Every Big Team has that One Annoying Opponent | NorthEast United vs Mohun Bagan Match Preview ISL 24-25

byRitam Chakraborty -

Every Big Team has that One Annoying Opponent | NorthEast United vs Mohun Bagan Match Preview ISL 24-25

mb neufc


Fortune favours the brave, this common cliché has been the theme of many champion teams through the history of the sport. Days and nights have gone by, seasons unfolded in front of our eyes, but these moments and history remains. And the players who helps create these historical moments are the real fortunes, they singlehandedly uplift a football club.
 
With the game deadlocked towards its end, heading towards a goalless draw with no real chances being created from either of the sides and no indication of that changing soon enough either, the “fortune” arrives, the legendary Greg Stewart, who had previous uplifted two previous champion teams has done it again, for another champion team. And even though he might not be fit enough to play the whole game anymore, those three minutes are enough for him. 


However the grind never stops, especially for a club competing for a trophy having an added boost of not playing competition in Asian level for which we had roped in more quality players. Especially when the team is looking so solid and there’s some momentum in the results, one will expect the team to step up once again when they face the resurgent Highlanders for the third time this season. 

With me having analysed them twice this season already here and here, I will just touch upon their shape and the recent tactical tweaks by their coach. However first we’ll have to stop their attack from firing, on paper a very fat chance especially considering the suspensions for Alberto and Subhasish.

NorthEast Players to Watch Out For

Alaeddine Ajeraie

The player might have had an off game against our city rivals, however the league top scorer has to be contained, and as I’ve touched upon the suspension of two of our stalwarts, I will just have to add the possibility of Dippendu playing centre back considering the scenario, making the Moroccan isolated against Ashish Rai, who had been defensively vulnerable this season, thus over-complicating the matter. We will have to double Mark him whenever we have the chance. 

Mccarton Nickson

With Bemmammer suspended, the young Indian is likely to take his place in the defensive midfield position and we’ll have to be wary of his tackling skills, he might not have the engine like him but still can harm us nevertheless in helping initiate quick counters. He can pass well and has a decent long shot ability. 

NEUFC: Tactical Shape

neufc
Courtesy: ISL on JioCinema

As we can clearly see, the Highlanders boast of a very expansive shape, as mentioned beforehand; but there is a problem, or atleast potentially, that is Bemmammer not playing the game; and obviously he might not have added much to the attacking monsters, he could have solved a few defensive problems as shown in these visuals.

The graphs below, as we can see, shows the amount of defensive work Northeast players undergo on every match. With the players mostly out of position while attacking due to the flexible nature of the system, the players have to undertake a lot of risks after they lose possession, eventually leading to a lot of tackles.

As the legend Paolo Maldini said "If you have to tackle, you've committed a mistake already"; it is mostly apt in their playstyle. They commit a lot of mistakes (they have lost 12 points from winning positions this season, the highest in the league), in possession or out of it.

neufc stat
Courtesy: https://isl-analysis-dashboard.streamlit.app made by @statpeekers (Sushant Rao)

From the second picture we can even see that the tackles they make are mostly unsuccessful as they lose their ensuing duels, failing to recover possession mostly and thus, leading to many fouls and in turn, cards. It is not a perfect indicator as Mohun Bagan playes concede a lot of cards too while recovering possession, but unless Northeast United fix their issues out of possession, they may find it very difficult to win against sides which have a lot of individual talents. 

There is another side of the coin though, and that is their creativity. A huge feature of this team is that they have creative outlet everywhere, you can even see their defender Asheer pinging balls over the top which are sometimes a huge success. 

They don't pass much (second least number of passes per match in the league above Jamshedpur); they will just need 3 or 4 passes to create something out of nothing and cause disruptions in opposition defence, and that is a cause of concern as we won't play with our best defence and will have to employ a makeshift backline, which hasn't played much together yet, so the communication and coordination between them has to be at the very top if we want to take something out of this game.

The Situation for Mohun Bagan

If there's something we had learnt from the previous game, it is that the stalwart Greg Stewart has to be kept fit, and that's the responsibility of the club doctors to make him as healthy as possible because him being on the pitch uplifts us to unimaginable extent. The introduction of the Scotsman, as many would repeat, had won us that game.

But few problems persists, the slowness of our attacking frontline, especially when up against a solid midblock, sometimes it felt like the tactic was to get the ball to Liston and pray, or hook a long ball up for Jamie to wrestle against his marker and create something out of nothing. 


The thing is that the chances are created. Petratos is at the 100th percentile for chances created for his position, yet the attack seems too predictable when it goes through him. Greg brings that factor of unpredictability, and him getting a start against NorthEast would probably put Petratos on the bench.

Still, I wouldn't change the team apart from the suspensions, the midfield should stay as it is, however I'd like to make a bold change, to start Ashique and revert to a three at the back. I am not sure Molina will have the same vision as me, and I will trust what the Iberian manager, the former TD of Spain will see in this squad.

Predicted Lineups

NorthEast United

Gurmeet; Oram, Asheer, Regragui, Samte; Mayakannan, Nickson; Jithin, Albiach, Parthib; Ajeraie.

Mohun Bagan

Kaith; Dippendu, Aldred, Ashish; Manvir, Apuia, Tangri, Ashique; Petratos, Liston, MacLaren.

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