ISL 2018 | Have most sides got FC Goa totally wrong

Many would attribute Pep Guardiola’s success with Barcelona to Lionel Messi. The Tiki Taka football that the former Barca player had introduced at the club, no matter how seemingly invincible, was decrypted by many and if not for Lionel Messi, the side would have had half the laurels they won in that era. If brought a faint parallel with FC Goa, who had also brought a storm to ISL with their free flowing football, they too had a few names they heavily rely upon like Ferran Corominas, Manuel Lanzarote, and Edu Bedia.

To further disappoint the fans, Goa didn’t go for a like for like replacement for the playmaker either, opting instead for a more proactive Jackichand Singh on the flanks. And the public belief was further strengthened when Goa failed to outscore NorthEast United FC in their season opener, hinting other sides that Lobera had lost it. Under new coach Eelco Schattorie, the Highlanders weren’t among the strongest title contenders then and failing to beat them didn’t bode well for the Gaurs. But, what looked like the franchise’s failure to get timely reinforcements was just a strategy by Lobera played close to his chest.

Everyone was banking on Bedia to inspire a Coro-less side then, but Goa went down 1-4 against Jamshedpur FC at the JRD Tata Complex pronouncing that it was a bad idea. Corominas came back in the next match against Delhi Dynamos to everyone’s excitement and Josep Gombau, like many others, made the mistake of assuming Coro as their biggest threat. Delhi marked him closely and was even successful in keeping Goa at the bay for the 50 minutes before eventually succumbing to a 3-2 defeat.

A closer look at their wins against FC Pune City (4-2) and Mumbai City FC (5-0), would show us what huge a blunder Pradyum Reddy and Jorge Costa had done. Against Mumbai, Jahouh was allowed to have 89 touches and 77 passes and more importantly with 73% passing accuracy. The 73% is quite significant here, given the fact that the Moroccan international is categorically instructed to find widemen Jackichand Singh and Hugo Boumous every time he gets a tinge of space with the ball at his feet. 

Not many players in ISL have the incredible passing range of Jahouh that allows the wingers to stick to their positions, even when the opponent is attacking, safe in the knowledge that they would get the ball in the perfect place where they would have just have to run behind the defence. Against Pune, Jahouh was allowed a freakish 125 touches and 111 passes. He had 88% passing accuracy here and one could only imagine the damage he could inflict with it. He got just one assist amidst Goa’s 4-2 win and was still adjudged the Hero of the match.

But, it won’t escape the eye of a master strategist as was seen against JFC and BFC. While against JFC, Jahouh didn’t have Coro to give shape to his vision, it should also be noticed that he was allowed to give less than 70 passes. This gets clearer against Bengaluru, where Cuadrat was without Miku and Erik Partaalu and winning in Goa was a very difficult proposition. But, he had got the tactics right with first Dimas Delgado, and after he was red carded, and then Xisco Fernandez allowing Jahouh no breathing space.

Jahouh could give only 50 passes out of the 73 touches that he managed and with Nishu Kumar and Rahul Bheke marking Jacki and Boumous closely, the long balls mostly ended in throws. Barcelona might have brought in Ivan Rakitic and Philippe Coutinho to replace Xavi and Iniesta in their midfield, but they are not the reasons the side is still winning the La Liga. Their lynchpin is Sergio Busquets and we would be waiting with baited breathe how and with whom would the Spanish side replace their 30-year-old when he decides to call it quits.

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