Recharge. Reset. Restart. Needs of the Hour as Clueless Mohun Bagan Held By Tajik Underdogs

bySREYAS MUKHERJEE -

Recharge. Reset. Restart. Needs of the Hour as Clueless Mohun Bagan Held By Tajik Underdogs

Dimi Petratos against Ravshan Kulob
Courtesy: Mohun Bagan SG Media


First Half: Clueless Snooze-fest


Mohun Bagan began their much awaited AFC Champions League 2 campaign in an unsatiating note as the reigning ISL Shield Champions drew 0-0 to the Tajik side FC Ravshan Kulob on Wednesday at home in the Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan, Kolkata. The Mariners were clearly not in their best form as they failed to collect the expected three points from this fixture.

The men in Green and Maroon lined up in a 4-2-2-2 formation with only 3 foreigners in the starting lineup featuring Kaith in goal, Subhashish, Aldred, Dippendu and Ashish Rai in defense, Manvir and Sahal on the sides with a double pivot of Thapa and Tangri in the midfield with Cummings and Petratos in attack. But the main news of excitement for the fans was that our marquee player Maclaren was on the bench for the very first time since joining Mohun Bagan.

The 1st half was very frustrating from Bagan's point of view with the Mariners registering just 1 shot and that too at the 43rd minute courtesy of a weak header by Subhashish. They completely dominated the game in terms of possession but failed to create any meaningful chances. The Ravshan players on the other hand had 5 shots on goal, of which 3 were on target.

Second Half: What Could Have Been


The 2nd half also began in similar fashion with Mohun Bagan controlling possession but barely creating any chances. Manvir got a decent heading chance from a Petratos corner in the 62nd minute but his header hit the side netting.

In hopes of change in fortune, Molina finally made the first changes by bringing in Apuia and Liston in place of Sahal and Thapa. The changes definitely worked as the Bagan attack looked much more threatening by Liston’s introduction, but those came very late. 

Cummings missed the first golden opportunity for the Mariners as the Ravshan defence was caught napping while he was through inside the opponents’ penalty box with only the goalkeeper to beat but his horrible flick landed safely in the hands of the Ravshan goalkeeper Grystenko. Soon after this in the 78th minute,Stewart and Abhishek were brought in replacing Manvir and an injured Deepak Tangri who was clearly not comfortable because of his waist.


The next golden opportunity came in the 87th minute when a sublime through ball from Greg combined by an excellently timed overlapping run of Liston completely bamboozled the Ravshan defence, but Liston completely messed up the finishing as his curler went wide. In the very next minute, Petratos’ goal was ruled offside. Mohun Bagan messed up 4-5 clear cut goal scoring opportunities in the final 15 minutes of the match!

The Mariners were expected to win this match as Ravshan were probably the weakest team in their group. Ravshan has never won a single match in any edition of the ACL 2 (formerly AFC Cup). The other teams of the group Tractor S.C. and Al Wakrah are well known AFC heavyweights.

Though Bagan were good enough in defence with yet another impressive performance from Dippendu, the clinical finishing in the final third still remains a problem in the Continental stages. Besides these, Molina’s tactics have too come under scrutiny.

The Needs of the Hour


Not starting Stewart, or bringing him in at the start the second half, and not bringing in Maclaren inspite of keeping him on the bench has already raised many eyebrows. Ray Sportz reported that that "Go Back Molina" chants were heard from the stands.

The need of the hour for the team will be to introspect its priorities and whether fielding weak teams in Asian Competitions to not compromise a bit on a few ISL games is the way to go forward. Not only that, it needs to be ensured that players are positioned where they play the best, as for example, Thapa and Sahal as a deep lying playmaker and left mid respectively looked out of place and hardly contributed positively to the game.

The Mariners have not won a single match in their last 5 outings and have even bottled big leads. These kinds of stats have clearly made the situation worrisome. Besides these, injuries to important players like Alberto are of no help either. The Green and Maroons will play their next Champions League 2 match away against Tractor S.C. on the 2nd of October and all eyes will be on Molina on how he handles this situation.

Follow MBFT on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Telegram, Whatsapp & Google News to stay updated with all the Mohun Bagan & Indian Football related News & Updates. Jai Hind Jai Bharat! Joy Mohun Bagan!

Tags:

SREYAS MUKHERJEE

HELLO GUYS,I AM SREYAS,A STUDENT,SPORTS LOVER AND A SCIENCE GEEK.I WRITE REGULAR ARTICLES AND BLOGS.HOPE THESE ARE WILL BE HELPFUL FOR YOU AND YOU FIND THESE INFORMATIVE.PLEASE SHARE YOUR OPINIONS IN THE COMMENTS.THANK YOU.

You might like

View all
Previous Post Next Post
Share to other apps
Copy Post Link