In fact, what is most striking about this ISL season is the performance of the Indian players, going toe to toe with the foreigners and outshining them on occasions. Manvir, Liston, Halicharan have all risen to the occasion but what has been most heartwarming has been the performance of youngsters like Ashish Rai, Akash Misra, Mohammad Yasir, Rochharzela, Bipin Singh, Jesuraj, Rahim Ali. Kudos to the coaches for keeping faith in them (particularly HFC coach, Manuel Marquez, who has been a revelation this season, in the way he kept faith in his Indian players). Hope that other talented youngsters like Phrangki Buam, Subha Ghosh, Sheikh Sahil would get more game time and the chance to prove themselves.
With 3+1 next season and max of 6 foreigners (incl 1 Asian), the following players are expected to be retained
ATK MB - David williams (AFC), Roy krishna, Edu Garcia, Carl Mchugh, Tiri, Javi H (If fitness is an issue, might be dropped) - Reject Brad inman
MCFC - Hugo, Ahmed Jahou, Mourtada Fall, Hernan Santana (loan may be made permanent), Goddard (AFC), Adam le Fondre (might go back to Aleague or retained) - Reject Bart Ogbeche (Bit old so may be rejected). They might replace Goddard with an young Asian Striker if required as back up for Adam le Fondre
FCGOA - They may continue with the same set of 6 foreigners
East Bengal - Bright, Maghoma, Steinmann, Pilkington, Neville (Fowler likes him and if he continues for 2nd year, AFC player as well). They need to go for an younger foreign CB or a striker back up for Bright....
Bengaluru - Juannan, Paartalu (AFC), Cleiton & Xisco (doubtful & depends on new coach) - Rest all needs to be released
CFC - Merger will happen and not sure, how new owners will restructure... Good ones are Enes Sipnovic, Eli Sabia, Rafael, Memo are good.. Rest can be released
KBFC - Facundo, Vicente, J Murray (AFC) - Costa (bit too old and could be released or retained if Kibu still trust him), Sergio Cidoncha (If Kibu likes it)
JFC - Stephen Eze, Peter Hartley, Alex lima, Montor Ainroy
NEUFC - Lombard, Sylla, Brown, Camara, Danny Fox, Machado (Mostly they will release all players in line with their philosophy of new players new coach every season)
Odisha - Alexander, Diego Maurico, Jacob Tratt (Rest all needs to be released)
Hyd FC - Except injury prone Fran Sandaza and Joa Victor
EB back to how they started...horrible defending, long balls catching the two CBs unawares, as in the previous match, on a number of occasions. If the CFC attackers were a little more clinical, they would have been trailing by one goal at least now. The forward line looks toothless, not sure if the ploy of playing Pilkington at the expense of Steinmann is the right move. Since his injury, Pilks seems to have gone off the boil a bit.
Debjit is rightly awarded the Hero of the Match...he single-handedly keeps his team in contention match after match.
If 2014-2015 was his breakout year, then this season is surely his 'resurrection" year. More than 40 saves till now (if I am not wrong), the highest in this season
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In fact, what is most striking about this ISL season is the performance of the Indian players, going toe to toe with the foreigners and outshining them on occasions. Manvir, Liston, Halicharan have all risen to the occasion but what has been most heartwarming has been the performance of youngsters like Ashish Rai, Akash Misra, Mohammad Yasir, Rochharzela, Bipin Singh, Jesuraj, Rahim Ali. Kudos to the coaches for keeping faith in them (particularly HFC coach, Manuel Marquez, who has been a revelation this season, in the way he kept faith in his Indian players). Hope that other talented youngsters like Phrangki Buam, Subha Ghosh, Sheikh Sahil would get more game time and the chance to prove themselves.
ATK MB - David williams (AFC), Roy krishna, Edu Garcia, Carl Mchugh, Tiri, Javi H (If fitness is an issue, might be dropped) - Reject Brad inman
MCFC - Hugo, Ahmed Jahou, Mourtada Fall, Hernan Santana (loan may be made permanent), Goddard (AFC), Adam le Fondre (might go back to Aleague or retained) - Reject Bart Ogbeche (Bit old so may be rejected). They might replace Goddard with an young Asian Striker if required as back up for Adam le Fondre
FCGOA - They may continue with the same set of 6 foreigners
East Bengal - Bright, Maghoma, Steinmann, Pilkington, Neville (Fowler likes him and if he continues for 2nd year, AFC player as well). They need to go for an younger foreign CB or a striker back up for Bright....
Bengaluru - Juannan, Paartalu (AFC), Cleiton & Xisco (doubtful & depends on new coach) - Rest all needs to be released
CFC - Merger will happen and not sure, how new owners will restructure... Good ones are Enes Sipnovic, Eli Sabia, Rafael, Memo are good.. Rest can be released
KBFC - Facundo, Vicente, J Murray (AFC) - Costa (bit too old and could be released or retained if Kibu still trust him), Sergio Cidoncha (If Kibu likes it)
JFC - Stephen Eze, Peter Hartley, Alex lima, Montor Ainroy
NEUFC - Lombard, Sylla, Brown, Camara, Danny Fox, Machado (Mostly they will release all players in line with their philosophy of new players new coach every season)
Odisha - Alexander, Diego Maurico, Jacob Tratt (Rest all needs to be released)
Hyd FC - Except injury prone Fran Sandaza and Joa Victor
If 2014-2015 was his breakout year, then this season is surely his 'resurrection" year. More than 40 saves till now (if I am not wrong), the highest in this season