As we head into the new year, we’re around halfway through the ISL season. As many expected, Mohun Bagan Super Giant lead the way, two points clear of Bengaluru FC. However, there have been surprises otherwise, both pleasant and unpleasant. There is an experienced ISL coach trying to fix a poor start to the season, the most-supported club is experiencing rebellion within the ranks, and the defending cup winners have not quite hit the lofty standards so far.
Here’s how each team has performed so far in the ISL this season:
Grade: A
Biggest strength: No matter the performance, they’re always able to dig out a result, thanks in large part to having the league’s best defence and brilliant attackers.
Biggest weakness: Only 11 of the 23 goals (48%) they have scored this season have come from open play — there’s an over-reliance on set-pieces.
Best player: Greg Stewart and Manvir Singh top the goal involvement charts (6), but captain Subhasish Bose has been involved in four goals himself and leads a superb, miserly backline.
What they must improve: There’s not a whole lot the league leaders can improve — maybe getting more tempo in their attacking play will allow them to improve their xG (15.3, sixth in the league.)
Grade: A
Biggest strength: Depth in attacking personnel that is, quite frankly, ridiculous. How are they choosing between Jorge Pereyra Diaz and Sunil Chhetri as impact substitutes?
Biggest weakness: Weird to even think after their first five games of the season, but their defence. They conceded no goals in their first five games but have conceded 15 in seven games since.
Best player: Sunil Chhetri. 8 goals. Top Indian goalscorer in the league by a countrymile, as he so often has been in the past. This season has been quite remarkable for him, because he was supposed just a member of the supporting cast and not carrying the club in the upper echelons of the league table.
What they must improve: They need to be more solid defensively and cut out individual errors. Both Rahul Bheke and Gurpreet Singh Sandhu have had good games too, but far too often, have made basic errors that have allowed goals. This is an experienced set of defenders, they cannot be making the kind of mistakes that often.
Grade: B-
Biggest strength: The variety of chance creation all over the pitch — Manolo Marquez has fashioned a team that’s spreading the assists all throughout the side.
Biggest weakness: The backline has a tendency to concede at inopportune moments. The Sandesh Jhingan-Odei Onaindia partnership could do better.
Best player: Armando Sadiku has been involved in 43% of Goa’s goals and always seems to find the net.
What they must improve: Inconsistency in the early part of the season (when Manolo was also managing India) — it ought to not return as they now have a settled lineup, but it can still go wrong if there are injuries.
Grade: C
Biggest strength: They are so solid. Only Mohun Bagan have conceded fewer goals than them. Nobody has a lower xGA than them.
Biggest weakness: Where have the goals gone? We’ve become used to seeing a free-flowing attacking Mumbai City FC in the last few years, but that isn’t the case anymore.
Best player: Yoell van Nieff, for being an impressive screen in front of their defence, and a metronome with his passing. Special mention to Nikos Karelis as well — where would Mumbai City be without his six goals so far?
What they must improve: Get their wide players more involved. They need more from Lallianzuala Chhangte and Vikram Partap Singh. Perhaps, the key to that would lie at the feet of van Nieff and Brandon Fernandes finding them in more threatening positions than they are right now.
Grade: C
Biggest strength: Their fearsome attack — the luxury of interchanging between Diego Mauricio, Roy Krishna and Rahim Ali, with Hugo Boumous, Isak Vanlalruatfela and Ahmed Jahouh providing them cannot be overstated enough.
Biggest weakness: Age. Most of this squad is in the wrong side of 30, and when the schedule gets packed, it shows.
Best player: It might sound sacrilegious to say Hugo Boumous or Ahmed Jahouh are not the best players in a Sergio Lobera side, but Diego Mauricio’s ability to single-handedly drag his team to wins with a crucial goal makes him the most important player.
What they must improve: Despite Mourtada Fall’s presence, the defending leaves a lot to be desired at times, and if the opposition has pace, it usually spells trouble.
Grade: B+
Biggest strength: They have the best player in the league – Alaaeddine Ajaraie. Jithin MS has enjoyed dovetailing with him, forming a fearsome attack, that has made for some entertaining football.
Biggest weakness: They go so gung-ho early on that they sometimes don’t have anything left in the tank for the last minutes of games. They’ve dropped points from winning positions against the top two teams in the league this season, just because they got pegged back deep into their half.
Best player: Ajaraie. 12 goals in 12 games. A goal a game with 0.99xG per game. This isn’t a freak show or overperformance that will revert to a mean. Ajaraie has set this norm now.
What they must improve: Play the full 90 minutes more often than they do. Juan Benali needs to find a balance between his side being the great entertainers and being contenders for silverware.
Grade: B
Biggest strength: They are a very plucky side, organised brilliantly by Panagiotis Dilmperis. Punjab are also excellent on the counter-attack, led by the likes of Nihal Sudheesh and Pulga Vidal.
Biggest weakness: There’s an over-reliance on their foreigners up front to do the goal-getting. They just don’t have enough Indian options in attack to rotate.
Best player: A tie between Nikhil Prabhu and Luka Majcen. The Indian has been outstanding in defensive midfield and has shown tremendous footballing intelligence. Majcen’s season was interrupted by Rahul KP bundling into him on the opening day, but he has still contributed handsomely in front of goal.
What they must improve: Consistency. They had that big result in Mumbai and then beat Mohammedan, only to lose two in a row to Jamshedpur and East Bengal. They could be Shield contenders if they sort out this issue of losing momentum that they create.
Grade: B-
Biggest strength: Their home form — 15/18 points have come at the Furnace, which ought to be rechristened the Fortress. The only loss was an entirely random 1-5 defeat against Chennaiyin FC.
Biggest weakness: It’s hard to believe this about a Khalid Jamil side, but they have conceded the most xG in the league. Injuries have played their role, but Jamshedpur can be quite leaky at the back.
Best player: A toss-up between the two Javis’ — Siverio and Hernandez. JFC’s Indian wingers also have a shout, but most of the club’s good moves need one of the two Javis involved.
What they must improve: Strangely, should JFC win their game in hand, they’ll rise to fourth in the table. Shore up that defence, improve the away form and a playoff run looks very likely.
Grade: D
Biggest strength: Incredibly, Chennaiyin FC are second-best in the league for expected goals, despite being ninth in the table. Clearly Owen Coyle is doing something right.
Biggest weakness: And this is where it goes wrong for Coyle — his forwards (and there are many in the squad) aren’t converting enough. It’s admirable how keen Coyle is to platform Indian forwards, but maybe there’s a balance he can figure out.
Best player: Pick between Connor Shields and Irfan Yadwad. Despite not scoring enough, they are constantly involved in CFC’s good spells.
What they must improve: CFC have conceded the most xG in the league (tied with Jamshedpur) and if they shore up their defence, the lack of scoring might not matter as much. Also, wildly inconsistent — it’s hard to predict which team will turn up.
Grade: F
Biggest strength: They have so much individual quality in attack — Jesus Jimenez, Kwame Peprah, Noah Sadaoui and Adrian Luna have all stepped up at different points of the season so far.
Biggest weakness: The strength leads to their weakness. The foreign contingent in the squad is so top-heavy that it has automatically created a fragility. Their goalkeepers have been poor too. Sachin Suresh hasn’t returned well from injury, while young Som Kumar has found his ISL initiation tough, as expected.
Best player: Jesus Jimenez. Second top-scorer in the league. Enough said.
What they must improve: Everything other than scoring goals, which isn’t as big a problem just yet. They might need to find a new coach, if they opt not to continue with interim manager Thomasz Tchorz. That new coach will have to make them defensively sound. How? Well, he’s going to be paid the big bucks to figure out just how.
Grade: F (Pre-AFC Challenge League), A- (Post-AFC Challenge League)
Biggest strength: Oscar Bruzon seems immune to the madness of the maidan. He’s dragged a team that seemed dead set to be last to within five points of the playoff spots at the mid-way mark — with eerie calm.
Biggest weakness: Massively underperforming their accumulated xG (13.4) and only scoring 13. Also, the Jekyll and Hyde nature of their season — awful in the first six games (all losses), very good in the next six (4 wins, 1 draw, 1 controversial loss)
Best player: That PV Vishnu leads East Bengal’s goal involvements chart speaks volumes.
What they must improve: One away win all season doesn’t bode well. However, should they continue their gradual improvement, they could steal a playoff spot — which looked a dream under previous head coach Carles Cuadrat.
Grade: E
Biggest strength: Some real quality players in that squad, like Edmilson Correia and Andrei Alba. However, they have just not had enough time as a squad during pre-season to click this season. Biggest weakness: Just like the Blasters, they are so fragile in defence, they can be got at easily and in a variety of ways. So, it’s not an easy situation to fix.
Best player: Alex Saji has been impressive in the couple of games that they won. But when your centre-back is your best player despite the team conceding 25 goals in 12 games, you know how bad the season has been so far.
What they must improve: Their squad, particularly their Indians, particularly their defenders.
Grade: F
Biggest strength: They… try hard? Also, Andrey Chernyshov deserves credit — since his tactical setup is often correct, but the players can’t execute consistently.
Biggest weakness: They can’t score. Five goals from 12 games is not ISL quality.
Best player: It’s not a high bar, but Franca is the best of a pretty sorry bunch.
What they must improve: The squad.
