Wednesday night bring us another game in the ISL as play-off-chasing Goa play host to struggling ATK in a tie that affects both ends of the table. Goa need the win to stay in contention for the two remaining playoff positions, whilst ATK won’t want NorthEast catching them and making the reigning champions bottom of the league in the title defence season. Anyway, let’s dive right into the numbers.
The Stats…
The hosts, Goa, come into the game in 6th position, two points behind 4th place Jamshedpur, meaning a win would take them into the top four. They have the best goalscoring record in the league this season, scoring an incredible thirty-four goals. Although, they have one of the worst defensive records in the league, conceding twenty-seven goals this season. They aren’t on the best of form going into the game with them winning one, drawing two and losing two of their previous five. They will be hoping to re-create their performance from their last game, which was a dominant win against Pune.
The visitors, ATK, come into the game sitting in 9th place and they are two points ahead of bottom side NorthEast United. They have the second worst goalscoring record this season, only managing fourteen goals this season. They don’t have the greatest defensive record either as they have conceded twenty-five goals this season. They are in awful form heading into the game, losing four and drawing one in the last five games. They will need to pull a performance out of the bag if they are to halt Goa, who are on a mission.
Previous Encounter…
The last time these two sides faced off was in January 2018 with the game ending in a 1-1 draw. The game was actually entertaining and the scoreline doesn’t tell the whole story. It was the tale of the strikers as Keane and Coro found the net in the first-half.
ATK will be happy with a similar result this time around, however, Goa won’t be and will be pushing all the way to get all three points. Hopefully, the game has a similar tempo this time around.
The Game Itself…
ATK have started to find the net in recent weeks and so they could score a couple against a Goa side that adopts a similar method to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, ‘we don’t care how many you score, we will just outscore you’.
The game should be entertaining as Goa desperately want the win and ATK won’t want to finish bottom of the league, after winning the league last year, that would be extremely embarrassing.
Key Player…
Now, it is tough to pick a couple of players out of that ATK and say they could be a danger because of their recent form and that’s because they have been awful in recent weeks. However, Robbie Keane appeared again and scored twice against Delhi, so if he appears again then he could cause an issue for the Goa defence.
It’s a different story when looking at Goa. They have some fantastic players and some of the best in the league. One name that will strike fear into ATK hearts is Manuel Lanzarote, the guy is a complete number ten. He can pass, he can shoot, he can hold the ball up and he does his defensive duties.
However, there is always one man, when talking about Goa, that will always pip Lanzarote to the award and that is Coro. Now, I have to apologise as I have been calling him by his proper name and not by Coro which sounds much better and is quicker to type so I have been missing out. Anyway, the guy is the league’s top goalscorer and against a team like ATK, he has to add to that tally. If he doesn’t then I will be very surprised.
Finally…
With all this being said, I will simply leave you with this. I cannot see ATK causing an upset in this game. Goa want the game too bad and I can’t see them wanting to slip up against a team like ATK. I don’t think ATK will show enough to even attempt an upset so I am going with a 3-1 scoreline for Goa, with Coro getting at least one and Lanzarote to get one as well.
