Chirag eyes home win

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Before Chirag United Kerala’s first match, the team’s assistant coach Bino George had said that the Kerala team would have an attacking formation instead of its usual defensive type of play in away matches.

“The away match points are crucial and we are often considered a weak team in our away matches. This time we want to change it,” assistant coach Bino George said.

But failure to find a suitable striker with a killer instinct; one who would fill the void left by Brazilian Alex, who was expelled from the team, let the Kerala side down in its previous matches against Pune FC and Mohun Bagan.

“We could have easily won both matches if we had a good, aggressive striker. Our team played well but we lost only because of the lack of a striker.

“Our Australian striker Micheal was wandering around without any good, experienced support,” said Chirag captain Ajayan.

“Simple mistakes made us to concede goals and this put the team under pressure. This, coupled with the lack of a good striker lost us two games, which could have been won easily,” he explained.

Chirag Kerala coach Nizam Packeer Ali agrees that the club is in dire need of a good striker.
“The whole team is playing well but there is nobody to hit the net.

“A powerful striker must be aggressive, hold the ball, be good in the air, approach the correct positions, take risks. We are in need of such a player,” he said.

Meanwhile, club sources said that the management was in talks with a number of foreign strikers.
“The management must find striker. It is the need of the hour or else we will keep losing games,” said Ajayan.

With just three points in three matches, Chirag United Kerala is in tenth position in the league table. Their next three matches are home games.

The first match is against Air India on November 6 at Thiruvananthapuram.

“We hope we will perform well in our home matches. If the new striker arrives for the match, then we will see a new Chirag on the field,” said Ajayan.

Chirag defeated Air India in the last two I-League matches but faced a defeat in the Federation Cup’s group D matches.