Ahead of their Hero Indian Super League 2015 opener against NorthEast United FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Tuesday, 2014 ISL finalists Kerala Blasters FC believe they have fixed their concerns in the frontline department this season after acquiring more attacking options. Kerala, who lost the 2014 ISL final to Atlético de Kolkata, scored nine goals in the group stage and the team’s head coach Peter Taylor and assistant coach Trevor Morgan spoke to the media on Monday, and Morgan assured they had addressed the problems they faced up front last season.“One of the things we have addressed is that we have got more options up front [this season]. We scored nine goals last year so that’s something we look to change,” Morgan said.NorthEast United FC finished last in the league stage last season, winning three out of 14 games but Morgan predicted a tough match on Tuesday. “I know NorthEast United FC didn’t have a great season last year but I’ve been watching the club on TV. They have signed good players. I expect NorthEast to be a better side [this season] and this to be a tough match,” Morgan said.Kerala Blasters FC were the only ISL side this season who didn’t train abroad in the build-up to the tournament but head coach Taylor had no issues with that and expressed his satisfaction over their pre-season training in Trivandrum.“I’m pleased we have done that [playing their matches in Trivandrum]. We had a good pitch; we had good preparations in our training against local teams. Probably, we could have done with playing some stronger teams to find out more problems defensively but overall we are very pleased,” Taylor said.Kerala Blasters FC will go into the match without their marquee signing Carlos Marchena on account of a back injury. However, Taylor didn’t think it put them under pressure. “No added pressure [because of Marchena’s injury]. Just means that he is not playing the first match. I will be surprised if marquee players play every game [this season],” Taylor said.Kerala will also miss Sandesh Jhingan and Cavin Lobo’s services for the first two matches as they will be out with the national team to play Turkmenistan in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
