Mohun Bagan are well and truly on a roll, where the boys of Juan Ferrando have registered their consecutive 4th victory, when they beat Mumbai City FC in the Durand cup Quarter Finals on Sunday.
It was a special occasion, as Mohun Bagan was looking for their maiden victory against the ISL Champions Mumbai City FC, and Juan Ferrando and his boys didn't disappoint.
Here are our 5 takeaways from the Big Game.
1. Jubilant Juan-Ball
In the last few matches, we have seen multiple shades of Juan Ball, and the big game against Mumbai was not a difference. Juan switched to his FC Goa days, when he deployed a 3 man back line to disturb the flow of Mumbai. Hector Yuste started his second game in a row, where he partnered with Anwar Ali and captain Subhasish Bose. Two attacking wingers in Ashique Kuruniyan and Manvir Singh were deployed as the wing backs, and Anirudh Thapa was given the duty to be the loan CDM. Sahal and Hugo were playing in the advanced #8 role and Cumming-Sadiku formed the Attacking Line. This tactical twerk worked brilliantly, and Des Buckingham had no answer to it.
Courtesy of this changes and 1000% effort from the boys, Mohun Bagan registered their first ever victory against Mumbai.
2. HuGOAT BOOMous
What do you expect from Kevin De Bruyne in a Man City shirt, or Pedri in a Barca shirt? Hugo Boumous is certainly the Pedri/KDB to this Mohun Bagan team. Hugo is finally looking like the man, who will run things for this Mohun Bagan team.
With a potent striker like Cummings upfront, and a partner like Sahal and Thapa to calm things down in the middle of the park, Hugo is finally playing with some freedom and showing his class. Hugo, arguably is the greatest CAM to play in India, and the management invested heavily on him when they tied him with a 5 year contract after snatching him from Mumbai. Though, many suggested, the Magical Hugo is lacking consistency for Bagan, but, this season so far he has been different. Hugo started the season strongly against Punjab, was one of the best performers for Mohun Bagan in the derby, and was running things in the AFC matches. But against his old team Mumbai, Hugo delivered a masterclass. Created few brilliant goal scoring opportunities, where the highlight has to be the cross to Manvir in the 1st half which gave us the lead (again). Hopefully, Hugo's consistency will continue.
3. The Trio in the Defence and a Tank in the Midfield.
For the first time this season, Mohun Bagan deployed a three man defence, but, in the past few games, Mohun Bagan was already building up with a 3 man defence shape, so it was easier to adapt for Anwar-Yuste and Subhasish. But, playing in the three man defence is not so easy as many things, specially against opponents like Mumbai City, who can quickly open space in the Midfield, and turn nothing to something from one single opportunity.
However, Mohun Bagan's deep defence will get 100/100 for the game they delivered against Mumbai.
Anwar has been a revelation since joining, and is currently the Top Scorer for Mohun Bagan along with Jason Cummings(scored 3 each). But, Anwar's highlight this season so far is his calm and composed defending from the back. Many expected Anwar to be a good signing for Bagan, but, so far, Anwar is turning out to be More than Good!
Anwar partnered with Hector for the first time against Abahani, and the Mumbai match was just their second game. But it looked like this pair is playing for ages together. They understand and compensate each other pretty well, and Yuste has been that leader Mohun Bagan was crying for.
Yuste lacks pace, but compensate for it with his great anticipation and tackling prowess. Yuste-Anwar duo will be a treat to watch in the coming games.
But, the most important part of the game was to keep Chhangte Silent, and Mohun Bagan's newly appointed Captain Subhasish Bose was successful in it. Subhasish started his career as a LCB, but moved to a LB position, when he joined Mohun Bagan in 2017. But, he is more than capable of playing the LCB role, and the Mumbai match proved that. Chhangte, currently the best winger in the country was nowhere near to be found in the whole game. Subhasish delivered a masterclass at the back, and led the team Mohun Bagan to the Durand Semis.
The defence was great, and one of the key reason behind that is Anirudh Thapa's performance in the #6 role. Thapa played one outstanding game against Abahani, but, he topped that performance against Mumbai. He kept the Mumbai Midfield silent. The likes of Apuia, Noguera were nowhere to be found, courtesy of Thapa's outstanding workload and brilliant Performance.
4. The unfamiliar Wings
Ashique Kuruniyan is not an unfamiliar Wingback, but, it's not his best position either. Still, Ashique adapted pretty well in that role and proving to be a constant threat while attacking and a solid defender too, who can cover his space. Ashique played a brilliant through ball to Cummings, which resulted in a Penalty and the opening Goal against Mumbai. But Ashique's highlight was his workload throughout the game. In the last point we discussed Captain Bose's role on keeping Chhangte calm, but Ashique also had a big say on this. While attacking Ashique created a much needed threat for the Mumbai defence, Rahul Bheke conceded a yellow, and Chhangte had to trackback to support Bheke to stop Ashique, which resulted in a solid performance from team Mohun Bagan.
Another man, who was brilliant, is Manvir Singh.
To me, Manvir was the MAN OF THE MATCH. Manvir is a Striker, who can play the Right Winger role pretty well. But, who knew he was this good as a Wing back!
Manvir pocketed Bipin & Akash and nullified the attacking threat of Mumbai from the right. Manvir defended pretty well, where he was seen playing at the position of a right back in few occasions, but, simultaneously he was going ahead and creating goal scoring opportunities too. Manvir scored from a Hugo cross to take the lead, and just before the half time, he had a chance to score his second too.
Manvir was brilliant in his role, and, if Juan wants to continue playing this 3 at the back formation, he might have found another Right Wing Back for this team, who can rotate with Ashish Rai and play a part in this long season .
We have watched plenty of great games from the VYBK, but, we didn't witness this cracking atmosphere at VYBK in long long years. The ultras of Mohun Bagan painted the gallery with Green and Maroon colors before the match kicked off and were ELECTRIC. The team needed this energy to win against Mumbai, and they were, LITERALLY charged up even before the game kicked off and the team showed their passion on the field too.
In big games, you need your supporters to become the 12th man for your team, and the Mohun Bagan Fans didn't disappoint as always.
Hopefully, it's the start of something special, and certainly it will grow even more.
It was a special occasion, as Mohun Bagan was looking for their maiden victory against the ISL Champions Mumbai City FC, and Juan Ferrando and his boys didn't disappoint.
Here are our 5 takeaways from the Big Game.
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| Courtesy : Sony Sports |
Courtesy of this changes and 1000% effort from the boys, Mohun Bagan registered their first ever victory against Mumbai.
2. HuGOAT BOOMous
 |
| Courtesy : MBSG Media |
What do you expect from Kevin De Bruyne in a Man City shirt, or Pedri in a Barca shirt? Hugo Boumous is certainly the Pedri/KDB to this Mohun Bagan team. Hugo is finally looking like the man, who will run things for this Mohun Bagan team.
With a potent striker like Cummings upfront, and a partner like Sahal and Thapa to calm things down in the middle of the park, Hugo is finally playing with some freedom and showing his class. Hugo, arguably is the greatest CAM to play in India, and the management invested heavily on him when they tied him with a 5 year contract after snatching him from Mumbai. Though, many suggested, the Magical Hugo is lacking consistency for Bagan, but, this season so far he has been different. Hugo started the season strongly against Punjab, was one of the best performers for Mohun Bagan in the derby, and was running things in the AFC matches. But against his old team Mumbai, Hugo delivered a masterclass. Created few brilliant goal scoring opportunities, where the highlight has to be the cross to Manvir in the 1st half which gave us the lead (again). Hopefully, Hugo's consistency will continue.
3. The Trio in the Defence and a Tank in the Midfield.
 | |
|
For the first time this season, Mohun Bagan deployed a three man defence, but, in the past few games, Mohun Bagan was already building up with a 3 man defence shape, so it was easier to adapt for Anwar-Yuste and Subhasish. But, playing in the three man defence is not so easy as many things, specially against opponents like Mumbai City, who can quickly open space in the Midfield, and turn nothing to something from one single opportunity.
However, Mohun Bagan's deep defence will get 100/100 for the game they delivered against Mumbai.
Anwar has been a revelation since joining, and is currently the Top Scorer for Mohun Bagan along with Jason Cummings(scored 3 each). But, Anwar's highlight this season so far is his calm and composed defending from the back. Many expected Anwar to be a good signing for Bagan, but, so far, Anwar is turning out to be More than Good!
Anwar partnered with Hector for the first time against Abahani, and the Mumbai match was just their second game. But it looked like this pair is playing for ages together. They understand and compensate each other pretty well, and Yuste has been that leader Mohun Bagan was crying for.
Yuste lacks pace, but compensate for it with his great anticipation and tackling prowess. Yuste-Anwar duo will be a treat to watch in the coming games.
But, the most important part of the game was to keep Chhangte Silent, and Mohun Bagan's newly appointed Captain Subhasish Bose was successful in it. Subhasish started his career as a LCB, but moved to a LB position, when he joined Mohun Bagan in 2017. But, he is more than capable of playing the LCB role, and the Mumbai match proved that. Chhangte, currently the best winger in the country was nowhere near to be found in the whole game. Subhasish delivered a masterclass at the back, and led the team Mohun Bagan to the Durand Semis.
The defence was great, and one of the key reason behind that is Anirudh Thapa's performance in the #6 role. Thapa played one outstanding game against Abahani, but, he topped that performance against Mumbai. He kept the Mumbai Midfield silent. The likes of Apuia, Noguera were nowhere to be found, courtesy of Thapa's outstanding workload and brilliant Performance.
4. The unfamiliar Wings
 | |
|
Ashique Kuruniyan is not an unfamiliar Wingback, but, it's not his best position either. Still, Ashique adapted pretty well in that role and proving to be a constant threat while attacking and a solid defender too, who can cover his space. Ashique played a brilliant through ball to Cummings, which resulted in a Penalty and the opening Goal against Mumbai. But Ashique's highlight was his workload throughout the game. In the last point we discussed Captain Bose's role on keeping Chhangte calm, but Ashique also had a big say on this. While attacking Ashique created a much needed threat for the Mumbai defence, Rahul Bheke conceded a yellow, and Chhangte had to trackback to support Bheke to stop Ashique, which resulted in a solid performance from team Mohun Bagan.
Another man, who was brilliant, is Manvir Singh.
To me, Manvir was the MAN OF THE MATCH. Manvir is a Striker, who can play the Right Winger role pretty well. But, who knew he was this good as a Wing back!
Manvir pocketed Bipin & Akash and nullified the attacking threat of Mumbai from the right. Manvir defended pretty well, where he was seen playing at the position of a right back in few occasions, but, simultaneously he was going ahead and creating goal scoring opportunities too. Manvir scored from a Hugo cross to take the lead, and just before the half time, he had a chance to score his second too.
Manvir was brilliant in his role, and, if Juan wants to continue playing this 3 at the back formation, he might have found another Right Wing Back for this team, who can rotate with Ashish Rai and play a part in this long season .
5. The Amazing 12th Men in the gallery.
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| Courtesy : Sony Sports |
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| Courtesy : Ray Sportz |
We have watched plenty of great games from the VYBK, but, we didn't witness this cracking atmosphere at VYBK in long long years. The ultras of Mohun Bagan painted the gallery with Green and Maroon colors before the match kicked off and were ELECTRIC. The team needed this energy to win against Mumbai, and they were, LITERALLY charged up even before the game kicked off and the team showed their passion on the field too.
 |
| Courtesy : Mariners Dé Xtreme |
Hopefully, it's the start of something special, and certainly it will grow even more.
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| Courtesy : Indian Football |
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| Courtesy : Sony Sports |
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| Courtesy : Mariners Arena |
