Dark Horses, Jamshedpur FC faces the defending champions, Mohun Bagan, at the furnace.
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| Picture Courtesy - ISL & MBSG Media |
When
things go your way, it simply goes your way; this past week, with other
contenders dropping points in regular intervals, coupled with the derby win,
had been a heaven for Mohun Bagan fans. The team is gaining ground on the league
table, gradually pulling clear of all the other contenders in the shield race.
The injuries that once piled up had reduced significantly. What else will the
mariners want?
However the team, the fans having the highest standards can never be happy. Reciprocating Molina words, the derby win was good but we should have won by more, especially considering the chances we missed and how we couldn’t capitalize on the man advantage. However it’s in the past and we should rectify our mistakes in the next games.
The finishing NEEDS to improve. If we consider
everything, Mohun Bagan are winning almost every day with all our contenders
dropping points in their games. But our closest contender currently is
Jamshedpur. Considering this, our next away game against them is very important.
Good Night, #Mariners !#JoyMohunBagan #MBFT pic.twitter.com/gE0whEiXzU
— MBFT : Mohun Bagan (@MBFT89) January 11, 2025
Jamshedpur FC, on the other hand, is having a bizarre season. They haven’t drawn any games in the league. They have either lost or won, mostly emerging victorious. And even though in my preview in the return fixture, I had mentioned they were overperforming a lot, I currently feel now that they deserve to be in this position.
They are joint second with Bengaluru FC and FC Goa and even a draw
against the Mariners at the furnace will pull them clear. As the season
progressed, I understood why they are winning, they have done a superb job in
team building. Even though the squad is not one of the best in the league by
any means, they have a good Indian core, some extremely underrated players,
some solid defenders and players who can give the magic moment anytime in any
game. The way they coped with the departure of Manzorro and Chima had been
magnificent.
I had
also mentioned about Stephen Eze in the past preview, and he’s just the
backbone of the team. He is probably one of the strongest players in the entire
division and our strikers will have to do a very good job if they want to get
past him. With Maclaren getting his derby goal and the required confidence, I
will expect him to again deliver the goods, taking the advantage of a loophole
I will mention below.
Picture Courtesy - ISL & MBSG Media
And about
loopholes, the Mohunbagan analysts had done a massive job detecting the
advanced left sided East Bengal defender, ex-Mariner Hector Yuste this time.
The deflection on Ashish Rai through ball made it impossible for the Murcian
stopper to react and stop Maclaren from ghosting in. Infact most of our chances
had been shot from our right side (the Sahal miss in the first half for
example) implying that they have done a very good job in executing the plan set
by the manager.
-: Jamshedpur FC players to watch out for :-
Mohammed Sanan :- Another player having his breakout season in the league, Sanan Mohammed had caught the eye of many, and its not only viewers but scouts as well, reportedly Mohun Bagan themselves are interested in acquiring his services from next season. The player has only 2 goals and 1 assist in the league but he is a player who is more than goal contributions and output. In fact I think he will do better if he is played a bit deeper, wingback in a 3 at-the-back formation.
However his major skill is his flair, and how he manipulates his body to draw
defenders and then play a pass to space. As the team plays in a high line, he has
to press, track back and do some dirty work where he excels as well. However he
is still raw, extremely raw (not a problem as he is still 20) and might make
some questionable decisions in his own final third (does it ring a bell about
one of our current players?). However as I said he has the flair. Ashish has
done quite well against these sort of Wingbacks, but he will be tested once more.
Sourav Das :- A Tata academy product and a former Mohunbagan youth player, Sourav has been quite a surprise package this season. He was hailed as one of the wonderkids who will be able to start for the national team day in and day out but he just could not get those heights. However he had been a great servant of the Mariners when we were in the I-League and played quite well in that season when we won the trophy, 2019-20.
Infact as I am writing this, I am getting
drowned in a nostalgia because I personally liked him a lot and wanted him to
continue with us after the merger which never happened as he got sold to Mumbai
City and won another trophy. However his resurgence with Rajasthan United last
season enabled him to get a move to the Steel City and now he is thriving, 12
starts this season in the league. He is robust and strong in duels winning
around 65 percent of his duels. He rarely loses the ball as well. One to keep an
eye on
-:Tactical Analysis:-
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| Picture Courtesy - ISL & Jio Cinema |
In the previous preview, I had mentioned
about how Flexible Jamshedpur players are, and that’s mostly credited to their
insane recruitment work. They can play a high line, backline, compact and
flexible all in one single game. Take their strikers for example, Siverio is
more suited in games where they are expected to create more chances while Murray holds up the play better. So he is deployed in more “cagey” games. This
image shows how they employ a block normally, their front three press hard,
supported by the two advanced midfielders. Mostly their attacking midfielder
and Sourav Das. In the back they employ 5 people, normally, but as I said, it
may vary as well with two blocks of 4 with the two man attacking line.
However they give up some space between the
midfield and defense if they do press, so we might have to find someone in
those advanced positions. I would prefer it to be Jason or Manvir as I still
don’t trust Liston decision making, and I don’t think anybody does as well.
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| Picture Courtesy - ISL & Jio Cinema |
Their
feature is the reliance of wide players, the first and third goals are product
of the wide players performing tricks and crossing. So when their wide players
have the ball, namely Imran and Sanan, they don’t even have to overload bodies,
they can simply allow them to do their job while the attacker makes the run. I
firmly believe we have the personnel to deal with their crosses, but they can
also harm us at the counter or by doing a quick passing exchange.
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| Picture Courtesy - ISL & Jio Cinema |
Another
feature of their versatility, they can also crowd bodies in the penalty box and
defend deep if needed. And because of Eze’s and Pratik’s height and awareness,
it is difficult to break them down by simply crosses. But there is a loophole,
Liston and his dribbling. All of their defenders are not that fast, in fact I
think even Manvir can match or beat his opposite number Uvais who scored a
magnificent goal against Bengaluru. And if they do go for the highline, we can
harm them by putting balls over the top but if we do that, or try to do that,
we will need to start Stewart.
-:Mohun Bagan Situation :-
As we are
coming towards the beginning of the end, we are gradually getting closer to the
league title, another feather in our cap. The team is also back to fitness
thankfully as I mentioned before. However questions do remain.
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| Picture Courtesy - ISL & MBSG Media |
The first
one is about our attacking midfielders, who will be the one to carry us till
the end of the season. Stewart started fine there, then petratos played there,
then cummings carried us through that period where we had the injuries.
Cummings still holds his spot, and has played well. But with both Greg and
Dimitri in full fitness now, is his spot in danger?
Sahal
Abdul Samad. Versatile and clean, but I am of the view that he is still not
getting maximized. I sometimes fail to understand his tactical role in the
team, is it primarily to circulate? I don’t think so. He sometimes slows down
the attack, sometimes speeds it up. However he will need to be more clinical in
front of the goal. I think he can be an option for that AMF spot aswell but it
is crowded by the group of foreigners.
Else, it
is fine. The mantra is to keep it simple, not get too over-excited, and to take
it one game at a time.
Projected lineups
Jamshedpur FC :- Albino Gomes ; Muhammed Uvais- Stephen Eze-Pratik Chaudhary -Nikhil Barla; Sourav Das - Lazar Cirkovic; Mohammed Sanan-Javi Hernandez -Imran Khan; Jordan Murray
Mohun Bagan :- Vishal Kaith;
Subhashis Bose- Tom Aldred-Alberto Rodriguez -Ashish Rai; Liston Colaco -Apuia Ralte -Sahal Abdul Samad -Manvir Singh; Jason Cummings- Jamie Maclaren.
Kick Off: 07:30 PM IST
Venue: JRD TATA Sports Complex , Jamshedpur.
Live Stream: Sports 18 network , Star Sports 3(TV) VH1 India (TV) DD Bangla (TV) Colours Bangla (TV) Jio Cinema (India OTT Stream) One Football (International OTT Stream)
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