Didn’t tweet much about Chennaiyin FC during the transfer season, so as promised, here is a thread on what I feel about the club’s foreign signings and the team for this season.

At first glance, there is a continued pattern to what Chennaiyin FC have been doing for some time now. Focus on Indian players, signings from new countries, unknown players and a solid core that could see them through.

What has changed? Look at their coaches. In the first five years, CFC had just two coaches – Marco Materazzi and John Gregory – both of whom won the ISL. Now, in the last one year, CFC have three– John, Owen Coyle and Csaba Laszlo, all experienced campaigners.

Now, let’s look at foreign signings. Like last season, CFC have introduced four new players to India, all unheard names. If last season there were players from Malta and Lithuania, now we have Slovakia, Tajikistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Guinea-Bissau (2nd in India)..

Since season four, Chennaiyin FC have never had big-name foreign signings. Of course, some of their foreign players have been really good, but before their arrival in India, they didn’t inspire much confidence within the fans.

Chennaiyin FC probably had the lowest budget for foreign players. That forces them to look beyond the known markets like Spain and Australia. The idea is clearly to sign players who are value for money.

There’s pattern to their signings. Except for Jakub Sylvestr, all their foreign players have experience of playing in Asia. And if you are looking for coincidences, Sylvestr comes to India after playing in Israel, just like last season’s Golden Boot winner Valskis.

Having seen what previously unknown foreign players have done here – Valskis, Rafael Crivellaro and even Schembri for example – there’s hope that the new players will do well, if not better.

Eli and Rafael have been retained, so are the new signings better than the ones who are no longer at the club? That only time will tell. But if you look at two former players – Masih and Dragos – the new arrivals are definitely better. I’ll take Fatkhullo and Memo any day.

Looks like Chennaiyin will continue to show faith in Indian midfielders. There are no established foreign midfielders in the team, if you agree that Memo is a versatile player, who can play centre-back.

Unlike the previous seasons, Chennaiyin FC won’t have an Indian forward. There is no Jeje to get the goals. The only Indian forward in the team is a young Rahim Ali, but to expect him among the starters and score goals is asking too much too soon.

What about Indian players? The domestic contingent is almost the same. Jeje didn’t play whole of last season, so his absence cannot be counted. The two full-backs – Dinliana and Tondomba – have left the club, and have been replaced by the experienced Reagan and Lalchhuanmawia.

Goalkeeper Sanjiban Ghosh has also left and has since been replaced by the young Samik Mitra, who played a few games with Indian Arrows last season. That’s hardly of any consequence since he’s essentially a third choice behind Vishal and Karanjit.

If you look at the overall squad, it’s the foreign players who make a difference. Like last season, this time too there are unknown names. Fans may miss the familiarity of Valskis and Schembri, but i’m excited to see how Sipovic, Fatkhullo, Isma n Sylvestr perform.

CFC have solid Indian core. Vishal, Jerry, Chhangte, Thapa, Edwin n Germanpreet are 6 domestic players as good as anyone else. Then they have Reagan, Thoi and Lalchhuanmawia. I’m a fan of Aman Chetri. If the foreign players live up to expectations, CFC fans should be excited.

My best 11?

Vishal
Reagan, Eli, Sipovic, Jerry
Thapa, Germanpreet
Isma, Rafael, Chhangte
Silvestre

Do you agree?

#Indianfootball #ISL #CFC