Yes, this would have been the actual points table if the league have been staring on January. And the progress report can show some serious points to ponder into. Let us have a look at how the teams have done in this time-frame with their games played to understand more...
Hyderabad FC: The clear table topper in this time frame and we must say rightly so. Earlier also we have said the most promising Indian lin-up together if we want to see then look no further than this line-up & they are proving us right. The in-form of Liston Colaso, Ashish Rai, Akash Mishra, Mohammad Yasir, Holicharan Narzary are proving themselves as the best of the lot in the line-up. So much so that even Hyderabad had off-loaded the famous Adil Khan & Subrata Paul from their team. This shows us how the coach has believed his young talents and how they are proving him right. We have seen games where they have been loosing by a goal and came back fighting and scoring 4 goals to win the match. This clearly shows the mantle of this team.
If you look at this chart we can see that in this month, they haven't faced the 2 teams who are originally at the top 4 which are ATK Mohun Bagan & FC Goa but given their present form we don't think that those games would have also made much difference to this team.
Mumbai City FC: The team which stands second in the earning of points in this table is Mumbai City FC. Though they have just completed a huge Yardstick, of being undefeated in the 12 games, they have lost the last game of January, which Hyderabad haven't faced and is the sole reason that the Mumbai team is pushed second in this table. Moreover, they have strengthened their team by adding Jackichand Singh to their list who will help them create chances from both the sides of the field and this when you have prolific scorers like Ogbeche & La Fondre in the team, those supplies which come from both the fag ends will bolster the performance of the Mumbai City Team undoubtedly.
Now let us look at how the chart table fro Mumbai City FC which is
The only problem what we have seen in the Mumbai City team is the temperament of Ahmed Jahu who is one of the most important players of the team and works a pivot in front of the 2 Central defenders and paves the ball to Hugo Bumos who almost control the game for the Mumbai City team. But Ahmed Jahu has been showing a lot of signatures of being too much physical and have been attracting cards, which is not a good sign to have. As soon as they can tackle this they will be better perfroming.
NORTHEAST UNITED FC: We have seen a lot of drama with this team during this tenure. Right from sacking the youngest coach under whom they started the ISL to even changing their attacking player. NEUFC has always been a team which combines a lot of young talent and with the help fo right foreign players influx they can seriously create problems for any team. And when you have attacking creating players like Machado & Gallego you have a potential team to attack continuously. Dylan Fox, Benjamin lambot is performing well in their defensive job. But the most astonishing change for them currently is Deshorn Brown. His form for BFC he would like to forget soon and this form he has with the team is going to give him some serious fame if he can continue with the form he is in. Though Khalid Jamil is known for his preference towards defensive approach but surprisingly after taking charge for this season, NEUFC has started again their attacking line-up of playing and with proper mix of Indian and foreign players. But if we don't take the name of the most unsung Hero of this team it would not be correct.
The two most unsung Hero of this team is Khassa Camara and Lalengmawia. Also, we have noticed the sudden brightness in the form of Asutosh Mehta, and if he continues in this form he should get a call for the India team is what we sternly believe. This chart clearly signifies that the team performance has started skyrocketing and we hope that the NEUFC can continue in this form to the way ahead and become the title contender.
SC EAST BENGAL: Unbelievable, yes but this is true. what we are seeing that this team which is lagging at number 10 in the 11 team squad has performed in the top 4 of this league. You may argue a lot but cannot change the statistics, and whatever it is you have to accept that the team which didn't score a single goal in the first 4 games and had conceded 10 goals in the first 5 matches, seeing that team in the top 4 is purely unbelievable, and a wonderful advertisement of great football.
without further ado let us have a look at how the team has done in this time frame...
We really don't know what changed for them but this is absolute. They have brought in a great game-maker Bright who we can say the one of the best if not the best in the current foreign players playing in India, and the goal Bright scored against FC Goa is a clear sign of the arrival of a great player like him. And from then onwards whichever opponent Bright has played against it was a series of fouls by which they have contained Bright. In this January window, they have roped in Ankit, Ajay, Sarthak, Saurav all of these players are still young and are known as talented players. Also, they have got Raju Gaikwad & Subrata Paul who have loads of experience. So it seems SCEB is moving in the right direction. We are not sure how they will fare in this season as they are still the only team who doesn't have a scorer from the Indian squad. But whatever happens, the Only Legacy Club seems to be moving in the right direction. Also to note that the team who once had the stigma of the highest goal conceded now is the team with the highest number of saves against them. So something is working for them, and we look forward to this team to do better for the Millions and millions of FANs they have world-wide.
Kerala Blaster FC: In our earlier write-ups we have already said that a team with this much expenditure in the players can't lag at the bottom tier of the table. And KBFC is proving us right. If you see the line-up of the players they have you will find some very promising Indian players, but seldom we have seen the jelling up of these players are getting right. Once Kibu can achieve success in this the team can do some serious damage to any title contender.
If we see the points table of January for this team, we can see that they have moved ahead from losing the game to wins or Draws. and once a team keeps an undefeated stamp, a loose dampen the moral & they jump ahead and shows tenacity to win the game. And this might have happened with this Kerala team. Though we haven't found that they are changing the team too much, a single team who is yet to be shown interest in changing players in the January window, it is clear that the coach is happy and content with his team selection, and now it is high time he reaps the benefit of the numerous fans who have been supportive of the Kerala Blasters.
More in part II
Awsume... beautiful read...
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