North 24 Parganas (India) correspondent: Manolo Marquez’s trust in young Indian players quickly made Hyderabad FC the neutral’s favourite last season, but there always was a nagging feeling that his side lacked… something. That something might just be Bart Ogbeche. Hyderabad struggled to gel with Ogbeche’s style of leading the line in their opening game, losing 0-1 to Chennaiyin, but ever since then, the club have strung together a run of seven games without defeat, including four very emphatic wins.
None more so than the 6-1 dismantling of Odisha FC, who, as their 4-2 win over league leaders Mumbai City FC last night proved, are no mean mugs themselves. Ogbeche’s ability to score against the run of play was instrumental once again as Hyderabad survived a nervy opening half against Odisha, but they absolutely dominated the second half, with the goals coming from all over.
Yet, before we prematurely crown another champion once more, it’s interesting to note that both Ogbeche and Hyderabad are massively over-performing their xG – the club have scored 18 goals from an xG of 8.9 – a regression to the mean is sure to come. However, there still is an understated efficiency about Marquez’s side, who can go top of the league if they win their game in hand… against ATK Mohun Bagan.
Juan Ferrando’s ATK Mohun Bagan remain a mystery
We’ve seen 180 minutes of Juan Ferrando football from ATK Mohun Bagan, and it’s hard to make sense of any of it. The eye-test would tell you that the Kolkata giants were comfortable for much of their game against FC Goa, leading 2-0 till the 81st minute while defending well. Yet, the stats show that Goa out-shot (14-7), out-created (11-7) and out-passed (374-312) their opponents.
The Indian Super League isn’t short of paradoxes this season, but Ferrando will have been glad to walk away with a win after facing his previous club. The league’s best-paid coach (reportedly) surely has a tough job on his hands, but he’s one who demands perfection, noting after the game that Liston Colaco had plenty of areas where he could improve.
The same Liston Colaco who is the top-scoring Indian in the league and who had just rocketed one of the best goals of the season just an hour prior to Ferrando making his comments.
News is being sent by BTC News (Bangladesh) North 24 Parganas (India) correspondent, Tathyik Bhattacharya. #
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