Chennaiyin will look to undo its defensive wrongs from the previous match

NorthEast may have been one of only two clubs to have never qualified for the semi-finals of the Indian Super League, but that has not stopped it from having the measure of Chennaiyin in its head-tohead clashes spread across three years. 

Indeed, Chennaiyin has played a generous host to the Highlanders even if only by chance and not by choice, as it failed to register even a single win in three attempts. While NorthEast is coming off a goalless draw against new entrant Jamshedpur FC, Chennaiyin suffered a dispiriting loss to FC Goa on Sunday.

Chennaiyin coach John Gregory will not be as preoccupied with settling an old score as he would be to stamping out the defensive lapses that were laid bare by the Goan strike-force. The feisty goal-hungry predators of Goa prowled through the vast swathes of the enemy’s territory that was left unattended to for almost the entirety of the first half. Although Chennaiyin did well to reduce the margin of defeat to just a solitary goal, the two goals in the second half did no more than put a gloss 

on the final score. Unlike a bad workman, Gregory, who would have learnt of the gravity of the rebuilding task he needs to undertake, graciously took the blame on him for the reverse by admitting that he got his tactics all wrong. While not passing the buck for failure is admirable, how long will that act of graciousness be tolerated if the results continue to go against the team is a moot point. 

There were gaping holes, that bore the size of a crater, left in the back when Goa went on the counter and this is a malady that needs immediate addressing. If there was one Chennaiyin player who walked out unscathed from the early season contretemps, it was the Netherlands forward Gregory Nelson, who came close to scoring soon after his introduction in the second-half before being denied by the post. 

The only constant that has remained with NorthEast since the inception of the ISL, apart from exiting in the league stage every season, is its propensity for a managerial merry-go-round and there was no altering that trend this year too. The 41-year-old Joao Carlos Pires de Deus owns a distinctive minutiae and that doesn’t stem from him winning a title of any substance but more so from sharing the same hometown as “The Special One” Jose Mourinho. He would surely love to enjoy a special night on Thursday at the expense of a team that NorthEast has repeatedly asserted its supremacy over.