Stallions remain pace-setters

| OCTOBER 20, 2015, 12:00 AM IST

The Maratha Stallions have used the fluid transitivity of their brand of football garner high praise, especially with the opening win over Mumbai City FC and more recently a 1-0 win over defending champions Atletico de Kolkata

Agencies

Pune

The ISL’s Deccan franchise and the national capital representatives are joint leaders of the ISL garnering nine points from their opening four fixtures. The nature of these wins maybe skewed, with the Roberto Carlos led side winning two of their three triumphs away from home, whilst David Platt’s men have been resolute, bar one game, at the Shree Chhatrapati Balewadi sports complex.

However, the nature of their wins have been fascinating. The Maratha Stallions have used the fluid transitivity of their brand of football garner high praise, especially with the opening win over Mumbai City FC and more recently a 1-0 win over defending champions Atletico de Kolkata. In the Wadhawan group co-owned franchise’s case, the sum of their individuals is certainly equal in proportionate measure to the sum of the entire team, with individuals as Israil Gurung, Tuncay Sanli, Lenny Rodrigues and Didier Zokora having made significant impact.

With Jackichand Singh and Eugeneson Lyngdoh joining the set-up to excellent effect, their British coach can only hope to top the table for the much of this season.

Delhi meanwhile, have been formidable at the back ever since their opening defeat to FC Goa, whilst two 1-0 wins sandwiched between a thundering 2-1 win over the Orange and Purple army have shown Carlos’ team as an unfamiliar dark horse. The majority of their wins have come away from home, with the trio of Robin Singh, Florent Malouda and Giovanni Dos Santos clicking frequently. However it is at the opposite end of the pitch that the Pride have been insurmountable.

John Arne Riise has manned defense exceedingly well from centre-back, whilst Zodinliana Tochhwang has been a revelation in the left-back slot, someone Carlos has high hopes for.

Combining the jigsaw of these teams and you realize that so far, it’s been a perfect piece-to-piece fit for the duo. What will be seen is to how far they can take their act.

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