ISL 2017-18: Chennaiyin FC - Season Review - Overhauled to add consistency

TWO titles in four years of Indian Super League for Chennaiyin FC. They did it in 2015 and repeated it in 2017-18.

But what Chennaiyin FC have achieved this season have been the best so far. In the year 2015, much of the success for Chennaiyin was generated by the outstanding performing duo of Elano Blumer and Steven Mendoza. This season the trend was not the same. In fact, one of the key traits of the team was that it did not have dependency on a couple of players only.

This season Chennaiyin FC had 11 different goal scorers. Compare that to the 2015 season where there were just 8 different scorers and more than 75 % scored by Mendoza and Jeje.

Rotation was another area that was well executed by Coach John Gregory. In the longest of ISL seasons, this season, the rotation of players to allow recovery from fatigue and prevention of injuries was vital. And Chennaiyin FC mastered the rotation effectively and yet found goal scorers that rose to the occasion.

Obtaining a balance between attack and defence always helps in a league format. Eventual ISL champions lost a joint-least number of games this season. CFC also scored a joint-third most number of goals while even the number of clean sheets were joint-top in the season.

Jeje appeared to be going through a slack in goal scoring midway through the season. But John Gregory showed belief in the striker and eventually it paid off to see Jeje finish off the season as Chennaiyin’s top scorer with nine goals. One trend that has been carried over from the previous season is the continuity on the youth of the team. Jerry Lalrinzuala is a classic example of this continued ideology from under Marco Materazzi. Anirudh Thapa, another teenager when he joined the team, has continued to do well from the previous season.

The only low point of the season for Chennaiyin was the exit from the Super Cup. Facing Aizawl FC, Chennaiyin fell behind twice and came back the same number of times to take the Round of 16 knockout match to the penalties. Mohammed Rafi missed the penalty that sent CFC crashing out. Rafi was also guilty of missing a golden opportunity in game.

Overall Chennaiyin had a successful ISL season with applying learnings from the past season and creating a well-balanced squad with good depth.

Get the latest in the world of Sports, Teams, and Players! Free Delivery to your Inbox.