MATCH PREVIEW: Battle of forwards in offing as upbeat Blasters take on resolute Mumbai
A REJUEVENATED KERALA BLASTERS will look to repeat their Tuesday night exploits when they host a determined Mumbai City side looking to shake off a bad start to their ISL campaign.
Peter Taylor's home soil-trained Blasters had taken on Cesae Farias's young and amibitious NorthEast United in their first round and earned a 3-1 win, while Mumbai City had suffered a defeat by the same margin in their opening fixture against Pune City.
Both teams are missing some important players. Kerala Blasters have Sandesh Jhingan and Cavin Lobo away on national duty. Mumbai City are also missing Sunil Chhetri and Subrata Pal for the same reason. The home side will also be missing their marquee player Carlos Marchena who is out with an injury, yet to fully recover.
The Mumbai City marquee player-coach, however, is planning to give himself a start after the forward line failed to inspire against Pune City. Anelka may be replacing Andre Moritz in the number 10 position, who did not have a great opening game. In the previous game Anelka had came on for the last 15 minutes to make for one extra body up front, chasing a two goal deficit.
There were others whose performance was below par as well. Keegan Pereira in the left back position was regularly bullied by Israil Gurung. Albino Gomes in goal was a bit shaky too. There's a good chance that they will be replaced by Kingshuk Debnath and Debjit Majumder respectively in the starting line-up.
Conversion was a major issue for Mumbai City as they had most of the possession, but fell behind as Israil Gurung, with his free runs up the right flank provided two assists and scored one himself to take the game away from them. Mumbai City assistant coach Oscar Bruzon recognizes the flaws in their gameplay and vows to correct them,
"For me possession is nothing, if we do not create chances... our fullbacks didn't get help from midifelders and wingbacks, and this will not happen against Kerala Blasters."
As for Kerala Blasters, the only foreseeable change in the starting line up appears to be Chris Dagnall making way for Sanchez Watt up front. The 24 year old ex Arsenal striker came on in the second half after a frustrating goalless first half and scored the third goal that sealed their team's victory.
The Blasters will be especially happy with the impact Rahul Bheke has had so far, with two of his long throws creating the first two goals for them. Peter Ramage, Josue Currais, Mohammad Rafi and C.K. Vineeth also put in great shifts of their own, and the defence line looked impeccable with Stephen Bywater at goal and Bruno Perone, Marcus Williams ahead of him.
But although the finalists from last season have much to be confident about, their coach Peter Taylor is proceeding with caution,
“When a team gets beat, they are more determined next time. It makes the game harder for us. They will be a determined team and we need to respect that and be extra determined to continue winning."
Taylor knows the importance of winning this match in getting a head start in the race to the top four. Because, after this, they play three of their four matches away from home against teams like Atletico de Kolkata, FC Goa, and Pune City. Taking advantage of the familiar condition of Kochi's Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and its boisterous home crowd is paramount to their title challenge this season. Good results in the next couple of games will allow them to settle into a good run of form in the season, reinforced by Sandesh Jhingan and Cavin Lobo back from national duty.
All in all, this is going to be a tough trip on the road for Mumbai City who, while hoping for their forward line to give them some early advantage, must also brace for the impact that the likes of Josue Currais have on a defence. As for Kerala, they will be looking to keep out Piquionne, Norde and Anelka while using the counter attacks to catch the Mumbai City defence off guard. And if Kerala Blasters manage to get an early lead, the fans will be treated to an all-out war between the two forward lines for the rest of the game.
Probable starting line-ups:
Kerala Blasters FC - Stephen Bywater, C. K. Vineeth, Marcus Williams, Bruno Perone, Peter Ramage, Rahul Bheke, Mehtab Hossain, Josue, Peter Carvalho, Mohamad Rafi, Sanchez Watt
Mumbai City FC - Debjit Majumder, Kingshuk Debnath, Pavel Cmovs, Frantz Bertin, Ashutosh Mehta, Juan Aguilera, Pratesh Shirodkar, Sony Norde, Nicolas Anelka, Gabriel Fernandes, Frederic Piquionne
