As the Indian Super League (ISL) season approaches the second half, Jamshedpur FC will be pleased with their momentum ahead of their meeting with Kerala Blasters at the Tilak Maidan, Vasco on Sunday. For Kerala Blasters, it will be a chance to restore their pride. (More Football News)
Jamshedpur are placed fifth on the ISL table with 13 points after nine games and a victory against Kerala could push them to the third spot. They have lost just two matches — the second-lowest tally in the league. No doubt, the 1-0 victory over playoff contenders Bengaluru would have boosted their morale. But one thing that Owen Coyle wants is that his side doesn't get carried away at this stage of the season.
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"When you win, the morale is always high but equally (after) the loss we suffered against Goa...we picked each other up and worked very hard to get a smile on our faces and go again, which we did against Bengaluru," he said. "That's certainly the quality we have at this club. We never get too high when we win or low when we lose. We look for the balance, understanding and (ways) to improve."
Jamshedpur will certainly fancy the three points against a struggling Kerala, who come into this game after a demoralizing defeat to Odisha FC. The results may have not gone Kerala's way but Coyle has been watching his opponents closely.
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"If you look at Kerala's games, they have been very unlucky. The other night, they lost 4-2 (to Odisha) but Kerala could have easily scored 5-6 goals," Coyle stated. "When teams have had disappointments this way, they can be very dangerous, so we have to make sure we're ready for that."
Kerala coach Kibu Vicuna believes his side are still in contention for the playoffs. Vicuna successfully employed an attacking and possession-based brand of football at erstwhile Mohun Bagan, but has found it tough to get results with an injury-marred Kerala. And, the Spaniard refused to attribute Blasters' poor results to his style.
"It is not a question of style," Vicuna said. "The team (I had at Mohun Bagan) is different, the players are different. We started well this season and now we are making changes, we are not playing the same as we did at the beginning. It is not a question of being stubborn with the style, because we are changing things every game, we are approaching every match differently since we are playing different teams. We are focusing on our game as well as the style of our opponents."
Head-to-head: This will be their seventh meeting in ISL with Jamshedpur leading the head-to-head record 2-0. Four matches have ended in draws.
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All you need to know about the Jamshedpur FC Vs Kerala Blasters match:
Match: 54th match of ISL 2020-21 between Jamshedpur FC and Kerala Blasters
Date: January 10 (Sunday), 2021.
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Venue: Tilak Maiden, Vasco, Goa
TV Listing: Star Sports 1/HD, Star Sports 2/HD (English); Star Sports Hindi 1/HD, Star Sports 3, Star Gold 2 (Hindi), Asianet Plus, Asianet Movies (Malayalam); Star Sports Bangla; Star Sports Kannada; Star Sports Tamil; Star Sports Telugu and Star Sports Marathi.
Live Streaming: Online streaming will be available on Disney+ Hotstar VIP and JioTV.
Likely XIs:
Kerala Blasters: Albino Gomes; Nishu Kumar, Sandeep Singh, Abdul Hakku, Jessel Carneiro; Jeakson Thounaojam, Vicente Gomez, Rahul KP; Sahal Abdul Samad, Facundo Pereyra, Jordan Murray.
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Jamshedpur FC: TP Rehenesh; Laldinliana Renthlei, Peter Hartley, Stephen Eze, Ricky Lallawmawma; Mohammed Mobashir, Aitor Monroy; Jackichand Telem, Alex Lima, Aniket Jadhav; Nerijus Valskis.
