What an unexpected season it was! Who would’ve expected a team relegated the previous season, to win the league in their second season! Full credit to the players and of course, the man behind it, their manager Khalid Jamil.
Khalid Jamil was himself not a very accomplished coach by any standards, considering his highest placed finish before this season was 5th. Speaking of coaches, this season saw 2 Indian coaches battle it out for the trophy until the very last minute. There were 3 coaches sacked during the course of the season.
East Bengal sacked Trevor Morgan, Mumbai FC sacked Santosh Kashyap and Chennai City FC sacked Robin Charles Raja early in the season. We’ll have a look at their Win Rates and Points Per Match.
Were the sackings actually justified? The numbers say yes indeed.
Trevor Morgan’s East Bengal were on top of the table after 12 rounds. Then they started to drop points. Trevor Morgan had 2.25 PPM(Points per match) at the end of 12 rounds. But by the time he was sacked, it had come down to 1.69. A team fighting for the title cannot afford to drop points, and East Bengal happened to lose 4 games in a row, ending their hopes of a title.
Much was expected from Albert Roca and Bengaluru FC, considering they had reached the finals of the AFC Cup just last season. However, a strong start to the league fell off eventually and they could manage to finish 4th.
Dave Rogers’ Shivajians played some high-pressing, entertaining and attacking football, but the results didn’t favour them. In the end, only results matter though, and surely Dave will be disappointed with 7th place, especially considering the potential in his squad.
Mumbai’s Santosh Kashyap was perhaps lucky to last that long. His team failed to win any of the games they played since their 2nd game. They were already heading into relegation by the time he got sacked. However, his replacement Oscar Bruzon hasn’t had much happiness either. He has been winless in 4 games, and more importantly have scored only 1 goal in those 4 games.
Derrick Periera has changed the fortunes of Churchill Brothers after their miserable start to the season. Thangboi Singto regulary fielded upto 8 U22 players and still managed to finish 5th in the league. All eyes will be on Khalid at the moment, but what Thangboi has managed is no easy feat either.
When all the foreign coaches aren’t really producing results, is it time to give more chances to Indian coaches?
Featured Image Credit :Khelnow
