Studs

Lenny Rodrigues

Raphael Augusto

Anirudh Thapa

Though Anirudh Thapa’s nascent age and inexperience give John Gregory enough reasons to doubt his starting role in the side, the 20-year-old has now been reducing his doubters with every game he plays. John decided to bench Isaac Vanmalsawma in favour of Thapa yesterday, and the Indian came off pretty good, if not exceptionally well. Playing in the midfield in a predominantly defensive setup, Thapa was asked to defend more than go up and the attacking minded player did deny his role a few times. However, he was the only one showing intent and combined with Augusto numerous times in the attacking midfield, although the final pass missing. Defensively, he had a more complete display though, with two tackles, two interceptions, and one block. Though the scoreline won’t truly reflect his contribution in the game, we believe he would gain prominence more and more when things start falling into place for Chennai in the coming months. 

Inigo Calderon

Yes, you read it right, Calderon was the villain for the hosts yesterday with his rash tackles, which were wasteful and at times, foolish. Like Lucian Goian of Mumbai City, Calderon also enjoys a monopoly on the field where he is allowed to leave his position and move up in search for chances. And the primary reason he is allowed such privileges is because, more often than not, it has worked for Chennaiyin. That was not the case yesterday as things went haywire for him, which could summarize Chennaiyin’s display in a way. It was one of those off days where nothing could go right and John Gregory realized it during the second half when Calderon was subbed off in the 68th minute - something Chennai fans are not habituated to see. Calderon could make only one tackle, one block and three clearances against the nimble-footed likes of Mandar Rao Desai and Edu Bedia, who gave him a horrendous time. In the attack too, he couldn’t have a single shot on target.  

Jackichand Singh

If there is one thing apart from a prodigious talent that Jackichand Singh has been synonymous with, it is inconsistency. The northeastern star has been doing the rounds of clubs of ISL solely with his old reputation with every management hoping for the best with him in the mix. But, one cannot deny that fact that if there is one manager who could unlock his attacking potential to the fullest, it was Lobera. And the way Jackie actually kicked off against NorthEast with all his vigour and intent on the right flank, had got fans excited. But, his tendency to disappear in games floated up yet again yesterday where he was almost non-existent and his stay on the field for 83 minutes was questioned. And it was rightly so because all Jackie had done was one tackle and one clearance throughout the 90 minutes and unless he was not dragging out few Chennaiyin defenders out of position with him, then he was basically doing nothing. 

Another game, another flop show by the favourite son of the Supermachans as Jeje walked off the match with absolutely zero shots on target. Imagine a striker not doing the only thing expected of him. While a large share of the blame would go to John Gregory for putting him in a deeper forward role, a veteran like him should be expected to adapt to different positions. With Nelson and Augusto taking the load of attack usually, Jeje’s free role could have seen him reach the full potential but while his sense of positioning has been terrible, the few times he has managed to reach them he has wasted the chances. Yesterday, Jeje could get only 16 touches in the whole game with one block and one tackle. While Chennai’s lack of pressing was also a reason to it, Jeje hardly hampered the performances of Ahmed Jahouh or Lenny Rodrigues, who kept on going up and creating raucous.