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ISL: Four weeks of pre-season — was it enough for Kerala Blasters and ATK Mohun Bagan?

After an excruciating wait of 251 days, top-flight football finally returned in India with the seventh season of the Indian Super League (ISL) kicking off with a clash between Kerala Blasters FC and ATK Mohun Bagan FC. But somehow, it didn't do enough to whet the appetites of the long-starved Indian football fans.

ISL: Four weeks of pre-season — was it enough for Kerala Blasters and ATK Mohun Bagan?
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By

Sagnik

Updated: 13 March 2021 4:39 AM GMT

After an excruciating wait of 251 days, top-flight football finally returned in India with the seventh season of the Indian Super League (ISL) kicking off with a clash between Kerala Blasters FC and ATK Mohun Bagan FC. But somehow, it didn't do enough to whet the appetites of the long-starved Indian football fans and for good reason.

While ATK Mohun Bagan had the last laugh, thanks to a second half goal by their ever ominous striker Roy Krishna, watching the full duration of the match must have been tough for even the most hardcore fans. The play was largely restricted in the midfield, with both teams making an array of mispasses, losing possession in their own halves and failing to create enough chances.

The energy was lacking amongst the players, who, despite two water breaks, seemed to be running out of steam after every quarter of play. It almost looked like a pre-season friendly game where players were still trying to attain match sharpness.

ATKMB head coach Antonio Lopes Habas pointed it out — given the long off-season break, it's difficult for anyone to adjust and get up to peak fitness — and he won't be the last coach to speak about this.

"We had to control the minutes in the first match of the season. This humidity, this temperature, it's difficult for players who are playing after almost 8 months," he replied in the post-match press conference when asked why Krishna needed to be subbed off even after opening the scoring!

Truth is, with a shortened pre-season, no players have had the chance to build up their core fitness, teams havent been able to get their gameplan right. And the lack of match practice was evident in Friday's ISL season opener. In fact, the first victim was claimed as early as the 13th minute.

https://youtu.be/A3z43muu9BM

Michael Soosairaj, the marauding winger who excelled in a wing-back role last season for champions ATK FC, had started out on a positive note at his usual position. However, in this particular occasion, he had been freed down the left channel by Javi Hernandez but as he drove forward with the ball, an otherwise innocuous looking shoulder-to-shoulder challenge knocked him off his feet.

Even as the referee waived on for play to continue, the 25-year-old lay grimacing in pain. Eventually, he had to be stretchered off, his knee visibly shaken and now he will have to undergo an MRI scan for further assessment. Habas though remains hopeful that Soosairaj will recover ASAP and it is easy to answer why he hopes so — he needs his full squad at his disposal.

Through the entirety of the match, Kerala Blasters dominated possession while Habas' ATK Mohun Bagan, sat back, absorbed the pressure and tried to play on the counter.

Initially, there were signs of high pressing but once Soosairaj was taken off, that disappeared. Last season's title win was built on the counter-pressing style of play which seemed to be off sync on Friday — sometimes Krishna and Edu Garcia pressed while the rest of the midfield sat back, at other times it was the striker duo who were standing still while the others pushed forward.

"We have to work on the situation between the central midfield and the striker. We have to work on our high press, we have to improve there," Habas admitted. The thing is, though, that if he wants to play a high pressing football through the season, his players will need to expend a lot of energy every time they are on the pitch, which means he has to manage their minutes week in and week out.

Kerala, on their part, weren't too impressive either. They enjoyed a lot of possession, especially in the first half, but could do little to break down the resolute defending of Tiri, Sandesh Jhingan and Pritam Kotal. Carl McHugh, playing at defensive midfield, also put in a good shift — he was literally everywhere, from stopping Sahal Abdul Samad dead in the tracks to almost firing in ATKMB's opener from a corner.

"Kerala played well, but we got the three points. I am very happy with the result, it's about getting the three points, no more," Habas commented.

sahal-abdul-samad Kerala Blasters' Sahal Abdul Samad in action in the match against ATKMB (Source: ISL)

Kibu Vicuna, former Mohun Bagan coach and currently at the helm of Kerala Blasters, however, was also pleased with his team's performance. Playing with possession and playing out from the back is something that the I-League winning coach pioneers, and Kerala, for a change, were trying to keep as much hold of the ball as possible.

"We prepared for the game as best as possible (in the short time). The plan of the game was very clear and we are happy with the performance of the team. Unfortunately, we lost. We were unlucky with the goal they scored," Vicuna said in the press conference. "We had a few chances, but we didn't convert. We have to focus on the next game."

Indeed, with all that possession, the Blasters had nothing to show for. There just wasn't enough creativity in the final third. New signing Gary Hooper showed what he can do but he was hardly fed a good pass. Sahal Abdul Samad kept circling with the ball on the pitch, Nongdamba Naorem's crossing was below par, while Prasanth K, was almost deliberately given space only to be robbed off possession by the Green and Maroon defenders.

Costa Nhamoinesu and Bakary Kone did a good job, holding off Krishna and Edu, for major parts of the game, Vicente Gomez controlled the midfield but if you don't score goals, you don't win matches, simple as that.

"We have to be better in the final third," Vicuna admitted. "We had the ball in the first and second zones, but in the final third we didn't participate too much...Our wingers, offensive midfielders, and strikers, they didn't participate... we have to try and improve this aspect of the game."

Maybe, they missed the services of Nishu Kumar but then again the former Bengaluru FC full back has been suffering from an injury issue since the start of pre-season and could very well be sideline for a couple more matches and Kerala need to find a quick fix.

Undoubtedly, with time both teams will improve. It was only the first match of a long season and there's enough time to be critical. But had the pre-season been the usual duration, had the teams played enough friendlies, the season opener wouldn't have been such a malaise.

Also read: Kerala Blasters 0-1 ATK Mohun Bagan - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

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