ATK, Kerala Blasters ready for ISL opener
KOLKATA: Headlining the things the Indian Super League (ISL) looks into while drawing up the fixtures is the kind of attention the opening match will get. To that end even though both finished in the bottom half of the table last term, ATK and Kerala Blasters, who kick-off season five here on Saturday, fit the bill alright.
They have played two of the four finals, in a league still in its infancy Kerala Blasters have been able to build a dedicated following --- at a mean of 31,763, they had the highest home attendance, over 10,000 more than the second team, last season --- and ATK are two-time winners based in a city that holds Asia’s oldest league and has clubs that are over 100 years old. this season. There are some for whom being in the present is the most important thing and in their red-and-white stripes, ATK would perhaps be the most prominent in that corner. In the other are sides for whom planning for the future seem as important as staying relevant this term and Kerala Blasters would feel at home among them.
The Blasters have given coach David James a three-year deal and asked on Friday how involved he was in building the roster, the former England goalkeeper said “heavily”. “We saw hundreds and hundreds of videos but we also looked at the future of Kerala Blasters. For that we saw videos of some young foreign talent, got some players who have come through the system and also some youngsters who may not play this season,” said James.
A little before that ATK coach Steve Coppell, who has shied away from looking at things long-term in India, said he wasn’t involved in the construction of the squad. “I am heavily dependent on him in the short term,” said Coppell referring to his assistant Sanjoy Sen. “His (Sen’s) experience and expertise in that area has been invaluable.”
NEW-LOOK ATK
That Kerala Blasters, according to Transfermarkt, have a squad valued at 1.95m euros while that of ATK is worth 3.3m euros too tells its own story. As does the fact that at 24.8 years, Kerala Blasters has the youngest squad in the competition while the average age of ATK is 27.4 years. ATK have 18 new players in the squad and some of them --- such as skipper Manuel Lanzarote who had 13 goals and six assists in 19 games last term --- are among those paid the highest in the league.
Crucially for ATK, even though all seven foreigners are new, six of them did well in ISL 4. “We focused on those who have made this journey before,” Coppell said last week.
The former Manchester United midfielder who has coached Kerala Blasters and Jamshedpur FC has said he lays great emphasis on continuity, and recruits such as Lanzarote, Gerson Vieria, Everton Santos, John Johnson and Pronay Halder seem to be ATK’S way of doing that even as it rebuilds after the annus horriblis of 2017-18.
“This is a new beginning almost for ATK. We have a squad very different from last year,” said Coppell. ATK have taken a different approach, said James, and it would be interesting to see in the first game who has got it right. SELECTIONS
1: 2-Sylvester, 1-Spontaneous Eddie, 4-Silver Moon.
2: 4-Locarno, 1-Pricelessgirl, 2Charging Tigress.
3: 4-Adams Beginning, 2-Furious N Fast, 1-Cezanne.
4: 3-Questionable, 2-Gentillesse, 8Wonderboy.
5: 1-Excellent Gold, 2-Gazino, 8Gallent Knight.
6: 11-Anatevka, 9-Bronx, 1Domination.
7: 10-Scion, 8-Good Thing, 3Philadelphia.
Day’s best: Anatevka
Double: Locarno—excellent Gold.