Budding Blasters Look to Pounce on Merry Mariners | ISL 24-25 Match Preview

The champion team doesn't only win, they convince; the statement "Vince e convince" portraying the same sentence in Italian, has a lot deeper meaning than one thinks. 

Convincing viewers and supporters is not only limited to playing a good brand of football, scoring goals, having an expansive style of play, however winning when you have your backs against the wall which ultimately will prove that you can 'Win' whatever the situation might be. 

 

Current Atalanta BC coach Gian Piero Gasperini once said "winning without suffering has no joy", and that's exactly how teams in the past had won trophies; winning games by scoring goals out of nowhere while occasionally relying on individual brilliance.

 

When the final whistle sounded in Guwahati on Sunday, Mohun Bagan fans heaved a sigh of relief, not only because the Mariners had managed to win a very tough encounter while being pegged back a bit, but also due to the fact that we had to play a makeshift defence due to the absence of Subhashis and Alberto. 

 

Petratos was the captain, and he led the team quite well but the headlines will have Ashique's name on the very top, how he replaced the stalwart at left back effortlessly and with utmost precision. But what a performance his fullback partner Ashish Rai delivered aswell, locking an inform Ajeraie in his cell. 

 

With the momentum of being unbeaten after the second matchday, we now head back to our home stadium, the VYBK to lock horns with Kerala Blasters who for me are having an unique season of their own. 

 

With their deflated and dejected faces on show after their failed encounter against Bengaluru FC, where they lost to a brilliant Sunil Chettri hattrick, the fans have had enough. The protests are on a full flow with their fans deciding to limit the ticket sales for their home games, and for a club known for their fans and how loud they are which makes them intimidate their opponents, home games without fans can be catastrophic. 

 

Their coach admitted Mohun Bagan is the best team in ISL but also said that even the best team have weaknesses, and it's perfectly fair and in my opinion a very solid way to approach the game, however identifying Mariners' weaknesses won't be enough, teams should be able to have the minerals to counter it.

KBFC Players to Watch Out For

Noah Sadaoui

The Moroccan has not lived up to his start-season, especially from the Mohammedan sporting game, however he's still racking in goals/assists on a regular basis. Whats more, he's still a threat on the wings and I'd reckon Ashish Rai will have to once again prove his groove when he faces the stalwart on Saturday. 

Freddy

The defensive midfielder isn't the most rated or the most noticed, but there's something very interesting with him, and only a few defensive midfielders in India possesses it, the dual-ability of winning duels while being sturdy in possesion. 

 

In a losing cause against Bengaluru he won 4/5 duels and 3/3 tackles while having 88% pass success rate. Also will have an added responsibility with Vibin Mohanan out. A gem in midfield. 

KBFC: Tactical Analysis

Courtesy: @statpeekers (X)

In the last preview, I had mentioned the tackling ratio of the highlanders and it would be prudent to note that the Kerala outfit isn’t less equipped either in that department. When they are on their groove, they can outmatch any ISL team in terms of aggression and physicality. However that has one downside as well, they exhaust their stamina pretty quickly, which cost them against Bengaluru FC in both their games against the title contenders. 

 

Still, we should tackle that phrase of their intensity with effective skill and coordination in defence because they have the firepower to even score 2-3 goals in those spells. However even then they tend to push high a little which can be exploited through Liston Colaco. 

Courtesy: ISL on JioCinema

The defensive shape of this team cannot be explained in simple terms, they play a game too haphazard to even form a solid shape, making games pan out like a basketball match. However from this snippet we can notice their usual two blocks of 4 defenders and 4 midfielders; but they play with a pivot? 

 

Yup, their defensive shape is not only formed by their pivot but also the 17 year old Korou Singh and Luna tracking back. And while much talks were there about Korou apparently being the “Indian Lamine Yamal”, well he is very far from being so, however he has one similar thing with the Barca and Spain superstar, is the defensive work he executes even while being a winger who thrives on the ball than without it.

 

But as I said, their shape is just too haphazard (read relationalistic?) and also Luna gets exhausted anyway to track back as the game gains traction/pace. So our midfielders, even though they can get outnumbered, will be able to dictate the tempo quite easily I feel. 

 

Courtesy: ISL on JioCinema

The attacking shape, meanwhile is far more interesting. They just don’t attack, they overload. Whatever wing they will be attacking from, they will overload that flank with players thus helping the primary creator out, but leaving spaces in midfield which will give oppositions avenue to counter aswell.

 

However they will obviously try to overload (as I had mentioned before) that particular area which would outnumber the opposition wingback and side back. Their creative numbers are high aswell and their strikers do get a lot of service. However with a proper defensive shape, we can succeed. 

The Situation for Mohun Bagan

Obviously if we look at the current standing with the Mariners enjoying the summit, there will not seem to have much problems going on around the squad, infact people might feel Mohun Bagan will be in a much better position than in the beforemath of the NorthEast game with the captain and Alberto back. But in this league, many things comes into play and we should approach every game with utmost caution. 

 

It is very well known aswell how most ISL teams use a double pivot. Obviously Mohun Bagan does too and have the ability to match the talent of any other team in that position but we have a problem there. A problem of plenty. Jose Molina's headache now is to allocate his personnel, who'll play beside Apuia (the only guaranteed starter as of now). 

 

We all know how good Thapa is in that role, Tangri could be used in defensive and scrappy games. But the way Sahal performed last game in that role aswell, these two players will have to fight for that place for a while. However we can all agree that it's a very good problem to have. 

 

Another glaring problem is the striker situation. With the players behind them almost sorted with Manvir, Liston and Dimi (as of now atleast) making the positions their own, the position of Jamie remains under scrutiny. And even though I am sure I might have raised a few eyebrows with this take, there's grounds for it. 

 

First of all, it is the only position where a foreigner is actively competing with another foreigner, so the spot isn't secure for any of them. Secondly, we've all been aware of the fact that Jamie fits the game-state in some fixtures more than Jason and vice versa, so to maximize them both, we'll need to start them in the games that fits them. However that's far down the list of priorities.

 

The rest seems fine, Still a long way to go but we can again embark on a historic season if all goes well. However a Mariner, to reach its destination, needs to avoid storms and waves on the way. And as of now, our Mariners are doing that extremely well. 

Predicted Lineups

Mohun Bagan

Kaith; Rai-Aldred-Alberto-Subhashis; Apuia-Tangri; Manvir-Dimi-Liston; Jamie. 

Kerala Blasters

Suresh; Sandeep-Hormipam-Coeff-Huidrom; Danish-Freddy; Korou-Luna-Sadaoui; Jiménez.