Indian Super League 2022-23 Season Review: Jamshedpur FC

The Men of Steel had a season to forget as the pressure got the better of them.

Jamshedpur FC entered the 2022-23 season with massive expectations on its shoulders. The club won the ISL League Winner’s Shield in 2021-22, taking the league by surprise. Post a successful last season, Owen Coyle’s departure was difficult to absorb for the team and Aidy Boothroyd had huge boots to fill as the head coach.

The club never got out of second gear. It was a difficult reality check for the Men of Steel that finished 9th in the league table. Perhaps, the pressure of playing as the reigning champions was too much for the team and several changes to the squad did not help their case. Hopes for a playoffs qualification faded early in the campaign and then the task was to play for pride.

Here is a look at Jamshedpur FC’s 2022-23 Indian Super League season review:

Top Performers

Ritwik Das

Ritwik Das was by far the best-performing Indian for Jamshedpur FC during the 2022-23 season of the Indian Super League. The winger scored six goals for the team and helped the secure crucial wins in the process. He was the top scorer for the Men of Steel during a season where goals were hard to come by for the side. 

Harry Sawyer

Goals - 2

Assists - 5

Chances created - 23

Harry Sawyer’s first season in the Indian Super League may have been disappointing on a collective level but individually, he was impressive. The tall and physically adept attacker made seven goal contributions for Jamshedpur FC, proving to be one of their most consistent players. He is one foreigner that deserves his place in the team going into the next season.

Daniel Chukwu

Goals - 5

Assists - 2

Chances created - 34

Daniel Chukwu was the second-highest scorer for Jamshedpur FC in the ISL 2022-23 with five goals. He also made two assists and created a further 34 chances for his team. While the striker scored fewer goals than in the 2021-22 campaign, where he got nine goals, his overall involvement was crucial for the Men of Steel in the few games they managed to win. 

The underperformer of the season

Jay Emannuel Thomas

The striker did not produce the goals that the fans were expecting from him. His tall frame and strength made him a difficult forward to stop and yet he managed only two goals in 17 matches. He played 1304 minutes of football across the season and simply did not produce enough attacking returns to justify the club’s faith in him. 

Stats

Appearances - 17

Goals - 2

Assists - 0

Goal conversion rate - 7%

Goals per game - 0.12

Shots - 30

Special Mentions

Jamshedpur FC’s start to the 2022-23 season was horrible. They lost eight of their first 10 matches of the campaign. However, character and a will to play for the fans made sure that the club picked up momentum in the latter stage of the competition.

Players like Boris Singh, Pratik Chaudhari, Vishal Yadav, etc, took their performances to the next level. Aidy Boothroyd’s tactics and the overall game plan became clearer as the season progressed. That is a good foundation to build on if the coach manages to retain his position.

Top Performances

Odisha FC 0 - 2 Jamshedpur FC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n0VYJLML2o

Hyderabad FC 2 - 3 Jamshedpur FC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78-NecBnhoQ

Mumbai City FC 1 - 1 Jamshedpur FC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XRzA4LbS0s

Manager’s Report Card

Aidy Boothroyd’s life in the Indian Super League began on a terrible note. Eight losses in his first ten games in the league put immense pressure on the head coach. Many experts and fans were predicting that the Englishman would not be in his position by the end of the season. However, he turned things around, albeit slightly, before the league stage came to its conclusion.

There was more clarity in the head coach’s game plan in the last few games. He had a better idea of domestic players and gave them the freedom to produce results for the side. It will be interesting to see if the JFC hierarchy continues to put its faith in Boothroyd and his vision for the club before the next season.

Lessons to be learned

The biggest lesson for Jamshedpur FC is to keep their core of players intact which brought them success in the past. Losing Peter Hartley was a huge blow. Furthermore, the club needs to rethink its strategy in the context of foreign players.

Greg Stewart was immense for the Men of Steel and so was Jordan Murray during the 2021-22 campaign. Their replacements were not good enough in terms of quality. The higher-ups and management need to act and reinforce the defence, as the club kept only four clean sheets in the 2022-23 campaign.  

Fan View

The mood was sensational at the beginning of the season. Winning the ISL League Winner’s Shield was one of the best moments for fans. Losing Greg Stewart to Mumbai City FC was disappointing but there was hope that the present squad would replicate last year’s performance.

However, it was tough to digest seeing the team lose so many matches at the beginning of the season. The league began in October 2022 and we had to wait until January 2023 for the season’s second win. It was positive to see the players giving more effort for Aidy Boothroyd who was shielding them from criticism. Let us hope that the Super Cup campaign is better than the ISL.