ISL 2017: Key takeaways from FC Goa's ISL 4 opener

HARDLY A FEW DAYS ago in his first press briefing, FC Goa‘s Spanish Head Coach Sergio Lobera when quipped about his style of football based from his many years working with Football Giant FC Barcelona politely shot back that he wasn’t Guardiola or Enrique neither did he have the triple nuclear arsenal of Messi, Suarez or Neymar . But yesterday in a passage of play that was a delight for all ISL fans not just FC Goa, it seemed apparent that Lobera might have just discovered his MSN’s equivalent in his attacking frontline 3 of Brandon, Lanzarote and Coro. And for good measure, he could consider Mandar his Dani Alves.

Yours truly is never the one to dwell or freely engage in the unjustified use of superlatives but if there was ever a perfect display of counter attacking football regardless of league or country on the Sunday Evening then one didn’t have to look any further than the 13 minute blitz which saw Chennaiyin defence shell shocked. The first warning sign was fired a little earlier in the 18^th minute when Brandon sent in well weighted pass with a nice spin on it that sliced through the Chennaiyin defense to Coro who unselfishly cut it back to Brandon who instead of placing it on either side of the goal went for the highlight upper corner rocket and totally lost control of his shot.

FC Goa weren’t to be denied for too long which saw a barrage of counter attacking moves starting with a classic case of turning defense in to attack when a loosely controlled pass landed at the feet of Coro who cleverly dinked over his marker and in a lovely 1-2 with Brandon this time smartly using the outside of his boot laid it nicely for Coro who calmly slotted it pass the Goalkeeper for FC Goa’s first. Hardly the euphoria of ISL 4 tournament’s first goal had died down, FC Goa launched in to another eye catching move, on this occasion the languid Lanzarote who offers a different dynamic with his left foot fed Coro in on another through ball pass to Coro whose shot rebounded to Mandar and in the resultant goalmouth melee, the ball ricocheted to Lanzarote who showed why he’s a top draw forward displaying the presence of mind to execute a lob on goal with the keeper out of position and completely stranded. It will show up on the goal of the week highlights and rightly so. And from here, FC Goa was in full control mode. In a sequence that will impress the defensive coaching staff, midfield anchor Jahouh cleanly tackled Rapheal and quickly recycled possession leading to another quick counter pass by Coro releasing Lanzarote on goal who unselfishly passed to Mandar who took his goal well. The run made by Brendan to tag a marker off Coro is also worth making a note of.

As a preview piece prior to this match report based on warm games, I had already mentioned what a good team this is in terms of ball retention and passing from the back but doubts lingered if were they incisive and ruthless enough going forward? This game just goes to show the importance to be able to play the passing game especially on the counter. In four moves, the team showed great vision, movements both off/on the ball unselfishness and composed finishing.

FC Goa has announced itself to the ISL 4 in style hopefully they are just scratching the surface and get a move on here. Though there are a couple of rough edges that need smoothening. The left flank still needs tightening up, on couple of occasions Chennaiyin created crossing lanes in the FC Goa defense but were found wanting for not committing enough bodies in the box. The Keeper Kattimani dropped a clanger in conceding the first goal and displayed bad judgment on rushing out to a ball going away from goal when Ali already had his marker covered. As much as an established keeper that he is, Katti is still prone to the occasional lapse in concentration. It’s an area where he can look to improve upon. All in all, take away the defensive lapses; Lobera should be happy with his offence. He will want his backline moving the ball quicker as rival teams will look to pressure them as what happened in the 2^nd half causing those couple of headaches but it’s not something they can’t rectify on the training ground.

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