Over the course of Hero Indian Super League’s history, there has been lots of ups and downs in the performance of North East United FC,the sole representative football club from entire North Eastern region of India in the top tier of Indian football. There were a lot of questions raised to the management as well as to the commitment of players during the last season of Hero Indian Super League. After analysing the club’s performance in various ISL matches here are the five reasons we have listed which depicts why NEUFC failed to qualify for the knockout stages of Hero ISL 2019-20.
1. Failed to find a consistent striker:
The north-eastern club have struggled to find a reliable striker in the last ISL season. Although at one stage, the signing of Asamoah Gyan was considered to be a blessing in disguise,but he also struggled to finish the season with the highlanders and left midway through the season. The players who joined the club as his replacement viz Andy Keogh & Dipu Mirdha failed to leave their impression in the field. Above all we can say that the management has had a real tough time in finding the missing piece of the jigsaw when it comes to final third of Northeast United FC, last season.
2. Lack of quality among the Indian defenders:
” Attack wins you matches; defence wins you tournaments”. Unfortunately the club has never been able to replicate this golden saying and were defensively poor throughout the last season. The North East United FC lacked quality Indian defenders. An experienced Indian defense unit was non-existant throughout the last season. Although the foreign recruits like Mislav Komorski and Kai Heerings excelled to some extent, the Indian experience for back up as well as in the defensive midfield was missing which costed them a lot in the last season.
3.Investing in wrong players
It was earlier reported that North East United FC management invested a huge amount of money on players like Maximiliano Barreiro. He didn’t feature in any of the matches of the North Eastern side and suddenly left midway through the season. The club management then brought Andy Keogh and Simon Lundevall to the fray, but they too couldn’t rise up to the expectations of fans. The lack of planning in proper investment of capital is another reason why the club failed to qualify for the last four stages of Hero Indian Super League 2019-20.
4. Injuries to important players
Key players like Asamoah Gyan and Federico Gallego have experienced injuries several times throughout the season which caused them to miss many important matches for the club. Injuries and fitness-level of the players is definitely a primary area to be focused on , in the upcoming season of Hero ISL for North East United FC. Injuries are another reason why the club failed to qualify for the knockout stages of the prestigious tournament.
5. Delay in sacking Coach
Robert Jarni have brought a lot of expectations and hopes for North East United FC this season. He was undoubtedly one of the high profile coaches playing his trade in Hero ISL 2019. But Robert Jarni proved out to be a real flop when it comes to winning matches for the club and it was too late when the management finally sacked the Croatian. Khalid Jamil, who was offered the Managerial role of the club couldn’t pick up the much needed momentum.