Fans of FC Pune City cannot be blamed for feeling a bitter sense of deja vu. For the second season running, their club has fallen short of reaching the semi-finals of the Indian Super League
For starters, the team largely lacked an identity on the pitch. Moreover, in a repeat of last season, Pune lacked a cutting edge in attack, were prone to making schoolboy errors in defence and the team’s marquee player – Romanian forward Adrian Mutu – hardly justified the tag.
If Pune’s season is assessed solely on its end result and the manner in which they got there, it will probably seem like nothing changed at the club since last season. In reality, however, everything did.
Course correction
There was a complete squad overhaul in the off season. No foreign player was retained. Instead, in came forwards Adrian Mutu, Tuncay Sanli and Kalu Uche to address the team’s lack of goals in the previous season (12 goals in 14 matches, the third-lowest in the league). Defensive midfielder Didier Zokora and English defenders Roger Johnson and Nicky Shorey were also bought in to shore up the defence (17 conceded last season, the third most).
After a bidding war at the Indian Super League’s first-ever auction, India’s most exciting homegrown players such as Eugeneson Lyngdoh and Jakichand Singh joined their countrymen Lenny Rodrigues and Israil Gurung.
With top-notch talent and a new British manager in David Platt, a man with proven pedigree, Pune were even considered frontrunners for the trophy.
However, while lessons seemed to have been learnt off the field, there was little correction on it throughout the season. After a solid start to the campaign which saw the Stallions win four of their first six games and sit comfortably atop the ISL standings, their season gradually fell apart.
Quite extraordinarily, Pune failed to win any of their next eight matches and went winless away from home – picking up only two points on the road all season long.
Six rounds into the season, you would have been ridiculed for suggesting that the Stallions might miss out on a semis spot. Sure, five of Pune’s first six games were at home, but the club had racked up 12 points and the manager had rotated his players to keep them fresh. Platt appeared to be playing his cards to near perfection.
Mutu may have been benched, but Tuncay’s dynamism and goal-scoring return had made him an instant fan favourite at the Balewadi Sports Complex, Pune’s home ground. While forward Kalu Uche had scored four times, Gurung and Jakichand flew on the wings to add goals and assists to their names. Zokora and Rodrigues formed a solid midfield duo while Lyngdoh, whenever available, added creativity to it. And left-back Shorey produced a masterclass in how to attack from full-back positions with three assists in a 3-2 win over Kerala Blasters.
Defensive fragility
All seemed well on the surface. But beneath it, Pune’s defensive fragility was apparent. In their opening two victories, Mumbai City missed a host of chances, whereas NorthEast United had been the better side before conceding a late own goal. Against Kerala, Pune went behind twice before rallying to narrowly win a five-goal thriller. Two defeats, one at home to Delhi Dynamos and another away to Chennai, sandwiched a 1-0 triumph over defending champions Atletico de Kolkata.
A truly convincing win eluded FC Pune City. More pertinently, the manner in which Pune were conceding goals was alarming. Four of the six goals Platt’s team conceded in the opening six matches were from straightforward headers. Mumbai’s Frederic Piquionne nodded home in acres of space; Delhi’s Robin Singh was left unmarked from a corner; Kerala’s Mohammed Rafi twice leaped over the defence unchallenged; and Chennai’s Bernard Mendy took advantage when Johnson misjudged the flight of a long throw in the box. Defending 101 was being ignored and it ultimately proved to be decisive.
The away bogey
The downside of playing several home games in the first half of the season was the sequence of unrelenting away fixtures in the latter half. Away games generally require defensive discipline to eke out away draws or victories – not one of Pune’s strengths. Even though the Stallions went into the next set of fixtures as league leaders, a rude awakening awaited.
In Goa, Platt’s team was completely dominated before the manager made attacking second-half substitutions to somehow salvage a 1-1 draw. In Kerala, Platt faced his biggest embarrassment when he set his team up to stop crosses, but left gaps through the middle.
A Kerala Blasters side in crisis – sitting bottom of the league and starting life under new manager Terry Phelan – played Pune off the park. At half-time, the Blasters had an astonishing 20 shots on goal to Pune’s one (32 to 13 by full-time). The final score line read 2-0, but it should have been at least eight. “I got it tactically wrong tonight, the defeat is down to me,” said Platt after one of the most one-sided ISL games.
At the DY Patil Stadium, an unmarked Sampath Kumar Kuttymani missed a sitter for Mumbai, allowing a cautious Pune to escape with a goalless draw. There was no respite in Delhi, though, as familiar failings came to the fore: two goals conceded directly from corners. In Kolkata, Pune were ripped apart 4-1 by the defending champions, but Platt refused to put the blame entirely on his back line. “It’s not just the defence. They scored off their chances while we hit the post thrice,” he said.
Nonetheless, heading into their final away game, FC Pune City players still had destiny in their own hands. A win in Guwahati followed by another over Chennaiyin at home would guarantee a spot in the semi-finals. But by then, Pune had forgotten how to win and had shown no signs of improving. True to form, the Stallions found themselves 3-1 down at half-time – inexplicable defending inevitably to blame – and eventually headed out of the competition.
The club’s management had placed its full faith in Platt. “The football club gave me more or less carte blanche to more or less decide which players to get, [not to mention] tactics and team selection etc.,” the British manager told the ISL Media Team.
Given the resources at his disposal and the strong start to the season, Platt knows that not qualifying for the semis is unacceptable. He failed as both a coach, who could improve his players over the course of the season, and as a manager, who could tactically work around the team’s weaknesses. Even motivating his team after a string of losses appeared to be out of his reach.
But Platt willingly accepted the blame. “I won’t shy away from responsibilities. [A disappointing season] is all my responsibility,” he said. Perhaps he is also being too kind on his players, who were both experienced and talented enough to take responsibility on the pitch.
After such a promising start, the season gone by will best be remembered for FC Pune City’s mid-season collapse of epic proportions.
For starters, the team largely lacked an identity on the pitch. Moreover, in a repeat of last season, Pune lacked a cutting edge in attack, were prone to making schoolboy errors in defence and the team’s marquee player – Romanian forward Adrian Mutu – hardly justified the tag.
If Pune’s season is assessed solely on its end result and the manner in which they got there, it will probably seem like nothing changed at the club since last season. In reality, however, everything did.
Course correction
There was a complete squad overhaul in the off season. No foreign player was retained. Instead, in came forwards Adrian Mutu, Tuncay Sanli and Kalu Uche to address the team’s lack of goals in the previous season (12 goals in 14 matches, the third-lowest in the league). Defensive midfielder Didier Zokora and English defenders Roger Johnson and Nicky Shorey were also bought in to shore up the defence (17 conceded last season, the third most).
After a bidding war at the Indian Super League’s first-ever auction, India’s most exciting homegrown players such as Eugeneson Lyngdoh and Jakichand Singh joined their countrymen Lenny Rodrigues and Israil Gurung.
With top-notch talent and a new British manager in David Platt, a man with proven pedigree, Pune were even considered frontrunners for the trophy.
However, while lessons seemed to have been learnt off the field, there was little correction on it throughout the season. After a solid start to the campaign which saw the Stallions win four of their first six games and sit comfortably atop the ISL standings, their season gradually fell apart.
Quite extraordinarily, Pune failed to win any of their next eight matches and went winless away from home – picking up only two points on the road all season long.
Six rounds into the season, you would have been ridiculed for suggesting that the Stallions might miss out on a semis spot. Sure, five of Pune’s first six games were at home, but the club had racked up 12 points and the manager had rotated his players to keep them fresh. Platt appeared to be playing his cards to near perfection.
Mutu may have been benched, but Tuncay’s dynamism and goal-scoring return had made him an instant fan favourite at the Balewadi Sports Complex, Pune’s home ground. While forward Kalu Uche had scored four times, Gurung and Jakichand flew on the wings to add goals and assists to their names. Zokora and Rodrigues formed a solid midfield duo while Lyngdoh, whenever available, added creativity to it. And left-back Shorey produced a masterclass in how to attack from full-back positions with three assists in a 3-2 win over Kerala Blasters.
Defensive fragility
All seemed well on the surface. But beneath it, Pune’s defensive fragility was apparent. In their opening two victories, Mumbai City missed a host of chances, whereas NorthEast United had been the better side before conceding a late own goal. Against Kerala, Pune went behind twice before rallying to narrowly win a five-goal thriller. Two defeats, one at home to Delhi Dynamos and another away to Chennai, sandwiched a 1-0 triumph over defending champions Atletico de Kolkata.
A truly convincing win eluded FC Pune City. More pertinently, the manner in which Pune were conceding goals was alarming. Four of the six goals Platt’s team conceded in the opening six matches were from straightforward headers. Mumbai’s Frederic Piquionne nodded home in acres of space; Delhi’s Robin Singh was left unmarked from a corner; Kerala’s Mohammed Rafi twice leaped over the defence unchallenged; and Chennai’s Bernard Mendy took advantage when Johnson misjudged the flight of a long throw in the box. Defending 101 was being ignored and it ultimately proved to be decisive.
The away bogey
The downside of playing several home games in the first half of the season was the sequence of unrelenting away fixtures in the latter half. Away games generally require defensive discipline to eke out away draws or victories – not one of Pune’s strengths. Even though the Stallions went into the next set of fixtures as league leaders, a rude awakening awaited.
In Goa, Platt’s team was completely dominated before the manager made attacking second-half substitutions to somehow salvage a 1-1 draw. In Kerala, Platt faced his biggest embarrassment when he set his team up to stop crosses, but left gaps through the middle.
A Kerala Blasters side in crisis – sitting bottom of the league and starting life under new manager Terry Phelan – played Pune off the park. At half-time, the Blasters had an astonishing 20 shots on goal to Pune’s one (32 to 13 by full-time). The final score line read 2-0, but it should have been at least eight. “I got it tactically wrong tonight, the defeat is down to me,” said Platt after one of the most one-sided ISL games.
At the DY Patil Stadium, an unmarked Sampath Kumar Kuttymani missed a sitter for Mumbai, allowing a cautious Pune to escape with a goalless draw. There was no respite in Delhi, though, as familiar failings came to the fore: two goals conceded directly from corners. In Kolkata, Pune were ripped apart 4-1 by the defending champions, but Platt refused to put the blame entirely on his back line. “It’s not just the defence. They scored off their chances while we hit the post thrice,” he said.
Nonetheless, heading into their final away game, FC Pune City players still had destiny in their own hands. A win in Guwahati followed by another over Chennaiyin at home would guarantee a spot in the semi-finals. But by then, Pune had forgotten how to win and had shown no signs of improving. True to form, the Stallions found themselves 3-1 down at half-time – inexplicable defending inevitably to blame – and eventually headed out of the competition.
The club’s management had placed its full faith in Platt. “The football club gave me more or less carte blanche to more or less decide which players to get, [not to mention] tactics and team selection etc.,” the British manager told the ISL Media Team.
Given the resources at his disposal and the strong start to the season, Platt knows that not qualifying for the semis is unacceptable. He failed as both a coach, who could improve his players over the course of the season, and as a manager, who could tactically work around the team’s weaknesses. Even motivating his team after a string of losses appeared to be out of his reach.
But Platt willingly accepted the blame. “I won’t shy away from responsibilities. [A disappointing season] is all my responsibility,” he said. Perhaps he is also being too kind on his players, who were both experienced and talented enough to take responsibility on the pitch.
After such a promising start, the season gone by will best be remembered for FC Pune City’s mid-season collapse of epic proportions.
Buy an annual Scroll Membership to support independent journalism and get special benefits.
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!