Kerala Blasters hope to welcome back their star attacker Noah Sadaoui from injury for Thursday's Indian Super League home match against Hyderabad FC. The match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium at Kaloor in Kochi will kick-off at 7.30 pm.
The Moroccan, who made five goal contributions in his first five matches, missed the last two, against Bengaluru FC (1-3) at home and Mumbai City away (2-4).
Blasters head coach Mikael Stahre is often reluctant to share team news. When asked about his star player's potential involvement midweek, the Swede joked, "I saw him today. He was in a grey T-shirt and green shorts. He looked tired." But when the journalist insisted on a simple answer, Stahre replied, "Most likely, yes."
It is unclear if Noah will make the starting XI, though the Blasters fans would wish he did. They will be without another key player, Kwame Peprah, who was sent off midweek with a second yellow for a wild goal celebration.
On decision-making
After trailing by two goals, the Blasters staged another brilliant comeback in Mumbai. Ghanaian striker Peprah scored from a diving header after setting up Jesus Jimenez's penalty. But by removing his shirt to celebrate a brilliant goal while on a yellow card, Peprah cost his side the game.
Peprah's thoughtless act continued a series of wrong decisions that have cost the Blasters precious points in recent rounds. Defender Pritam Kotal and goalkeeper Som Kumar made costly errors in the defeat against Bengaluru. Goalkeeper Sachin Suresh's poor handling skills saw them drop two points in Odisha (2-2). Against Mumbai, too, the Blasters were slow to start and conceded two silly goals.
Stahre prefers to keep the negatives off the table. Barring Mumbai's first, where Nikolaos Karelis had a tap in from a low Chhangte cross, he thinks the Blasters had yet to concede cheap goals. "The only goal we kind of struggled with the defensive structure was the first goal against Mumbai. We were all over the place and conceded a soft goal," Stahre said.
"The most important thing is you are making more good decisions than bad," Stahre said, stressing the word 'more'.
"We had the momentum until we got that red card (Peprah). So my job now is to take the negatives off, let it be a learning point and continue from where he left off before we got that red card," Stahre said.
Must win!
The Blasters will look to avoid a hat-trick of defeats when they host Hyderabad at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Thursday. Hyderabad have four points from six rounds, including a win and a draw. They are four points behind the Blasters, who have slipped to tenth in the points table.
"I don't want anyone to panic because it is only seven games," Blasters skipper Adrian Luna said in the pre-match press conference. "The team is playing good, but the reality is we can do better," Luna said.
Stahre echoed his captain's views but had a word of caution. "I have to admit that we have to step up and win games."