In its two years in the Indian Super League, Kerala Blasters has already experienced the extremes of hope and despair. In the first season, they went all the way to the final before conceding a 95th minute goal in the summit clash as Atletico de Kolkata won the championship.
The next year, however, was nightmarish as the Men in Yellow failed to find their mojo and, despite a change in personnel midway, finished at the bottom of the points table, winning only three of their 14 league fixtures.
No wonder the franchise co-owned by Sachin Tendulkar is desperate to make it to the knock-out stage again. The team has appointed former Manchester United winger Steve Coppell its new manager, continuing the tradition of reposing faith in British coaches. The 61-year-old former England international has an enviable resume. As a 28-year old rookie, he had guided Crystal Palace to English top-flight football in his first season as coach there.
Busy in the transfer market
The club’s activity in the transfer market has been convincing, as they seem to have taken every step with a purpose. The side has retained a number of Indian stars from the last season, such as CK Vineeth, Sandesh Jhingan, Gurwinder Singh and Mehtab Hossain, while Rino Anto, another India international from Kerala has also been drafted in. Among the foreigners, former Barcelona youth player Josue Currais and Queens Park Rangers graduate Antonio German have been retained.
The hunt for new players was led by Ishfaq Ahmed, a veteran who was signed by the club for season 1 a couple of years ago. The former Mohun Bagan winger, who spent the second part of the last season on loan at I-League club Mumbai FC, has played a big role in bringing his two teammates Kunal Sawant and Pratik Chowdhury to the ISL side.
Mohammed Rafique, who had broken the hearts of the club’s faithful by scoring the injury time goal for Atletico de Kolkata in the 2014 ISL final, has also signed on the dotted line, while the club has high hopes on former FC Goa striker Thongkhosiem Haokip, who finished as the highest Indian scorer of the 2014-15 I-League.
Among the foreign signings, marquee defender Aaron Hughes is the pick of the lot, while Cedric Hengbart has also returned after a season with NorthEast United. The 22-year old Duckens Nazon, a pivotal member of the Haiti national team these days, could turn out to be one of breakout stars of the competition, while former Newcastle United star Michael Chopra can also be prolific if he can regain full fitness.
Points of concern
However, many of these rosy prospects are conditioned on certain ifs. The three goalkeepers of the team, including the 41-year old Sandip Nandy, have a mean age of 35, and this can turn out to be the side's Achilles heel. With Hengbart and Hughes both being part of the squad, Sandesh Jhingan will probably feature in an unfamiliar position at the left side of the defence, especially given they do not have an orthodox left-back.
Even though seven forwards are part of the squad, none of the Indians is capable of leading from the front, and Michael Chopra did not look match-fit in the first couple of practice sessions in Kolkata. The team will miss the services of Vineeth and Anto for at least four matches, with Bengaluru FC making it to the AFC Cup semi-finals.
Areas of improvement
In the first season, the club had the worst goal-scoring record in the group league, having scored only nine goals in 14 matches. In the second season, they had the worst defensive record, conceding 27 times. If they are to make the last four this year, they need to improve massively on both fronts.
The team will be highly dependent on how experienced Indian players gel with foreigners who are playing on Indian soil for the first time. The massive support base will make life miserable for the opponents during its home matches, but Hughes and Co. must settle down quickly to reward their faith. Coppell, who remains the only coach ever to win the League Managers Association Manager of the Year award for two consecutive seasons, will have his work cut out.
For the neutrals it will be interesting to see whether the young trio of Haokip, Vinit Rai and Farukh Choudhary prosper under the tutelage of a coach who had signed non-league footballer Ian Wright at Crystal Palace before the latter went on to score more than 250 goals in top-tier football.
