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INDIA VS OMAN PLAYER RATINGS

India played Oman on 06-09-2019 at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati. Sunil Chhetri put India up in front after 24 minutes through a Brandon Fernandes free-kick from the edge of the box. This is a video of the goal taken by a fan :-    India dominated the first half and went in to the break with a 1-0 lead. Then, after minutes of literally nothing, the Indian defence broke down as Al Alawi scored two goals in the 82nd and 90th minutes, handing Oman the win. Neither team deserved to win but Oman have 3 points now and are on top of the group along with Qatar who smashed 6 past a hapless Afghanistan. India next play Qatar away. PLAYER RATINGS :- 1. GURPREET SINGH SANDHU - 8.0 (GK) Gurpreet was fantastic in goal against Oman. He saved a header from point blank range. His reflexes were top class. He could not do much to not concede. His reflexes were on spot. Gurpreet gets an 8 from our side. 2. RAHUL BHEKE - 6.5 (RB) Rahul Bheke, India
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INDIA'S 23 MAN SQUAD OVERVIEW

The Indian Team Training in Delhi


India's new head coach Igor Stimac has announced the 23 man squad which will be traveling to Buriram, Thailand for the King's Cup. The squad predominantly features more number of young players, some of whom will make their debut. We can safely say that Igor Stimac has gone for the players who had performed well in the 2018-19 season. These are the 23 who certainly deserved it, bar a couple of surprise inclusions and exclusions. This is a young team which would be exciting to watch with the ball at their feet.

Let us look at a complete overview of the selection and then a player by player stat based post will follow.

OVERALL CHARACTERISTICS :- 
  1. The Indian 23 man squad is made up of 3 goalkeepers, 5 defenders, 11 midfielders and 4 forwards.
  2. It has been seen that Mr.Stimac has been very bold in his selections and exclusions- First of all, he had released Rowlin Borges from the camp. Rowlin as a holding midfielder came on the back of a pretty successful 2018-19 season for NorthEast United FC. The inclusion of a misfiring Balwant Singh has raised a few eyebrows too. The latest exclusion was of Jobby Justin, the best Indian striker in the I-League for title challengers East Bengal FC in the 2018-19 season. 
  3. Lack of depth in defence - The Croat coach has selected just 5 proper defenders in his 23 man squad, which includes 2 Center Backs, 1 Right Back and Left Back each and a defender who can play both as a Center Back and as a Right back. It is almost certain that a minimum of 3 defenders will start. He may also start 4 defenders. This leaves no backup in cases of sudden injury. 
  4. Midfield Heavy lineup - Just less than 50% of the selected players are midfielders. Stimac has gone for more creative and less functional midfielders. All the midfielders are great technicians and hence there will be great competition among them for the starting places. 
     

STRONG POINTS :-
  1. Pacy and Skillful wingers -  On the wings, India will have the services of Michael Soosairaj, Udanta Singh and Lallianzuala Chhangte. All of these players have had brilliant individual seasons in the Hero Indian Super League 2018-19. While Udanta Singh's pace is just mind blowing, Soosairaj and Chhangte bring just a bit of less pace but a whole lot more of ball control to the table. All three of them can beat defenders at will and have a deadly cross up their sleeve. Soosairaj and Chhangte also like to cut inside and shoot at goal. 
  2. Brilliant creative midfielders -  The Central midfield and Central Attacking midfield positions have a lot of competition. The creative midfielders in the squad are Bradon Fernandes, Jackichand Singh, Anirudh Thapa and Sahal Abdul Samad. All of these players have an eye for a pass and can play those brilliant through balls. They can also shoot at goal if necessary.
  3. Presence of Sunil Chhetri - As always, Sunil Chhetri's talismanic presence will be India's strong point. Sunil's combination with Udanta might be crucial for the team. Sunil Chhetri will also provide an option for aerial attack as he is very good with his headers. 
WEAK POINTS :- 
  1. No backup for Subhasish Bose at Left Back - The last minute exclusion of Nishu Kumar has left Bose alone at left back with no one to cover for him in case he is injured or he gets sent off. 
  2. No consistent backup for Chhetri - In the absence of Jeje, Stimac might play just Chhetri up front or even if he plays Chhetri and another forward up front, he does not have may options to choose from. Balwant Singh has been misfiring all season. Farukh Choudhury had an average season at best. Manvir is good but his game-time in the 2018-19 season has been less. This is when we wonder whether dropping Jobby Justin was the right decision. 
The Final 23 man squad
 STYLE OF PLAY EXPECTED :-
As we had said before in our - Igor Stimac post that the Croat will prefer a counter-attacking style of football, that seems to be the case when we look at the squad. Our pacy wingers will hold the key in this style of play. Our creative midfielders will be the the ones to spray around passes and look for the other men in blue. Pranoy Halder might either be used as a pivot to hold up the play and start attacks or his role might be to break-up the oppositions play by any means possible. As we do not have many in-form forwards, we can rule out a 4-4-2 formation. The 3-5-2 and 4-3-3 formations are the ones which Stimac will most probably look at.  We might be completely wrong in our prediction of the style of play but at the moment, this seems apt.
CONCLUSION :-
We know ," NO RISK, NO REWARD" but will taking a risk like dropping India's most in-form forward be worth it or will it backfire.Will the lack of depth in defence be a factor leading to the team's downfall? Will Igor Stimac be an upgrade on Stephen Constantine? All such questions prevail before the start of the King's Cup. We will surely get an answer to at least two of the questions in the next two King's Cup matches itself.   
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