After just starting a new series, Jake has ordered me to start another, along with himself. We have been talking for a fair amount of time about season reviews for each team and how we would structure them. We have decided on doing a month by month system and we are starting with the two teams that have failed to qualify for the Super Cup, Delhi Dynamos, and NorthEast United. I will be looking at Delhi and their season, I was not letting Jake talk about the footballing God that is Kalu Uche, he wouldn’t even come close at doing him justice, however, he did flop in the first few months.
Obviously, the ISL season started in November so that is where I am going to start this series off from. After a summer of transfers and drafting the perfect squad, Delhi ended up with a decent squad, they probably could have done a little better but fans were looking forward to watching their new team play. They managed to bring in Indian talents such as Chhangte, Chowdhary, and Ralte. They also had foreign talents like main striker Uche, Matias Mirabaje, and Paulinho Dias.
Game 1: Pune City (A) 2-3
Delhi were on the road for their first game of the ISL season, they were up against Pune City who were a fancied side for making the post-season playoffs. Dynamo fans were hoping for a good start to the new season and that’s exactly what they got.
Pune got the game starting and the first half of football was a typical half of the first game of the season. It was boring with both teams trying to find their feet and connect with all new teammates. Delhi were enjoying the majority of possession in the first half and were creating half chances but not that was really troubling the home side. Pune had a couple of shots but they looked very lacklustre.
At this point, you must be thinking, well the game must kick up I action because of the final scoreline being 2-3. Well, the second half was complete madness and something that was still mentioned to this day, nearly six months since it occurred. Brazilian midfielder Dias found the net on forty-six minutes. Another player I happened to mention earlier, Mr. Chhangte, got in on the action and netted Delhi’s second of the game on fifty-four minutes.
Delhi weren’t done there though and they finished their mad twenty minutes with a third goal coming from Matias Mirabaje on sixty-five minutes. It didn’t take Pune long though to try and get back in the game as Alfaro scored their first goal on sixty-seven minutes. Pune kept going at Delhi but they were brilliant at the back until the ninety-fifth minute when Tebar scored Pune’s second. However, they left it too late and Delhi went back home with the three points.
Game 2: Bengaluru (A) 4-1
Coming off the back of the 3-2 win over Pune, Delhi was on the road again with them visiting Bengaluru this time around. Bengaluru had built themselves a brilliant squad and they were favourites to win the title, especially with them securing Sunil Chhetri’s signature. Bengaluru also managed to pick up three points after beating Mumbai 2-0, with Chhetri and Edu Garcia getting the goals in the second half.
Delhi were unchanged from the side that beat Pune and fans were hoping for them to pull off similar result this time around. However, they didn’t get what they wanted this time, they got the complete opposite.
Delhi dominated the possession through the first half but they failed to create anything with it. It was the complete opposite story for Bengaluru who scored on twenty-four minutes through Erik Paartalu. Just before the halftime whistle, Paartalu decided to score his second and his team’s second on forty-five minutes.
Delhi didn’t look the same team that beat Pune last time out and fans were hoping that something would change in the second half. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen and Bengaluru went on a rampage. Rodrigues tripled Bengaluru’s lead on fifty-seven minutes and this goal killed the game. Bengaluru weren’t looking to score another and Delhi were struggling to break down Bengaluru’s defence.
Delhi managed to get a goal back and the Nigerian Pele, Kalu Uche opened his ISL season account with a penalty on eighty-six minutes. Unfortunately, a miracle comeback was cut short as Miku went up the other end and hammered home Bengaluru’s forth to make the scoreline 4-1. With that, the final whistle went and Delhi had a long, depressing journey home.
P:2 | W:1 | D:0 | L:1 | GS: 4 | GC: 6| PTS: 3
November was a month of opposites for Delhi. Having come off a brilliant opening performance against Pune, they completely folded against Bengaluru and were quickly brought back down to Earth. One positive to take was they weren’t struggling to find the back of the net, unfortunately, their defensive record didn’t help with that.
Onto December in the next one as they had their first home game of the season against NorthEast, whilst they had another three games across the wintery month. How did they get on, I hear you ask? Well, tune in next week and find out.
