3 Ways Chennaiyin FC could Lineup with Nasser El-Khayati

22 Nov 2022 | Written By Shyam Sundar

Chennaiyin FC have a new magician in town in the form of Nasser El-Khayati. The Dutch attacking midfielder has 2 goals and an assist to his name in just 96 minutes of football this season. He came off the Bench against Jamshedpur FC to provide an assist with his first touch on the pich. Minutes later, he scored an absolute beauty to secure all 3 points for Chennaiyin FC.

Chennaiyin FC Head Coach Thomas Brdaric now has a serious headache in picking the 4 foreigners for the upcoming games. He canot keep El-Khayati on the bench for a long time given his current form. Indeed, Nasser has earned himself a right to be in the starting 11 with his impressive perfomances off the bench.

So we take a look at three ways in which Thomas could fit in Nasser in the starting 11.

Option-1:

The most easiest and straight-forward option is to start Nasser in place of one of the foreign CB's. Starting either of Vafa or Fallou, will give Thomas an option to place Nasser in the midfield alongside Julius Duker and Anirudh Thapa. Sajid Dhot, Gurmukh Singh or Narayan Das can be the Indian Centre-Back options to start alongise Vafa/Fallou.

Option-2:

The second choice is also to start with one foreign centre back and one Indian centre back. But in this formation, Nasser will be deployed on the left wing where he used to play during his days in English Football with Burton Albion. This gives more freedom to Duker to start in an attacking-midfield role with Thapa and Jiteshwor Singh behind him. The goal he scored against Jamshedpur FC also came from the left hand side.

Option-3:

One more possibility is for Nasser to replace Duker in the starting 11 with both Vafa and Fallou Diagne starting. Nasser will start as an attacking midfielder with Anirudh Thapa and Jiteshwor Singh sitting behind him. But this is less likely as Duker is integral to the way Chennaiyin FC play. But if Chennaiyin FC are chasing games, this might be an option.