Set-piece blunder, shot-shy attitude and fear of Dos Santos: Why FC Pune City lost its ISL match to Delhi

FC Pune City probably didn’t deserve to lose against Delhi Dynamos in their Indian Super League clash on Wednesday, but paid the price for one massive defensive blunder, a shot-shy attitude and playing a shape meant to contain their opposition’s best attacker: Gustavo dos Santos. [caption id=“attachment_2469652” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Jackichand Singh Telem of FC Pune City in action against Delhi Dynamos. ISL[/caption] Their manager David Platt said it was ‘ironical’ how he felt more pleased with the way his team played, compared to the performances which earned them two wins out of two against Mumbai City FC and NorthEast United — but also admitted that their failure to pull the trigger had contributed to their first loss. Pune pressed and took the game to Delhi in the second half after going behind in the 24th minute, but despite their excellent wing play and ability to build from the back, failed to breach the deep line set by Roberto Carlos (until injury time, when both teams scored in quick succession - Delhi first, and then Pune). With a team which looked so settled in their first two matches, more was expected. But Delhi played the smarter football on the day and emerged victorious. Here are three reasons that cost Pune a third win in a row: The defensive blunder: How did Pune’s defence manage to leave the biggest man on the pitch unmarked during a corner? It was interesting to see Carlos make his team prepare hard on set-pieces on the eve of the match — asking Malouda to put the ball in one particular area five times in a row until he was satisfied. It paid off for Delhi on the pitch as the Frenchman put the ball on a plate for Robin Singh at the back post – and the debutant was happy to thump it in with relative ease. “Set-pieces played a major part in our loss. We simply can’t give him a free header at back post and we’ll look at this again before the next match,” Platt said, before adding that he was still glad that his team didn’t allow Delhi to create a goal from open play. However, we’ve seen some very tactical football this season in the ISL, where teams have scored, sat back and defended deep. Carlos, once in the lead, was happy to ask his team to grind out the three points. Shot-shy Pune: In terms of the number of attempts, Pune were fine — seven on target and two off. But they simply didn’t shoot when it mattered. Nigerian striker Kalu Uche was particularly at fault here, trying a blind lay-off from ten yards away at one point and then chesting it down for a teammate a few minutes later. Both of these should have been taken on goal. Wesley Verhoek, who started up front and was subbed off at half-time, did the same when he received the ball in the box during the early exchanges. Lenny Rodrigues had two chances to let rip from the edge of the area but he didn’t go for the shots and instead dummied, tried to create space and lost the ball. It was the same with Jackichand Singh too — who shot when it should have been crossed and crossed when he should have shot. “We had enough chances to win the game because we pegged them back in the second half and can’t feel sorry for ourselves. In the first half, we played it too long and straight. We didn’t build or create enough. We had more chances in the second half but were frightened to pull the trigger,” Platt said, not rejecting the notion that his side was shot-shy and that it had cost them. Playing Lenny on the right: Lenny Rodrigues is a tough-tackling box-to-box midfielder who is best at intercepting play and tracking back when oppositions break. That he was on the right was, as Platt admitted, a move to nullify Delhi’s fleet-footed winger Dos Santos. However, this meant keeping out a winger. With Jackichand the only one pumping in the crosses from the left side, Pune’s attacks became slightly mundane. “I played Lenny on the right because that is where Dos Santos plays and I knew Lenny would go up and down and had the legs to do that. Dos Santos didn’t really hurt us much so I got what I wanted. I didn’t play him there so that he could be a winger and beat men and cross the ball and I have to look at opposition while picking teams,” Platt explained. But the Englishman is known to play positive football. Maybe Dos Santos got to him — and he went for safe in this scenario. It worked, and kept Dos Santos at bay (the Brazilian had almost no contribution in the game), but it cost him in attack. Rodrigues looked lost when he got forward, his weak crossing and inability to surge past his marker not helping Pune’s cause to equalise and get back in the match. It was only when Tuncay Sanli came on and Rodrigues moved to the centre that he grew into the game. Some players are simply not cut out for the wings. The writer tweets @TheFalseNo9