CNN Central News & Network–ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: Kerala Blasters did it the hard way at Kaloor on Sunday — scoring twice after falling behind — to register their first win in Indian Super League (ISL) 2024-25.
Foreign signings Noah Sadaoui (63) and Kwame Peprah (88) scored for the Men In Yellow before a roaring JLN crowd in Kochi after Vishnu P.V. put East Bengal in front in the 59th minute. Once Noah scored the equalizer, the game turned on its head. It was one-way traffic till the final whistle with the home side calling the shots.
As KBFC get their first points on the board, here are five takeaways from the game that may interest you:
- Noah Sadaoui must only play on the left
When deployed as a No. 10 in the first match, against Punjab, he kept drifting wide to find more space. Today, starting on the left, he looked dangerous early on. But, as the first half progressed, Sadaoui and Rahul K.P. switched flanks. The Moroccan simply went missing for the remainder of the half.
For all his skill and football intelligence, he does not pose the same threat from the right as he does from the left. His movement in his natural position is more instinctive. Back on the left in the second half, he showed exactly what he is capable of with a delightful goal. He was then moved into the middle as the largely ineffective Danish Farooq was replaced by Mohammed Aimen, whose endeavour created the winner scored expertly by Kwame Peprah. But, Sadaoui’s impact kept diminishing as the half progressed. So, when Adrian Luna is unavailable, the team has to look for another solution than putting Sadaoui at No. 10.
- EBFC need to go through Jeakson more
Despite the club’s poor start to the season, record signing Jeakson Singh has looked steady as a holding midfielder. But, he is not seeing enough of the ball in possession. The first time he really got hold of the ball in the match was around the 15-minute mark and he immediately made something happen, spraying a measured pass wide to the left. He had one or two more similar moments till he was withdrawn in the second half. But, overall, his impact was well below the desired level.
Jeakson’s team has to start passing to him more. Many times in the match, especially in the first half, he moved into the right spaces to receive the ball in the defensive third, but his centre-backs kept ignoring him. At other times, his teammates did not play the ball back to him when he was in good positions to play incisive passes. Unless East Bengal starts to use Jeakson Singh to control the midfield, they are going to find it difficult to get the upper hand in matches.
- KBFC have to protect the ball better
It was a well-deserved win on the night for the home team. They had much higher intensity in winning the ball back and constantly looked one or two good passes away from creating an opening. The best opening the team created was headed wide by an unmarked Rahul. Earlier, new signing Jesus Jimenez hit the post from a beautifully worked chance. However, both the goals were the result of individual brilliance from foreign players. In the winner, there was also a defensive mistake that resulted in the ball getting to Peprah. Therefore the team needs to keep hold of the ball better and work to create more high quality chances.
