The Phoenixes have finally risen. Sporting Club Delhi have secured their first victory and clean sheet in the ISL with a 2-0 victory over Kerala Blasters. Yesteryear Blaster Aimen opened the scoring for the Delhi side in the 36th minute from an assist by Gogou, after dispossessing Aiban Dohling at Left-Back.
The Blasters tried to come back into the game and looked threatening in the closing stages of the game before getting watered down by a direct RED card to Aiban in the 85th, who was deemed to have denied a clear goal scoring opportunity for Delhi by pulling down Augustine.
The Blasters continued to attack even after getting reduced to 10 men, but they failed to have a finishing touch up top and via a well-worked counterattack in 90+7′ Sporting Club Delhi sealed their victory, credit to a goal by Matija with an assist from Augustine.
Sporting Club Delhi still sits in the 12th spot, but with a good point difference from the Blasters at 13th, who have managed to only get 1 point in 7 games, sitting just above Mohammedan in the relegation spot with 0 points from 6 games. Now, let’s look at our three key takeaways from the match.
Sporting Delhi project finally taking off:
Sporting Club Delhi came in with a plan, and their persistence to follow up on that has finally paid off.
Retaining the young core from the Hyderabad FC side and improving it with the signings of promising and in-form players like Aimen and Azhar, Hudu, Gogou, and Nora, along with an ISL-experienced coach in Tomasz, who was a perfect fit for the young side with his proficiency in developing talents, and he has made this Delhi side one to watch out for.
The Delhi-based side has already won the hearts of many and is working on building a solid foundation both on and off the pitch. The Polish tactician has successfully managed to give an identity to this side and has made them play relentless and attractive offensive football while raking in a couple of points in the process.
While the Phoenixes had failed to secure a victory till now, they showed better performance every passing game, and with the talent at their disposal, they could be an even better side next season if they build on this squad.
Westwood shows promise:
While Westwood couldn’t guide his side to a victory, the way the Blasters were set up that evening surely shows some promise.
Westwood has done well to utilize the resources at hand in this game, using Vibin in a no. 10 role to make use of his creativity with Rowllin and Danish as sitting midfielders to win back possession in the midfield. This has helped to free a lot of pressure on Vibin and let him play a bit more comfortably in the offensive midfield while Yoke and Nihal drifted wide to provide support on the wings.
Ashley also used a 4 at the back system with Fallou-Matias Centre-Back pairing and Bikash and Aiban as wingbacks, where when one CB was used to push play forward, the remainder of the defensive line stayed back to form a 3 at the back.
The Blasters performed better and played more smoothly under the tweaked system compared to the way they played during their time under Catala, creating more chances while also showing better defensive resilience, surviving an overbearing barrage of Delhi attacks.
And with better backing and a bit more time, Ashley could rake in some points with this KBFC side and avoid relegation, if things go well.
KBFC needs immediate changes:
While we praised Westwood for the way he set up the squad in this game, he can’t make results if the players keep failing. Kevin Yoke was arguably the player with the most time on the ball this match, and out of the 11 crosses he sent in, only 1 was deemed accurate.
The lack of proper targets and runners in the box, along with poor crossing at times, makes the Blasters attacks ever-so-wasteful, and it is worth noting that the Blasters had more shots than Delhi with the same no. of shots on target as Delhi, but the final score line is 2-0 in favor of Delhi.
It is of no doubt that the Blasters lack a proper finisher up top and this when coupled with silly defensive errors makes the recipe for disaster, as the Blasters have been following nearly the same pattern in this season as a whole, conceding first via defensive errors and then failing to both adequately create and convert chances, helping their opponents get a comfortable victory over them.
The fact that the Blasters lost the majority of their games this season by a single goal margin is a testament to this.
With the truncated season at hand, Blasters soon need to increase their creation and conversion output, and with the current batch of players already having spent half the season in poor form, it makes sense for the club to go for a better option to avoid drowning in their own inadequacy.
If Mohammedan with an All-Indian squad can score the same in fewer games, people will surely expect better from a side with the budget to bring 6 foreigners.
What’s Next?
Tomasz will be happy with the intent (that includes the running) and clinicality with which his side dominated the Blasters that evening and would be looking forward to carrying this momentum against Northeast United FC, who they’ll face next on the 10th of April, away at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati.
Ashley Westwood, on the other hand, has a big job to do and will have to try to fix his side before their next game as they go on the road again to face Bengaluru FC on the 11th of April in the South Indian Derby at the Sri Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru.
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