Just a month into the season, and we've already been witness to two managerial changes. Much like the unpredictable nature of the Indian Super League, it's not been whom we expected. The on-pitch action has been as wild and fun as ever - here's what we learned from the last week in the ISL: (Monsieur Menon will be back with his musings soon, I promise)
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Adios Antonio and Benvingut Juan
One wouldn't expect a frenzied 3-3 draw to be the way Antonio Habas departed from Indian shores (again), but here we are. ATK Mohun Bagan's matter-of-fact announcement that they were parting with the Indian Super League's most successful coach caught everyone by surprise. Especially since the club are three points shy of Hyderabad in third place. ATKMB might not have been hitting champion form, but the season certainly seemed salvageable. Perhaps there is the 'loss of identity' Habas bemoaned in his final post-match press conference at play, and the task might have seemed insurmountable.
Speaking of identities, ATK Mohun Bagan could not have hired a more contrasting manager to replace Habas. Juan Ferrando and Habas are as poles apart in footballing philosophies as they are in their respective birthplaces on opposite ends of Spain. This column last week had this to say after Goa's 2-1 win over Bengaluru "Juan Ferrando has a massive challenge on his hands here, and the fact that he's not shirking it at all is making for some compelling viewing."
Oops.
Challenge very much shirked. Shirked, avoided and then some. There was some understandable sourness from FC Goa's president regarding the manner of Ferrando's abrupt departure. Goa have been left very much in the lurch after the 1-1 draw against Hyderabad in Ferrando's final game saw them drop to eighth in the table.
While there is understandable excitement in some circles over Ferrando's appointment, he does have an almighty task on his hand fixing the ATKMB defence, not something he's ever been known for. It's a pity that had both the clubs and managers involved shown some patience, there was still the possibility of success, more so given the barely predictable nature of this league, which lurches wildly from one narrative to the next every week.
Sunil Chhetri is the least of Bengaluru FC's problems
Captain. Leader. Legend. Substitute.
It will no doubt hurt Sunil Chhetri (and his legion of adoring fans) to realise what he's become, but it's a bitter truth nonetheless. Marco Pezzaiouli finally took the plunge and dropped Chhetri from his starting lineups against ATKMB and Jamshedpur. The gambit looked to have worked initially, with Cleiton Silva thriving in the extra space and responsibility afforded to him in attack against BFC's rivals from Kolkata.
However, the defending on display from BFC this week left much to be desired. Hugo Boumous and Roy Krishna were afforded tons of space on the pitch, while Gurpreet Singh Sandhu's attempts at passing out from the back were, well... sub-optimal to put it politely. Chhetri did look better as an impact substitute, but if Bengaluru are to achieve anything this season, they have other problems on the pitch to solve as well.
Jamshedpur FC are the league's most fun team to watch
Given they just saw out a 0-0 against Bengaluru FC on Monday night, it's a bit of an odd thing to say, but Owen Coyle has built a team that aren't all about patterns of play and control. Instead he's filled his attack with players who love a dribbling, mazy run, with Greg Stewart the best of them all.
The Scot has already caught the eye this season and continues to take the breath away. Incredibly, none of the three admittedly excellent goals he scored in Jamshedpur's 4-0 dismantling of Odisha were him at his best. Stewart left multiple defenders for dead across both games, all hip-swivelling and dancing feet, beguiling his way up the pitch towards goal. He's as jogo bonito as they come and together with Alex Lima and Komal Thatal who are of a similar ilk, they make Jamshedpur games an absolute belter to watch, irrespective of the result.
Chennaiyin's defence is their saving grace
If Jamshedpur are all unabashed bluster and bravado, Chennaiyin are the complete opposite. In each of his three seasons with Buriram United, Bozidar Bandovic finished with the league's meanest defence. Incredibly, while his club were setting points records on their way to winning the title twice, Bandovic fashioned a defence that conceded 72 goals in 98 league games, an average of 0.73 goals conceded per game.
Just six games into the season, Chennaiyin's defence seems to be as imposing as that Buriram side - conceding 0.66 goals per game. The control they exerted over their opponents in both games this week was exceptional - Mumbai City's much-vaunted attack was kept quiet and they were fortunate to escape with a 1-0 win courtesy a late Rahul Bheke header. CFC made things right with a 2-1 win over Odisha next, with the scoreline doing little to describe how comfortable Chennaiyin looked while leading 2-0 for much of the game.
Kerala Blasters keep up the Jekyll and Hyde nature of the league
Where did that come from? Mumbai City were motoring on, looking every bit as defending champions, and then ran into a Kerala Blasters side that seemed hell-bent on upsetting the prevailing narrative. All the plaudits aimed at Des Buckingham's Mumbai City this season were on display - the speed, directness, high intensity of pressing - except it was the yellow shirts doing all of it.
Sahal Abdul Samad and Alvaro Vazquez may have scored two stunning volleys that show up in the highlights package as individual feats, but both came at the end of superb passing moves that dragged Mumbai's defence all over the pitch. Ivan Vukomanovic is building something here, and it's worth keeping an eye on.
Mumbai, meanwhile, have been dragged back into the barely comprehensible nature of the league with a performance that left many scratching their heads. Even if headlines focused on MCFC being down to ten men, they were comfortably second best even before Mourtada Fall was sent off. Whether this is a momentary blip or the start of a downward spiral is up to Buckingham and what he does on the training ground this week.
NorthEast's win only underlines how awful SC East Bengal are
'First time I enjoy no long ball what a good day proud of my team !!!' - Mathias Coureur's post-match celebratory tweet was perhaps a wee bit more revelatory than Khalid Jamil would have liked, but the point stands. After a cautious first half, NEUFC realised SC East Bengal were there for the taking and applied the veritable heel to the neck, with Suhair VP shining as an attacking outlet for his side yet again.
First time I enjoy no long ball what a good day proud of my team !!!
- Mathias Coureur (@MathiasCoureur) December 17, 2021
As for SC East Bengal, there's not much to say - they were awful, remain awful, and even if there's a rumoured managerial change to come, look unlikely to be anything more than... awful. For a league season that's been so unpredictable so far, I don't think this is the sort of constant that the SC East Bengal fans have been clamouring for. Something has to give.