Talking Points: Is Chennai City's domestic core the best in the league?

The southerners displayed a compact gameplay despite being without their ace striker Pedro Manzi. 

Chennai City won their fourth game in a row by piping NEROCA FC 2-1 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Coimbatore on Saturday. The league leaders took a two-goal lead through Roberto Eslava and Nestor Gordillo’s efforts and despite pulling one back through Subhash Singh, NEROCA couldn’t steal any points from Chennai. The win takes Akbar Nawas’ men eight points clear at the top of the table, further solidifying their I-League title charge.

Here are our talking points for the game.

5. NEROCA missed Katsumi Yusa’s creativity

Katsumi Yusa could only make the bench against Chennai City coming off an injury he picked up against East Bengal last month. NEROCA FC’s midfield might’ve been extremely energetic, but they lacked the cutting edge in attack. Yusa’s clever through balls, persistence, and creativity in the final third was something the Orange Army missed for the chunk of the game.

Katsumi came into the game when it was already done and dusted and despite trying much, he couldn’t impact the game much as Manuel Fraile would’ve wanted him to.

4. NEROCA’s high-line gameplay cost them

NEROCA FC took a risk in playing a high-line game against Chennai City, who didn’t have Pedro Manzi on the day. Manuel Fraile attempted to neutralize their threat in midfield, which made the defenders come high up to help his midfielders. This however played to Chennai’s advantage, as the clever forward runs from their players terrorized NEROCA.

While Chennai’s players were called back for being offside many times, they also broke through NEROCA’s defense and went clear through on goal on numerous occasions. Nestor’s goal was due to a terrific pass from Edwin Vanspaul breaking NEROCA’s high-line and sending the Spaniard through on goal to score easily.  Fraile needs to stop going with this method, which proved costly against Chennai.

3. Chennai’s domestic core shine through

Chennai City might’ve missed Pedro Manzi for the second game in a row, but the rest of their attackers made up for it. While their Spaniards were brilliant as ever, Chennai’s domestic core put in an excellent effort against NEROCA as well. Alexander Romario was electric on the right, terrorizing Sebastian with his movement and pace.

Charles Anandraj proved to be Chennai’s hidden gem with another assertive performance, with his energetic presence allowing him to win balls and be their perfect anchor. Edwin put in another great performance despite the defensive error which lead to the goal, giving a great assist, while Ajithkumar Kamaraj was solid as ever, giving a stunning goal-line clearance to save his side. Coach Akbar Nawas has done a great job honing his local players and unearthed many gems this season.

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2. The game deserved more goals

Both Chennai City and NEROCA retained an all-attacking approach, leading to a thrilling, end-to-end encounter which could be overshadowed by the scoreline. The game might’ve only had three goals in it, but considering the number of chances both created, it definitely deserved more. NEROCA showed fearlessness in moving forward and missed multiple chances to equalize in the second half.

Even Chennai City had the opportunity to wrap up the game after going 2-0 up, but poor decision making from their players and some nice saves from Mauro Borachio didn’t allow that to happen. There were no signs of a slowed tempo in both the sides’ game and disappointing finishing cost the game a few more deserved goals.

1. Chennai City looks unstoppable at the moment

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The clutch victory against NEROCA was Chennai City’s four win in a row and their fifth win in one/third of their season. Chennai City might’ve been faced nervy moments towards the end, but they got the job done and played some beautiful football to dazzle the fans. Not only are they fantastic going forward, but are compelling enough defensively to earn their victories. It doesn’t seem like there’s any stopping this juggernaut.

Going by how unpredictable their attacks are and fluid their movement is, it’ll be a colossal task for any team to contain their threat.  Their closest title challengers Mohun Bagan await Chennai in their next match, but considering how brilliantly they played the last time they visited Kolkata, it doesn’t seem their undefeated streak will end anytime soon.