ISL resurgence: How Veldhoven turned around Delhi Dynamos' fortunes

Delhi Dynamos manager Harm van Veldhoven summed up his side’s turnaround after their 1-0 win over FC Pune City on Saturday: “After the first few weeks nobody believed in us, and now we have things in our own hands to qualify for the semifinals.”

But one would be forgiven to write the Dynamos off — they had won just one game out of their first nine — a ridiculous record which had them at the bottom of the Indian Super League table. However, an unbeaten four-match run, which consists of three wins has seen them soar into the top four with a positive goal difference and a one-point cushion before the last round of league games.

They still have to win their last match to ensure qualification (a draw coupled with a win for either Kerala Blasters or Pune will knock them out), but Veldhoven has clearly proved that Delhi are no pushovers.

TACTICS

Veldhoven usually dodges questions on tactics expertly. He’s a smart manager who gives away very little — but surprisingly, he spoke about how he tweaked a few things to make his team tick.

“We were playing on the ground with too many combinations but I asked my team to play quickly from the wide areas and used Alessandro del Piero sparingly in a slightly withdrawn role from where he can play in the attackers.”

Veldhoven’s team is unbeaten whenever they shape in a 4-3-3. For no reason, he ditched that formation for a narrower 4-4-1-1 — probably experimenting in a bid to score goals and turn his draws into wins. It didn’t work and he clearly went back to the drawing board and has started in a 4-3-3 in this unbeaten four-match run.

Delhi now look more adventurous getting forward. The team has gelled and learnt from their mistakes — and a three-pronged attack with Hans Mulder sitting deep to help the defence has resulted in seven goals in the last four matches. Contrast this to eight goals in their first nine matches and it’s a huge improvement.

As he mentioned, Delhi started playing with added risk in front — there is more wing-swapping now, more collective attacking and greater creative freedom to every player. The initial rust and rigidity has worn off and after the opening round of rotations, the Belgian has a confident core group that he can use.

GUSTAVO & MULDER

It was clear from the first time Gustavo dos Santos came on that this kid has a lot of talent and potential. There was thinly veiled criticism from Vendhoven for his tricky and pacey winger after the first few games. He said: “Gustavo can beat men and go forward, but that’s not the only way to play. He needs to learn some composure but he is young and will pick it up.”

To his credit, Veldhoven kept giving his direct forward a more important role in the team — and five goals and two assists later, the Brazilian has taken over from Del Piero as the main man.

“He has great skill and speed and he has age on his side. He still has to learn but it’s clear that he’s very, very talented,” Del Piero said of Gustavo after the game. “I talk to him sometimes – give him some advice but his English is not so good so I don’t know whether he understands!”

The other rising star has been Hans Mulder — the defensive midfielder, for whom the ISL has been nothing short of a rebirth , is now captain and leads from the front. His tackling, energy and quick short passing is brilliant to watch. He has taken 15 shots (behind attackers Del Piero, Junker and Dos Santos) and has made 19 tackles (only behind Adil Khan at 22) and is easily Delhi’s engine room.

With Mulder protecting the defence and roving forward in pockets of space, Delhi’s central midfield problem is sorted.

BELIEF

Before asking Veldhoven about his tweaks, we asked Del Piero what the manager had turned around.

“It was about doing what we do - day in day out. Never losing hope, keeping a strong character and knowing that a good run is round the corner,” Del Piero said.

Adil Khan explained a little in detail: “I think he believed in us from the first day. He believes in all of us and he lets us know that. We’ve not been fighting, we have fun at training and we’re having a good time. I think we’re a close-knit bunch and this is a result of that.”

Vendhoven doesn’t want to get carried away. He’s direct, tells the media that Delhi rode their luck and took their chance and now have to win the next game. But he must certainly be pleased that his team have hit form at the right time. There are holes to be plugged — Pune incessantly attacked them — and Delhi are still not championship material. But their change in fortunes has been remarkable nonetheless.