Dudu or Trezeguet? FC Pune City manager Franco Colomba's biggest headache

David Trezeguet and Dudu have started together just once — in FC Pune City’s 0-5 loss to Mumbai City FC. Promptly, and rightly, manager Franco Colomba changed things around for the next match against FC Goa — strengthening his midfield and asking them to pour forward to support the then lacklustre Trezeguet. It worked. In the next three matches, Trezeguet scored twice and his team won six out of a possible nine points at home — fair return for a team which looked very meek in their first two games. On Monday night, Colomba started with Trezeguet and Ivan Bolado up front, leaving Dudu, a crowd favourite in India, on the bench again. With 25 minutes to go, he brought on the powerful Nigerian for Trezeguet — and it was a game-changing move. After knocking on the door for 65 minutes without any result, Colomba decided to take his marquee player off. It was a bold move, but everyone could see that Trezeguet was labouring. The moment Dudu came on, the NorthEast United defence were taken aback with his pressing, his power and his desire to fight for every ball. His first touch was a header between two defenders to John Goossens, who forced a save from TP Rehenesh. Moments later he was involved in the build-up again as Goossens shot straight at Joan Capdevila on the line. [caption id=“attachment_1787231” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Dudu created an instant impact. HISL[/caption] And a few minutes later he found himself with his back to goal, pivoted in a quick motion defying his size and smacked the crossbar with a mighty shot that rebounded for Goossens to head in. Mission accomplished — NorthEast get hit by a sucker punch in the 88th minute and Dudu shows what he can do in the Indian Super League. In their next match, FC Pune take on Atletico de Kolkata. The table-toppers have been ruthless in their approach so far. The match is at Salt Lake stadium — and Dudu, who has 99 goals in Indian football, has played there enough times to know the atmosphere, the conditions and most importantly — the feel of the ground. Trezeguet’s finishing capabilities in comparison to Dudu are light years ahead. He has lifted the World Cup. He is a Juventus legend. But he is eight years older than his team mate and is playing in such harsh conditions in games in such quick succession for the first time in his career. In Pune’s first two losses, it was apparent that Trezeguet wasn’t getting involved in the game as much as he should. To be fair to him though, he didn’t receive any service. This is a player used to playing with the likes of Pavel Nedved and Alessandro del Piero — he’s not your modern day tracking-back-all-round-attacker. He is old school and relies on positioning himself at the right time in the right place rather than getting involved in build-ups. But for Pune to succeed, Trezeguet needed to come back, get in the game, not stay up in isolation. He corrected that in the coming matches — he was there to collect the long ball, shift play to either flank and gloriously finished two chances against Goa and Kerala Blasters. Even in the win against NorthEast, you could see him drop deep — as close to the half-line as possible and scream at his defence for needlessly playing him in when they could have built play from out wide. But there were other moments — when he didn’t go in for a header with the desire expected of him, when his first touch failed him, when he was muscled off a half-chance… these things only glaring because the football world knows Trezeguet’s class. But the tough question had to be asked. Is Pune City a better team on the pitch without Trezeguet? “You cannot say that. These are two very different players — one a poacher who relies on instinct and movement and the other who relies on his pace and power. Trezeguet is a very good offensive playmaker who can play with his back to goal and Dudu is someone who will run at defences. So it’s a case of two very different type of players — not who is better than the other,” Colomba said. Throw in Dutchman John Goossens and the dangerous Israel Gurung and it’s clear Colomba has a selection headache in attack. Dropping his marquee player won’t be easy and there’s no guarantee Dudu would have the same impact from the off. Both strikers add a different set of values to the team — and Colomba has resisted playing them together since their opening loss. If he continues to resist that option, the evidence is out there — speed and agility and stamina have won games in the ISL — and maybe, just maybe, that is why Dudu may get the nod ahead of Trezeguet when it comes to playing in Kolkata.