A lot of defenses consist of Indians but there is still usually 1 or 2 foreigners in the back for every team and mostly they are in the middle and are not bad quality wise. There are also a few foreign defensive midfielders who are capable of going back to help out.
We also lack that true free foreign attacker like Steven Mendoza this season. Don't think this means the quality has gone down, I have certainly enjoyed this season more than last and todays Chennaiyin-Kerala match, despite being a 0-0, was still entertaining with both teams having chances, the defenses both being strong, and the Indians putting in good shifts.
The problem is that the teams which have consistancy such as ATK, CFC and FCGoa havent really taken advantage of this and played with a philosophy which bought them success (eg, FC Goa's 3-5-2 counter wide pressing in season 1 &2 , CFC 4-1-3-2 direct narrow pressing....)
Each of the above team had successes when they played a certain way tactically which should have built on this year.
They should have bought good imports which support the way they played well on your successful tactics but rather made some poor decisions in buying or retaining talent.
Chance lost really, 3 of these franchises could have kicked on and had a gap created with the other teams but have not managed to do that.
U dont need to to burst your salary cap to get the right players. This is the problem when u scout for players just 5-6 months in a year for a 3 month tournament!!
Make it longer with proper scouting not rely on agencies with intersts within the establishments.
ATK still has the best set of players this year ( except Belencoso)...DDFC signings are impressive, so are the ones by Mumbai. KBFC just underperformed . Expected more from them. Same with Pune. Chennai signings have been poor. I tried to defend their signings at the start of the season, but none of the foreigners have been a stand out performer like the past few seasons. Goa was a shit hole from the very beginning.
Comments
We also lack that true free foreign attacker like Steven Mendoza this season. Don't think this means the quality has gone down, I have certainly enjoyed this season more than last and todays Chennaiyin-Kerala match, despite being a 0-0, was still entertaining with both teams having chances, the defenses both being strong, and the Indians putting in good shifts.
Each of the above team had successes when they played a certain way tactically which should have built on this year.
They should have bought good imports which support the way they played well on your successful tactics but rather made some poor decisions in buying or retaining talent.
Chance lost really, 3 of these franchises could have kicked on and had a gap created with the other teams but have not managed to do that.
Make it longer with proper scouting not rely on agencies with intersts within the establishments.