The Indian Super League begins its fifth seasons with many of its teams making wholesale changes – from players to managers – to bring in a better winning formula over the next five months.
There are teams that have preferred to work on their stable core as well. Case in point being last year’s finalists Chennayin FC and Bengaluru. The two sides continue to look formidable on paper and may well reach the deep end of the tournament yet again.
All eyes, though, will be at the middle of the table. FC Pune, Jamshedpur and free-scoring FC Goa were involved in a three-way tussle for filling two of the three spots in the league table. The debutants, despite impressing, narrowly missed out. But, Jamshedpur made a statement of intent by signing Australian veteran Tim Cahill to add a bit of quality up front. High profile yesteryear names are no guarantee for success, as the first four seasons of the ISL have showed. Cahill, though, for much of his career, used his intelligence to outwit opposition defenders.
Will Indian fans get to see the 38-year-old make his trademark late runs or those razor-sharp headers? The Cahills, Chhetris and the Marcelinhos are vital to put bums on seats during the five-month long tournament. Last year, some of the stardust was taken away with the big-name marquee players opting out of an extended season.
The managers will be equally central to proceedings. As many as eight teams have made changes there. Ahead of Saturday, one of the recurring themes have been keeping the ball, inspired by the Marcelo Bielsa-Pep Guardiola model that has captured the imagination of much of the footballing world.
Tactical changes
Forging a strike partnership to create chances in front of goal was a feature that stood out last year. Emiliano Alfaro-Marcelinho of Pune, Goa’s Ferran Corominas-Manuel Lanzarote and Bengaluru’s Miku-Sunil Chhetri’s telepathic understanding flummoxed defenders. It hardly came as a surprise when Pune, Goa, and Bengaluru progressed to the last-four.
Coro and Lanzarote are no longer in the same team but one expects the strike partnerships to once again have a huge impact on proceedings. The lack of quality box-to-box midfielders means that the 4-3-3 system may not be preferred. The foreign players across teams now have the experience, but the heat and humidity has had a role to play.
The three-man defense, a rage with the Premier League teams over the last two years, is not a system that has been experimented with in the ISL. A 3-4-3 or a 3-5-2 requires a ball-playing centre-back, wingers who can double up as wing-backs and a fluid forward line. A safe 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 variant might just be the go-to route at this hour.
Return of the flop shows
Having clashed in two separate finals, it was disheartening to see ATK and Kerala Blasters fall from grace. ATK, the two-time champions, struggled to cope without a genuine goalscorer up front. In Kalu Uche, they have resolved one of their problems – a good pre-season is a testament to that.
Having recruited the wise, old Steve Coppell may also signal a return to winning ways for the Kolkata-based outfit.
Many a Manchester United fan might be saying a little prayer to see their beloved former manager Sir Alex Ferguson in the dugout given their recent troubles and Chennaiyin’s John Gregory recently spoke of how the spirit of the 13-time Premier League winning manager help him mastermind his team’s title win last year.
That spirit will be the key for Dutch manager Eelco Schattorie, who has been appointed as the boss of NorthEast United who finished at the bottom. United might not see a drastic change in fortunes given how the transfer window shaped up.
Like ATK, Mumbai City also struggled to find the back of the net. In former Champions League-winning captain Jorge Costa, they have opted for pedigree. Solving striking woes, however, is a different story.
It will be a crucial season for David James as well, following an embarrassing clash with striker Dimitar Berbatov last season. The Englishman’s tactics were questioned but James has spent a good amount of time with his team, who also have the personnel to propel them to the last four. It may be well a case of Bengaluru, Chennayin, Goa, and Pune booking semi-final spots once again.