To play 4-3-3 or not! Kerala Blasters can’t win an ISL match because they have an identity crisis

The biggest takeaway for Kerala Blasters’ head coach David Catala after his side lost a third Indian Super League (ISL) match in a row – to remain ‘pointless’ from the start of the season – was that getting too inventive was unwise.

The Spaniard repeatedly said he ‘made a mistake’ after the Blasters lost 1-2 to Inter Kashi at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium at Kaloor in Kochi on Saturday, when a 5 pm kick-off witnessed a significant dip in attendance.

Striker Victor Bertomeu scored an 84th-minute consolation after Nauris Petkevicius (34) and Alfred Planas Moya (78) put the visitors 2-0 up. The Blasters had failed to score in their earlier matches (0-2 vs Mohun Bagan Super Giant and 0-1 vs Mumbai City).

Catala’s mistake, which he said he had already conveyed to his players at half-time (presumably), was trying to replicate a defensive system he thought had been effective to a certain degree in the previous match against Mumbai.

Catala started with five at the back: three centre-backs, and Naocha and Sandeep as wing-backs. “I think I did not explain myself well and the system wasn’t good. Even with five, we didn’t defend well,” Catala said.

The reason he chose to substitute a line of four for five was to negate the effect of long balls over the top that they ‘suffered’ against Mumbai. But with three centre-backs, his side became vulnerable to overlapping runs, with Inter’s wide players attacking the expanse of green vacated by the wing-backs, especially on the left flank.

Two incidents in five minutes
To understand the situation, take two incidents that happened in minutes 30 and 34. In the first instance, Saheef, the left-sided centre back, was booked while trying to prevent a counter. In the second instance, Alfred Moya released Nauris Petkevicius into a pocket of space on the left side of the box and the Lithuanian scored a beautiful goal.

But guess who was tracking back and maybe thought for a fraction of a second to clip the heels of Petkevicius outside the box, but changed his mind? Saheef. Had he not been booked just four minutes earlier and risked getting a red card, Saheef could have made a cynical tackle to bring down Petkevicius outside the box and taken a chance with defending a freekick.

Looking back at the circumstances that left Saheef isolated in the first place, one could see that the problem was with the positioning of the midfielders. At least one of them (Danish Farooq) was frequently out of position -- higher up the pitch, not in the right place to provide cover for the wing-backs.

Change of system
Catala knew he had to change something. He couldn’t reposition his players and move into a more fluid system because he already had an extra defender on the pitch. Solution? Three changes at half-time: The versatile Ebindas replaced Danish, Saheef was substituted out for Bikash Yuman, and the extra centre-back Oumar Ba was sacrificed for Marlon Roos-Trujillo.

The Blasters were in a better shape, a 4-3-3, the original Plan A. “I think they are more comfortable with that system, and that is the way (forward),” Catala said. By then, Inter had moved into a low block, leaving just two – at best, three – players in space for potential counterattacks. Now, the Blasters had another manpower issue of a cluttered midfield, with Yoke, Ebindas and Naocha running into each other and Vibin Mohanan not able to pick out his teammates with his trademark chipped passes.

And time was running out, so Catala made another substitution to bring in striker Muhammad Ajsal for Vibin. Then the Blasters shapeshifted again, into a 4-2-2-2/ 4-4-2. This time it seemed more impactful, with crosses finding targets and more players arriving outside the box for second balls. But barring the acrobatic finish from Bertomeu at the far post to a delightful Ebindas freekick, no other player was able to manufacture a moment of magic.

But in their search for a goal, the Blasters had to abandon their shape, allowing Alfred to score from a counter-attack. Substitute Prashanth K chased a ball to the corner flag before finding an unmarked Petkevicius in the box, who waited for Alfred to arrive and the Spaniard poked it home, past a hapless Arsh Anwer Shaikh.

“You have to keep believing in the process and don’t touch too many things, and this was my big mistake today. I believe all of them (players) want to give their 100%, but it is a matter of how we organise the team.

“... maybe we need to play with more players in attack and arrive with more players in the final third. It is my duty now to learn about the mistakes and try to be better,” Catala said.