Prestige Play: East Bengal FC vs Mohun Bagan SG ISL 2024-25 Match Preview

byRitam Chakraborty -

Prestige Play: East Bengal FC vs Mohun Bagan SG ISL 2024-25 Match Preview

Courtesy: ISL

When stakes are high, the greatest prevail; the sentence in itself can paint a thousand pictures, and can narrate as many stories. As the festive season in Bengal is still in full swing, with men, women and children enjoying the days off together, how beautiful is it that we get to witness another Kolkata derby blockbuster.

The Mecca of Indian Football gears up for an enthralling clash between the two giants, the best of the country, as East Bengal and Mohun Bagan face off on Saturday at the Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata, the designated home venue for both of these sides.

The Situation for East Bengal

There will be plenty to discuss about this particular game tactically but lets just review the situation East Bengal are facing. After a torrid start to the campaign they find themselves in the last place of the Indian Super league Standings losing four games on the trot.

To make the matters worse, they have decided to relieve their head coach Carles Cuadrat from his duties while their Reserves team coach Bino George managed the team. They showed glimpses of some good football against Jamshedpur FC, the game I will analyze tactically because as of now, it seems Bino George will need to manage the team in the derby aswell.

They have finalized their new coach Oscar Bruzon who had done wonders at Basundhara Kings but it is unlikely he will be in the charge of the team come Saturday. As we know most of their players and as their foreigners have been analyzed by me previously, it will be prudent to just analyze in brief the player who I think will pose the most danger for us on Saturday

Player Watch: Saul Crespo and Hector Yuste.

Saul Crespo: A player who I firmly believe is underrated, can pose to be a great threat for us in the derby. Even though he had missed a decisive penalty against Jamshedpur, he was a constant source of creation for the red and gold brigade.

A feature of his playstyle is that he can create chances from any areas of the pitch and his through balls are, more often than not, very well measured and if the striker makes the perfect run, he tends to find him in the best positions.

With Molina and Mohunbagan physically outshining Mohammedan last term, I would trust the team to keep him well marked, however it will be a massive problem for our side if he escapes our attention or wins more duels than us. We should try our level best to limit the amount of space given to him

I would also like to mention Hector Yuste, our former player and his importance to the side. With Anwar Ali being the designated ball playing defender, he limited his game and is now purely a no-nonsense defender, which implies that he is mostly focused on clearing the ball away from the danger zone.

But still he should be kept in check as he has a great eye for long balls and can thread a lofted through ball over the defence like he did a couple of times last game. I would suggest that the starting striker, either Jamie or Cummings should trigger a press when the ball will be played to him otherwise, like it happened many times, even with east Bengal once this season it can very well be a case of a former player biting the hand that once fed him.

East Bengal: Tactical Analysis 

Courtesy: ISL on JioCinema
Courtesy: ISL on JioCinema

Before we get into the tactical part, it is worth noting that East Bengal played in a 4-3-3 formation against Jamshedpur as well, but much narrower than usual, so as to defend the crosses and cut-ins from the opposition more effectively.

Whenever the Jamshedpur players occupied the wide areas, East Bengal overloaded their own penalty box with defenders to clear the incoming cross and let’s be honest, it worked. Even if the second goal that day was from a cross, they had enough numbers to defend that and would have done it as well if not for the horrid positioning of Chungnunga.

As in the picture, we can see them leaving the wide areas unmarked and congesting the central areas. The best solution to tackle this is making Greg Stewart play and allowing him the freedom to roam and play-make. Even though the defence can be hard to break, quick one-twos and delicate through balls can be the key.

Courtesy: ISL on JioCinema
Courtesy: ISL on JioCinema

Another example of “biting the hand that once fed you” can be Anwar Ali who I am sure will be received and welcomed warmly and graciously by the Mariners Faithful. And his secret weapon could be his long shots. We need to limit the space given to him and mark him accordingly. His long shot caused a goal against Goa with David on the end of its rebound and he almost scored again against Jamshedpur. He can be a serious headache in this match.

A testament of how tactically astute our opponents can be is shown here, as I honestly believe East Bengal have the talent and the ability to break any deep defences in the league, and we should be wary of that. Jamshedpur were left without much bruises but they had committed some mistakes as shown here, they have left the zone 14 (the space around the D-box completely free).

Courtesy: ISL on JioCinema
Courtesy: ISL on JioCinema

East Bengal players do have the capability of finding these spaces and if Diamantakos was there, I am sure he would have made a run around that D-box to receive the ball with his back to the goal and tried to create a chance.

And I honestly believe they missed a trick by not bringing in another target man as his backup. Nonetheless we have to be really careful to not gift them space in and around the penalty box and overload that particular area with either a ball winning midfielder or a centre-back if we try to defend with a deep back-line in certain stages of the match.  

I could have suggested double-teaming Mahesh Naorem up but I believe his form has dropped massively this season, and apparently he has got a niggle too recently. Still he’s a dangerous player capable of causing harm to us so we need to be very careful of him aswell. We need to keep all the bases covered.

The Situation for Mohun Bagan

A preview cannot be complete without narrating the situation the Mariners are in. After being kicked out by the AFC from the Champions League 2 for committing the heinous crime of ensuring safety of the players, Mohun Bagan are back to playing in one competition per week.

And even though it might be a blessing in disguise as we can focus on only the league now and prioritise it, one question still needs to be answered - What will happen to Nuno Reis? Especially because it is well known that he is bought just for the Cup and not the league.

A simple solution is to deregister one defender and register him but that’s very difficult as well because both Tom Aldred and Alberto Rodriguez have settled in quite well. This situation still needs to be addressed, and the sooner it is done, the better.

A shaky start in the league derailed Mariners’ season a bit but a very well fought victory against another arch-rivals Mohammedan FC brought it back on track. It must be said that the particular game could have ended with even more goals if not for the Mohammedan goalie Padam Chettri and the rash decision making of the Mohun Bagan forwards in the second half, such was the dominance.


Still I believe Jose Molina’s seat is hot. And unless he delivers a few more results like that, it will not cool down like that. And a win against the biggest rivals in the "big match" can be the start of something special.

I would recommend to start with the same lineup as the last match, as it proved to possess a sense of balance and coordination between the players. Maclaren will again have a huge test and I believe he will provide us with more goals as the season progresses. A thing I liked about him is his leadership.

He was guiding the youngsters like Liston and I believe that helped aswell. Apuia and Thapa should complete the pivot while Liston and Manvir should operate on opposite wings. I would also like to see the team continue with the four at the back formation as it is clearly working. Worked against both Ravshan and MDSP. 

As the festive season gets on with a series of festivals lighting the mood of the Bengali people till mid-November, none of the teams will want to dampen the spirits of their supporters. However in football there always should be a winner and a loser. With the first derby of the season scheduled to be held in august cancelled under very controversial circumstances, the teams will want to make this derby memorable. And the fate of the derby entirely depends on them.


Date: 19 October, 2024.
Time: 7.30 pm.
Venue: Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan.
Where to Watch: JioCinema, Sports 18 Network.

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