Two-time Indian Super League champions, Chennaiyin FC decided to part ways with John Gregory in November after a string of poor performances, and in turn, gave former Bolton and Burnley manager, Owen Coyle the grueling task of rebuilding the squad of champions.
The priority for the Scotsman at hand would be restoring the credence, the players as well as the fans have lost on their way as Chennai sit at a lowly ninth place in the league table. Coyle says he had offers from his home country and abroad, but the reason of travelling all the way down to the Indian shores is that he felt a real connection.
Chennai have been on a slump since the start of the 2018/19 ISL campaign where they finished at the bottom of the table with just two victories in 18 games. Their performances were so ropy that they scored a mere 16 goals (the least by any team in the season) and conceded a whopping 32 (most by any team).
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Their form continued in the 2019/20 season where it took them as many as four games to finally register a victory in the league; a 2-1 win over Hyderabad FC where all three goals came after the 90-minute mark.
Since the start of the previous season, Chennaiyin FC have won just 3 out of the 24 matches and have lost 16 matches, the most by any team. Their scoring touch has taken a big hit as well, as they have only scored 20 goals (least by any team), while conceding 42 (most by any team). They, in fact, have kept just 1 clean sheet away from home during the tenure.
Greetings 🤝@IndSuperLeague | #AattamReloaded pic.twitter.com/ayl6ltLC7a
— Chennaiyin FC 🏆🏆 (@ChennaiyinFC) December 7, 2019
Coyle comes in with a reputation of taking Burnley to the Premier League from the English Championship, while also guiding them to their first-ever victory over Manchester United at home in 33 years. The Scotsman started off by bringing Sandy Stewart as his assistant to Chennai. The pair has been working alongside each other for more than a decade, having been together at all of Coyle’s jobs since 2007.
Impressive traits to begin with, but the Chennaiyin job offers an entirely new spectacle altogether.
Chennai invested a decent sum in the transfer market, bringing in Lucian Goian, Andre Schembri, Lallianzuala Chhangte and Rafael Crivellaro, but none of them has managed to live up the hype. The team, in fact, has only scored four goals this season (least by any team), and all of them came in their last two games. Which means they failed to find the net in their opening four fixtures of the season.
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The other end of the field, too, is deadly dull, having conceded as many as 10 goals this season while keeping a solitary clean sheet in six outings. Only Mumbai City FC and Hyderabad have conceded more (13). As far as their away form is concerned, it screams for rectification given that the team has lost all their last seven away games while only scoring only a goal during that course.
Chennai are evidently lacking the bite in the final third as they are the only team yet to score in the first half. And even if they somehow manage to get ahead, they struggle to keep the lead intact.
Given the issues at hand, it is safe to say Coyle has a long way to go from here on, with his first assignment being an away trip to the JRD Tata Sports Complex to face Jamshedpur FC - a team which has lost just 1 of their last 13 home matches – on Monday.
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Feature image courtesy: Twitter / @BurnleyNews2019
