IM Vijayan questions former foreign stars’ poor show in ISL

Kolkata, Nov 19: In the last season of Indian Super League (ISL) he was neglected rudely by not inviting to watch a single match of his home team Kerala Blasters.

This season the organizers of the match might have realized that and sent him tickets to watch the home matches of Kerala Blasters. But IM Vijayan, the legendary Indian international footballer, does not seem content after watching Kerala Blasters’ opening match in the ISL this season against ATK. Rather, he seemed quite angry while speaking over phone from his residence at Kochi.

Vijayan actually raised questions about the performance of former foreign stars who according to the striker has lost all their touch and now only the shadow of their past.

The former international striker said, “I expected something from Dimitar Berbatov, the former Bulgarian striker of Manchester United. But where he was on the pitch against ATK in our opening match? He was being hardly found penetrative.

So my question is that why we would be lured by the names only? Berbatov seems to have lost all his old touch and at the age of 37, it does not become possible to deliver the best. More importantly, we have already seen these stars at their best through television. Then why will we buy tickets to watch them now? The franchise teams, as well as the organizers of ISL, should start thinking.”

Vijayan was also critical of Kerala Blaster’s coach who was one of the back-room staffs of Sir Alex Ferguson in Manchester United.

The Indian 'Black Panther’ explained, “When you have tremendous support from home crowd, you must have been more aggressive in your strategy. I was surprised to have watched Kerala Blaster coach playing with single striker almost throughout the match.”

Comparing to Berbatov’s poor show, Vijayan was pleased with his Indian teammates’ performance in the match.

Vijayan clarified, “Vineeth was more consistent in the midfield. He was unlucky that he was not getting adequate passes.”