Hyderabad: Hyderabad FC will play hosts to Odisha FC in the Indian Super League here Monday as both sides seek to climb up the ladder to strengthen their positions in their respective first matches after the international break.
After a tough campaign last year, Hyderabad FC have shown increasingly encouraging signs by securing two victories and a draw in their seven matches thus far.
Their seven points place them at the 11th spot and with the sixth-placed Punjab FC merely five points ahead (12), the home team can begin thinking towards bridging the gap with the higher-ranked opponents.
Odisha FC, positioned ninth in the table, have nine points from eight games.
Head coach Sergio Lobera has been amongst the most competitive tacticians in the competition regardless of the team that he has been at the helm of, and the Spaniard would hence want better results with consistent performances from the Juggernauts.
This away fixture gives them the opportunity to begin maximising points in the matches coming their way.
Hyderabad FC believe in making early inroads into the opposition’s defence, ensuring that they set the tone for the flow of the proceedings.
This has resulted in them netting 43% of their goals in the opening 15 minutes of the matches in ISL 2024-25, with three out of their seven strikes so far coming in this phase of the game.
Will they push Odisha FC back with an early breakthrough here too?
Interestingly though, Hyderabad FC play their best away from home. That explains their concerning home form, since they have not registered a victory in the previous 15 matches in their backyard.
In fact, their last win at the stadium came back in February 2023 against Mohun Bagan Super Giant by a 1-0 margin.
Having worked on their impediments this year, can they brush aside this concern to go on an upward surge?
Odisha FC have recorded eight sequences of 10+ open play passes per game in ISL 2024-25.
This is the highest such average by any team and it clearly suggests that Hyderabad will have to strategise through which they can secure points despite not having possession for a large chunk of the game, since Odisha FC prefer keeping the ball.
Despite having seasoned defenders like Mourtada Fall and Carlos Delgado in their ranks, Odisha have been unable to keep a clean sheet in any of their eight matches in ISL 2024-25 so far.
If Hyderabad FC score Monday, it will mark only the second time that the Juggernauts would concede a goal in each of their first nine games in an ISL season since 2020-21. This is surely a record that Lobera would want to set straight soon.
PTI
