The Purple Jersey's Challenge to Bagan's Purple Patch | Odisha FC vs Mohun Bagan Match Preview | ISL 2024-25

byRitam Chakraborty -

The Purple Jersey's Challenge to Bagan's Purple Patch | Odisha FC vs Mohun Bagan Match Preview | ISL 2024-25

afc mb ofc
Mohun Bagan's AFC Encounter against Odisha in 23/24 season where Bagan won 4-0 (Courtesy: Biswaranjan Rout (originally appears in the Sportstar)

With the Indian Super League season very much off and running, the games are becoming more and more important. The teams and the players, fully focused on their goals for the season, have mostly settled down well having a good and clear tactical understanding of the team. 

Our Mohunbagan aswell, is no different. Despite a difficult start to the season, losing out to Northeast united in Durand Cup Final and winning just one out of the first three games, it seemed pretty much like one of those seasons where nothing would work well. Instead here we are, second on the table, 4 points behind league leaders Bengaluru and with 2 games in hand. But Odisha FC, who had been one of our kryptonites in recent years, stands in the way.

This game in itself is an enigma, we don’t really know what happens when these two meet, especially after Sergio Lobera took over the Kalinga Warriors. However we can control our destiny, and can try our level best to change or avoid any unfavourable circumstances that may block our path to glory. 

The same logic can be applied to a team not opting to play in a certain region because; they simply felt unsafe. And even when the concern is acknowledged and found to be true, no efforts were made to overturn the main decision. It is already difficult playing against teams having superior personnel, but when it adds up with even the board not favouring your team, winning and competing in the Asian level becomes impossible.

However the lack of international engagement gives the Mariners a chance to fully focus on the domestic clashes and stay fully fit before every game. The Diwali break had players vacationing to various holiday destinations within and beyond the country, which must have made their minds fully rested.

The team looks sharp, and the players are having a good tactical understanding of the play-style and the formation so the spirits around the camp is understandably high. However complacency is the root of downfall, and we should approach the game like we do for other games, with heads up and full concentration.

Odisha Players to Watch Out For

Mourtada Fall

A defender that often scores, Fall can be a thorn in our path to a famous away victory on Sunday. Standing at 191 centimetres, he is invaluably useful at set pieces while being a target man’s nightmare facing his back to the goal. 

He is a valuable progresser while being a good no-nonsense defender and also being apt in clearing out balls to safety. He needs to be looked at with keen eyes by the team on the wake of the match. His passing isn’t that polished however so that could be a point of focus for the management to exploit.


Rahim Ali

A striker capable of producing quality moments, Rahim Ali can be a thorn to our side in the upcoming match. The striker is not a target man, but is very mobile and moves freely which can make him difficult to contain, especially because our defence did struggle against these type of players like Pereyra Diaz and Guillermo. 

The advantage of a player like him is that the attack flows much better and the passes are executed with much better precision. I would suggest that he should be marked specifically, but with keen eyes on two more attacking threats and former Mariners Roy Krishna and Hugo Boumous.

Tactical Analysis - Odisha FC

ofc vs neufc
Courtesy: ISL on JioCinema

As their identity is positional play, it will be prudent to just analyse them with their build up shape and defensive shape. In build up, they follow certain principles of relationalism. Relationism in football is a playing style that encourages creativity, connection, and intuition over structured tactical formations. 

It's also known as Functional Attack or Functional Play. It relies on unpredictable sequence of passing made possible by players churning out space between the lines by swift movements and blindside runs. Their formation while on the ball is an expansive 3-4-2-1 with the right back Ranawade becoming a makeshift third centre back. 

In this picture however, Fall moved towards that position with Jerry dropping between the centre backs, and Rohit Kumar breaking the lines. Even though we will need to be wary about all their players as they can all pass the ball pretty well, we need to be more careful of Rohit Kumar as hes very capable of playing these killer through balls from deep defence initiating the unpredictability I was talking about. It will be advisable to cut down the passing channels when he's on the ball.

ofc vs neufc
Courtesy: ISL on JioCinema

As much as they are prolific in attack, their defence still needs polishing. They employ a midblock which fits their balanced play-style, but does not fit their defenders well indicating their horrible profiling at the highest level. 

Their defenders Fall and Delgado are both box-defenders capable of sweeping away every crosses and low balls, but are too stiff to initiate offside traps and/or start counters when they finally get the ball. It allows the oppositions to sustain their pressure because Odisha cannot clear it far. I can see our playmaker(s), be it Dimi, Thapa or Sahal, given Stewart is ruled out, getting many chances considering their defensive solidarity (or the lack of it). We need to make those chances count.

The Situation For Mohun Bagan

The club, as briefly mentioned elsewhere, is in good spirits. Recent results have made the fans hopeful of the summit of the Indian football pyramid once more and the board is pretty pleased with how the club is progressing towards its vision with the recent results. The two foreigners at the back seem to be knowing each other better and is building a strong chemistry with the wingbacks and the goalkeeper. 

Thapa as the circulator has been capable of breaking down deep defences and is managing to provide magic to the team in deadlocked situation and in unfavourable game-state like the game against Hyderabad. Apuia is fitting well in the box-to-box midfielder role and the attack is growing in proficiency and clinicality every game.

It was not the best of games for Jamie against Hyderabad FC but it was understandable. The game state was that we needed to counter from our own half and play through balls to our wingers which limited the strikers a lot. In fact he was quite good in playmaking so I would reckon the coach will give him a chance to start once more. 

The difference between Cummings and Jamie lies in their play-style but also the level of fitness where, as of now, Jamie has outshone his strike-counterpart. The team spirit is very closely knit and I can see the team stepping up once more against an opposition which can give us a tough time, but with the right focus, can be beaten as well.

Predicted Lineups

Mohun Bagan SG:

Kaith - Rai, Aldred, Alberto, Subhashis - Thapa, Apuia - Manvir, Dimi, Liston - Jamie.

Odisha FC:  

Amrinder - Ranawade, Fall, Delgado, Jerry- Rohit Kumar, Jerry - Reynier, Isak, Roy Krishna - Mauricio

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