Delhi Dynamos would hope it heralds a change of fortunes after an indifferent start to its Indian Super League campaign this season. Trying to inflict the third loss for the home side at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here will be Jamshedpur FC, a side with the confidence following a rampaging 4-1 victory over FC Goa on Thursday.
Dynamos’ Achilles heel so far seems to have been its lacklustre finishing. Despite stringing together 87 crosses, the highest among all clubs, and 2540 passes, the second highest — after Jamshedpur — the side has been able to score only three goals. It makes for a poor goal conversion rate of 4.83 percent.
Moreover, defensive lapses have been costly. Four out eight goals conceded were in the last 10 minutes of contests. The last contest against NorthEast United — a 2-0 defeat — was especially hard to take for the side, as confessed by midfielder Shubham Sarangi after the match; the goals were scored in the 82nd and the 90th minutes.
Despite its string of unfavourable outcomes — consigning it to the eighth spot in the points table — coach Josep Gombau has expressed optimism. He has rued the poor finishing, but credited his wards for their adherence to “progressive football.”
At the press conference on Saturday, he said, “As long as the numbers are there, we’ll fight to make it to the top four. We will have to try different combinations. It’s not so far-fetched, we’re just six points away, which is two games. We need to work hard to make it.”
The club will also be keen on preventing its players from being fatigued in what has been a busy fortnight. The upcoming fixture will be its sixth in 19 days.
It has been hectic for Jamshedpur, too; the club will play its fifth match in 15 days. Unlike Dynamos, though, this period has been fairly successful.
However, Cesar Ferrando, the coach, confessed he will rotate the players. “We make changes because I need all my players motivated. I like all my players motivated and when I count on a player to play, he is ready to play. I need to keep up the level of the team when we play four matches in a row. This is like tossing a coin, sometimes good and sometimes bad,” he said.
On paper, his team holds the advantage. Besides the favourable overall head-to-head record, it has been the better side this season when judged by the parameters of shots on target, the pass completion rate, touches, assists, and most importantly, goals scored.
It has 26 shots on target, while Dynamos has 17. The difference between the conversion rates in further stark — 16.66 (Jamshedpur) and 4.83 (Dynamos).
Jamshedpur also has an in-form striker in Michael Soosairaj, who has three goals in his kitty.
Overall, it will be hard to foresee a change in fortunes on Sunday.
