Kerala Blasters FC left the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium pitch in Kochi with just one point on Saturday. For the yellow and blue faithful that make the stadium a daunting proposition for every travelling team, that is never really good enough.

Kerala Blasters FC at home should always win. That’s the demand the fans hold especially after their relative success in recent seasons.

However, the point against NorthEast United FC, the league’s joint leading goalscorers, after a goalless draw felt like a win. The Blasters played an hour with ten men after Aibanbha Dohling with Alaaeddine Ajaraie who is gunning to break the record for most goals in a single season by any ISL player lurking around their defence.

In context of the seasons so far for both the teams, a point for the Blasters against NorthEast United FC who have almost always been in the top six spots this season can be considered a good one, but add to that the numerical disadvantage and it was a moral victory.

But it’s the points that count and not the feeling after a match and that’s where Kerala Blasters FC are falling short as things stand. Sitting in eighth place, the Blasters are three points off the playoff spots with seven more games to play.

However, they were worse off just a few weeks ago. Head coach Mikel Stahre was dismissed after securing just 11 points in 12 matches. Since interim head coach TG Purushothman has taken over, things have turned for the better.

The Blasters have won 10 points in five matches under the new boss and if they can keep up the current form, can give themselves a real chance of making the playoffs for the fourth season running, a possibility that seemed bleak a few weeks ago.

So what’s changed?

The clear answer is approach. Kerala Blasters FC have kept three clean sheets since the change in the head coach positions as opposed to just one before that. The underlying numbers also point to a clear improvement defensively.

Under Purushothaman, Kerala Blasters have conceded 0.6 goals per game as opposed to two goals per game under Stahre. The Kochi-based outfit haven't allowed opponents register an expected goals (xG) value of more than one in each of their five games under TG Purushothaman; they did so in only two of their 12 games under Stahre.

Kerala Blasters FC have conceded multiple goals in just one of their five games under Purushothaman (2 vs OFC on 13 Jan 2025); they conceded one goal or less in five of their 12 games under Stahre.

Clean sheets translate to points and that has been the case for the Blasters under the new coaching team.

But the newly-found defensive resolve has come at a cost at the other end. The Blasters have created just one big chance per match under Purushothman as compared to 1.75 big chances per game under Stahre.

But what has helped Blasters make the most of their defensive improvement in recent times is the higher chance conversion rate under the new regime. The big chance conversion rate under Purushothaman stands at 80% while it was 52.4% under Stahre.

Thus the more pragmatic approach under Purushothaman hasn’t just made Kerala Blasters FC more solid but has also made them more clinical.

The challenge now for the Blasters in the remaining seven games will be to maintain consistency at both ends of the pitch. That task will be far from easy with the Kochi-based side facing four teams in the top six in the remaining seven matches. So far, they have faced just two teams from the top six in the five matches under the new head coach and failed to win both.

But if Blasters can bring the spirit they showed against NorthEast United FC on Saturday to the table in every game, they are sure to have the backing of the crowd in every match they play. Under TG Purushothaman, Kerala Blasters FC have slightly swapped flamboyance for pragmatism but that might just earn them the ticket to the playoffs once again this season.

Kerala Blasters FC are still alive and how.