Most goals, most assists, most crosses, most passes and best defence. Here's your plate of ISL statistics so far.
Who's made the most crosses, who's made the most interceptions and who's had the most potshots at the net? Here, we've got your back.
The Indian Super League is gradually heading towards the business end of the tournament and teams are looking to gear up and are throwing everything at their opponents to be better. The season has started with flying colours and goals as well. In the 32 matches played, 82 goals have been scored and this proves that there's bound to be more fireworks with excitement at its peak as action returns after a short Christmas break.
So we, here at Khel Now, had a look at the stats in detail to every position and things turned out something like this.
Ferran Corominas leads the top scorers' chart with 8 goals and 3 assists, helping FC Goa sit comfortably at the 2nd position in the league table as they are only a point behind Chennaiyin FC but the Gaurs do have a game in hand. Corominas is joined by former Real Zaragoza man Manuel Lanzarote with consistent performances. With 5 goals and 3 assists, Lanzarote adds the creative flavour to the Goan side.
Chennaiyin FC are on a stunning form, gaining 16 points from 8 games.
He seamlessly links the midfield with attack and his partnership with his compatriot Coro looks unstoppable at times. Moving on, the scorer's list also has Bengaluru FC's Venezuelan recruit Miku, the 32-year old has been calmly clinical in front of goal. With 6 goals from 7 matches, Miku definitely gives us an indication that there's more to follow!
Some of the Indians who also make the list are Mumbai City man Balwant Singh with his 4 goals and Jeje Lalpekhlua and Sunil Chhetri with 3 goals each.
It is definitely clear that teams like Jamshedpur FC, NorthEast United FC and others are struggling to score goals. Although Jamshedpur FC has scored the least amount of goals, they still are in a decent 6th position at the league table, thanks to the heroic saves from veteran custodian Subrata Paul. Teams like NorthEast have been wasteful in front of goal, to say the least.
Let's change the discussion from prolific goal-scorers to midfield maestros, and another FC Goa player Ahmed Jahouh leads this pack with 469 passes till now with an accuracy of 79.3%. The 29-year-old Moroccan sets up the play and controls the midfield for the likes of Coro and Lanzarote to go forward and score goals. If you think Jahouh is FC Goa's only stalwart in midfield, you've got it all wrong.
Edu Bedia surely deserves all the appreciation for his precision passing. He has 435 passes, only second to his teammate Jahouh, but the 28-year Spanish midfielder has a whopping 86.6% passing accuracy. Other impressive performances in this section are Conor Thomas of ATK and Marcos Tebar of FC Pune City.
Among the Indians, Harmanjot Khabra of Bengaluru FC has done a pretty good job and youngster Vinit Rai of Delhi Dynamos FC has impressed a lot of critics with his interceptions and passing accuracy.
It is evidently visible that Delhi Dynamos FC have a lot of players who are good passers in the heart of their midfield. Young Vint Rai has made some stunning interceptions and with his passing accuracy, he is definitely high on the emerging player's list this season. Midfielder Paulinho Dias and defender Gabriel Chichero have also done a very commendable job in terms of stringing passes. The problem lies higher up the pitch, with their strikers failing to connect their laces to the ball well.
Bengaluru FC lead the list of most passes team with 3512 in the 7 games they have played so far. The Blues have focused on possession play but at times, have not hesitated to hit opponents on the counter. FC Goa are 2nd on this list followed by Delhi and Chennaiyin. Again, FC Goa have shown tremendous fluidity and they will tend to do so in the coming matches, but Delhi Dynamos' presence show that their decision-making in the opposition half has not been top-notch.
Balwant Singh was the top performer of the last week
To add to this, Delhi Dynamos FC also lead the pack with the highest number of crosses. The capital side are stringing passes and interceptions and are also putting in a high number of crosses, hoping that their forwards find the back of the net. Dutch recruit Guyon Fernandez has failed miserably and captain Kalu Uche has only scored 2 goals in 5 matches, a record that does not speak highly of his goalscoring prowess.
To be a perpetually successful team, you need a top-notch goalkeeper and a solid defence. Speaking of defence, one name that comes up always is Lucian Goian. The Romanian Wall has made a staggering 48 tackles with 15 interceptions and 39 clearances. Goian definitely has been a standout performer for Mumbai City FC ever since he landed and is getting better.
2nd on the list of most tackles is Moroccan defender Ahmed Jahouh with 35 tackles and 11 interceptions. Standing and delivering amidst the likes of Coro and Lanzarote, Jahouh is a silent killer for FC Goa. The 29-year old Moroccan makes the crunching tackles, wins back possession with his interceptions and lays the foundation for a new attack with his precision passing abilities and has been heavily underrated by the opposition.
One of the Indians who made the defence list FC Goa's right back Seriton Fernandes. The local boy is often overshadowed by the performances of his teammates but 29 tackles along with 6 interceptions and 22 clearances definitely show that Seriton deserves a lot more credit than he gets. Indian players like Nirmal Chhetri and Abinash Ruidas also feature high in the list courtesy of their solid performances in the backline.
Finally, we come to the most important aspect, goalkeeping. Leading the list with most saves is Mumbai City FC's Amrinder Singh, having made 29 saves in the course of 7 matches. Paul Rachubka, Subrata Paul, and Karanjit Singh follow Amrinder on this list respectively. When it comes to the Golden Glove award, Indian Spiderman Subrata Paul leads the race, with an amazing record of 540 minutes per goal conceded.
The 31-year old has 5 clean sheets to his name with only one goal conceded in the 6 matches he featured for Jamshedpur FC this season. Paul Rachubka of Kerala Blasters FC and Debjit Majumder of ATK have bagged 3 clean sheets each but they have conceded a lot more than Subrata Paul.
We have noticed a lot of facts while taking a look at the statistical journey and one of them is Northeast United FC's lack of quality in the final third. Danilo Cezario is a physically strong forward from Brazil but his finishing has been under question. Northeast United also lack quality in terms of Indian talent in their squad.
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A similar story is out for Delhi Dynamos FC, although they have some talented Indians like Pritam Kotal, Vinit Rai, Sena Ralte and others. The foreign recruits have not roared for the Lions yet. Kerala Blasters, on the other hand, are finding it very hard to win games and manager Rene Meulensteen needs to try something different with the former finalists. Reigning champs ATK are another team which has struggled to find the back of the net, but after the arrival of Ryan Taylor, the side look to be back on track as their main man Robbie Keane finally scoring.
Newbies Jamshedpur FC also need to find their goalscoring boots as early as possible because their goalkeeper is in fine form and scoring goals may help them secure all 3 points from their upcoming fixtures.
[KH_RELATED_NEWS title="Related News"][/KH_RELATED_NEWS]So there's lots of action taking place in the new edition of Indian Super League as we gradually move towards the business end of the tournament. The table looks very congested, especially at the top, with Chennaiyin FC sitting at the top and FC Goa at the 2nd place with only a point's difference with a match in hand. Can the Gaurs take the lead over the Machans?
Bengaluru FC, too, have made a solid start in the modified ISL this season. The Blues sit 3rd on the league table with 12 points from 7 matches as FC Pune City breath heavily down their neck at the 4th spot with 12 points and only behind on goal difference. We hope to see more action from this year's ISL as we return to action after a short break, packed with thrills and we're sure the tournament will definitely take an interesting turn.
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