with too few shots on target. But with a little bit of improvement there, their drought of goals can really end. One could say, whether Kerala score a goal against Mumbai is more important than whether or not they get a point out of it. 

And that will probably be the case. But even in a 1-2 loss, Kerala Blasters will have some positives to take away. It will signify a temporary solution to their problems. Their real trouble - lack of depth in multiple key areas - is yet to leave a significant impact on their campaign. But when it does (fatigue, suspensions or injuries forcing multiple sure starters to be replaced), how Coppell deals with it then will decide whether they finish at the bottom or not. As far as top four goes, that's already a fading dream for them.