Key Stories: Kerala Blasters vs ATK

by Siddharth Yadav November 16, 2017

16th November 2017, Kochi: Earlier today, we had a brief look at Kerala Blasters and ATK’s encounters and stats of the previous seasons. Now, let’s get deep into KBFC and ATK. Below are some of the Key Stories of both the ISL giants.

Key Stories

The Return of ‘Fabulous Five’ under the leadership of Ashley Westwood

The quintet of Robin Singh, Eugeneson Lyngdoh, Darren Caldeira, Shankar Sampingiraj & Keegan Pereira were all picked up by ATK leading up to the ISL. All the five were under the current ATK director of football, Ashley Westwood at Bengaluru FC in a successful run of 3 seasons (2013-16) which included a trophy every year.

Robin Singh who was still a raw talent at 23, managed to score 5 goals in Bengaluru’s debut season I-League 2013/14, his most for a single season at that point. He bettered his tally the next season and went on to score 6 goals in the 2014/15 season, the most that he has ever scored in a single season of I-League and also established himself as a regular in the National setup.

Similarly, Eugeneson Lyngdoh joined the Bengaluru setup in 2014/15, and scored a massive 6 goals in his very first season at the club in the I-League and went on to collect a thumping 5 awards for his performances (Bengaluru FC Fan’s Player of the Year: 2014–15, Bengaluru FC Player’s Player of the Year: 2014–15, I-League Midfielder of the Year: 2014–15, Football Player Association of India (FPAI), Player of the Year: 2014–15, AIFF Player of the Year: 2015). He also made his debut for India during that period and has been with the side ever since.

Keegan Pereira was struggling to find his feet in the I-League having been loaned out to then 2nd division outfit DSK Shivajians by Salgaocar in 2012/13 but went on play on to 20 matches in Bengaluru’s successful I-League campaign in 2013/14.

Darren Caldeira & Shankar Sampingiraj had the same story to tell, who established their careers under the Englishman.

Also read: ISL: Kerala Blasters vs ATK – ‘Stats Attack’

Kerala Blaster’s home form vs ATK’s away form

• Kerala Blasters return at their fortress of ISL 2016 where they won 5 matches at home in the group stage, the most by any team in ISL 2016 at home in the group stage.
• They won 6 consecutive Home matches, including a semi-final against Delhi en route to the final.
• Kerala conceded just 4 goals at home, only Mumbai City conceded fewer goals at home (3).
• They come against ATK who was the best team away from home in ISL 2016.
• They won 4 matches away from home in the group stages in ISL 2016, the most by any team in ISL 2016.
• They lost only 1 match away from home, the least by any team in ISL 2016.
• ATK scored 11 goals away from home, the most by any team in ISL 2016.
• Moreover, ATK was the only team to defeat Kerala Blasters at home in ISL 2016.

C.K Vineeth will hope to emulate his last season’s form

• His 5 goals were the most by an Indian player in ISL 2016.
• Moreover, he scored 4 of his 5 goals at home, only Marcelinho (5) scored more goals at home in ISL 2016.
• He had a goal conversion rate of 29.41%, which was the best by any player in ISL 2016, who had scored more than 2 goals.
• Moreover, 3 of his 5 goals were winners. While Kerala lost none of the 4 matches in which he scored.

Iain Hume returns to the Yellow Army!

• Iain Hume set the inaugural ISL season on fire winning ‘the Hero of the League’ for his terrific performances with the Kerala Blasters.
• He was directly involved in 8 goals (5 Goals + 3 Assists), only Elano & Miroslav Slepicka (9) managed more in season 1.
• But it was in the second season & with the ATK that Hume enjoyed had his best season in the ISL, managing 11 goals and 4 assists to his name going on to win the Fittest Player of the League award.
• He won the ISL with ATK in 2016, scoring 7 goals on the way to winning the title. However, it wasn’t his best season in terms of numbers, with his tally of goal contributions being just 7 (Goals:7, Assists:0), his lowest across all seasons.

Key Stories courtesy: ISL Media