Key stats from Manolo Marquez's debut FC Goa season

The Spanish tactician had a good ISL season with the Gaurs.

The 2023-24 Indian Super League (ISL) season saw a new dawn for FC Goa with Manolo Marquez at the helm. Under his guidance, the team underwent a significant transformation, adopting an attractive brand of football that yielded impressive results.

Manolo Marquez, known for his attacking philosophy and focus on possession-based football, quickly implemented his style, leading Goa to a successful campaign. This article will explore some key statistics that characterized his first campaign in charge of Gaurs.

FC Goa’s journey

In all competitions, FC Goa played 33 games and won 19 while scoring 64 goals. Their highest points in a single Indian Super League (ISL) season were also achieved during the 2023-24 ISL league phase where they finished third with 45 points. Additionally, the team also made it to the semi-finals in both the ISL and Durand Cup.

Defensively, FC Goa only conceded 21 goals during the ISL league phase this season which is its lowest since 2016. At the start of the season, their defense remained strong as they did not lose a single game in the first half of the season.

After 12 games without any loss, they lost to Mohun Bagan by a 0-1 margin which ended their winning streak. Subsequently, this loss initiated a challenging period where they dropped four consecutive matches.

Manolo Marquez’s campaign

One of the things that set apart Manolo Marquez’s first campaign was the tremendous contribution from Indian players, who had as many as 10 different Indian goalscorers across all competitions. This range of scoring indicated how deep and flexible his squad was. 

FC Goa’s strong early performance and 59.09% season win rate, the second best in club history, was not enough to solve their inconsistency problem in the second half of the season.

The last four matches resulted in four victories but those were not enough for them to displace the leaders, making them miss out on the League Shield.

Manolo Marquez’s debut season with FC Goa was a mixture of several noteworthy achievements as well as a few areas for improvement. The team’s offensive and defensive records, along with the emergence of multiple Indian goalscorers, highlighted a promising direction.

The inconsistency in the latter part of the season was a setback, but the foundation has been laid for the club’s future success under his guidance. Moving forward, addressing these inconsistencies will be crucial for FC Goa to achieve their ambitions.

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