Football
Anuj Vignesh 7y

Too much tinkering costs defending champions Chennai

How the season panned out

Chennaiyin FC entered 2016 as the defending champions, but they came into the new season with two big handicaps; John Stiven Mendoza and Elano Blumer, their two best players in the past, were both not in the roster.

As a result, Chennaiyin had to rely mainly on Nigerian forward Dudu Omagbemi and Jeje Lalpekhlua for goals, but the duo's finishing in the final third left a lot to be desired, as the team failed to close out games in which they dominated, eventually dropping 14 points from winning positions.

Chennaiyin won two of their opening four matches, but they then went on a five-match winless run, culminating in two deflating, back-to-back defeats against Kerala Blasters and Delhi Dynamos, which cost them greatly.

Chennaiyin were not helped by bizarre formations and tactics from their head coach Marco Materazzi, who continuously shuffled his XI and deployed players outside their natural positions, to the point where no one was completely sure about his role in the team.

There were occasional flashes of brilliance, but Chennaiyin's season was summed up by a leaky defence, a shaky goalkeeper, an ineffective midfield, and misfiring strikers.

The team finished with just 3 wins, and a goal-difference of -5. The table does not lie. Chennaiyin just were not good enough this year.

Best player

In an otherwise unsettled Chennaiyin backline, 18-year-old Jerry Lalrinzuala was a calm and consistent performer at left-back. Armed with bundles of energy and pace to burn, Lalrinzuala was an important weapon for Chennaiyin on the overlap, providing his strikers with several dangerous crosses. A lack of protection from his wingers meant Lalrinzuala often had to tend to the left side all by himself, but he went about his job admirably, as few got the better of him in one-on-one situations.

Most disappointing player

At the very least, you'd expect John Arne Riise to bulge a few nets with his cannon-like free-kicks, but Chennaiyin's marquee player was a no-show throughout the season, making rookie mistakes at the back, while also failing to offer anything in attack.

Materazzi's cutting and chopping did not help - Riise was used at various points of the season as a winger, a left-back, a center-back, and even as a holding midfielder - but more was expected from a player roped in specifically for his experience and composure in crunch moments.

Most memorable match

Chennaiyin's most memorable match of the season is one they would be hoping to forget in a hurry. Chennaiyin hosted NorthEast United FC in the last week of November in desperate need of three points to keep their season alive. Three times Dudu scored to give Chennaiyin the lead, and three times NorthEast struck back to spoil the party. With 90 minutes up and a 3-2 advantage in their grasp, all Chennaiyin had to do, having been on top all game, was see off the last 60 seconds. But they failed to deal with a NorthEast corner, and the visitors stole a point with literally the last kick of the game. The Chennaiyin players all collapsed on the floor. Their entire season was over and summed up in 60 seconds of poor defending.

Marks

4/10. Too much tinkering meant Materazzi was a little too smart for his own good, as Chennaiyin failed to build any kind of momentum.

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