Two-time winners of the ISL, Chennaiyin Football Club have had success and known for their brave style of football and hosting some of the league’s glamorous players. But in recent times, they just have not had the potency to go all the way.
With new entrants in the league, is Chennaiyin’s squad good enough to qualify for Top 4? We take a brief look at how they stack up.
TRANSFERS
The ‘Supermachans’ bought Jakub Sylvestr and Enes Sipvoic to reinforce their foreign cordon options. They also invested in peak-age Indian players such as Memo, Reagan Singh and Lalchhuanmawia.
Chennai also sold Jeje Lalpekhlua and Nerijus Valskis on free transfers to East Bengal and Jamshedpur FC respectively. They also released veteran centre-back Lucian Goian from their roster.
SQUAD LIST
GOALKEEPERS
- Karanjit Singh
- Samik Mitra
- Revanth BY
- Vishal Kaith
DEFENDERS
- Eli Sabia
- Deepak Tangri
- Balaji Ganesan
- Aqib Nawab
- Enes Sipovic
- Reagan Singh
- Jerry Lalrinzuala
- Lalchhuanmawia
- Remi
MIDFIELDERS
- Anirudh Thapa
- Memo Moura
- Germanpreet Singh
- Thoi Singh
- Lallianzuala Changte
- Pandiyan Sinivasan
- Rafael Crivellaro
- Dhanpal Ganesh
- Abhijit Sarkar
- Edwin Vanspaul
- Fatkhullo Fatkhuloev
FORWARDS
- Jakub Sylvestr
- Rahim Ali
- Esmael Goncalves
- Aman Chetri
STRENGTH
Chennaiyin have always been a fluent attacking team and have had no shortage in terms of scoring goals. They did so with figures of 32 goals in 18 games last season, and even this season look well-stocked in the attacking department which should see them score plenty of goals and assists.
WEAKNESS
But just as their attack has been efficient, historical trends suggest that Chennaiyin do leak goals often and commit silly mistakes in defence. They recently suffered 1-0 and 3-0 defeats against Mumbai and Goa in pre-season friendlies, but have to bring their solid game when the league begins.
KEY PLAYER
Although they have a host of good players, none tank more than attacking midfielder Rafael Crivellaro. The Brazilian No 10 offers much creativity and technical expertise in the final third and had a tally of 7 goals and 6 assists in the ISL last season.
PREDICTED TABLE FINISH
7th Place – Chennaiyin do have a good set of players but in what is set to be a very competitive league, might just be ousted out of Playoffs contention.
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