Pictures by Bibhash Lodh, BS News Agency.
Mohun Bagan 1 (Manbir) Chennai 0
Bibhash Lodh, BS News Agency: Mohun Bagan Super Giant started their ISL campaign by losing 0-1 against North East United at the Guwahati ground. In the second match at the Delhi ground, the green maroon brigade won 2-1 against Sporting Delhi. Despite not playing with dominance against Chennai FC in their third match at Yuvbharat on Monday, Mohun Bagan, along with coach Panos, breathed a sigh of relief after winning 3 points in their pocket with Manbir's goal in the 85th minute, just like the last night of the master's death. Despite getting 6 points in 3 matches, Mohun Bagan fans may be temporarily happy with this victory, but if the game does not improve, it is not surprising that the team will suffer in the coming matches.
Pictures by Bibhash Lodh, BS News Agency.
It was known that McLaren and Miguel will not play due to injuries. Apuya is in the hospital due to illness. Naturally, Mohun Bagan head Sir Panos had to walk the path of changing the first eleven in the match against Chennai FC. But despite leaning towards playing attacking football to get 3 points at home, keeping in mind the goal conceded in the last 2 matches, Bagan coach Panos did not compromise on bringing a solid feeling to the defense. It was not possible to find a reason behind placing Deepak Tangri in the defensive blocker position in front of Mehtab, Becky,
Pictures by Bibhash Lodh, BS News Agency.
Alberto, and Abhishek in his preferred 4-4-2 six. Perhaps Panos wanted to measure the opponent Chennaiyin early, so he thought it would be better to use a destructive footballer like Tangri, leaving Anirudh Thapa, a master of constructive football, on the reserve bench.
Pictures by Bibhash Lodh, BS News Agency.
However, Mohun Bagan's attack did not take root in that way. Even though they played Changte and Dragic in the two wing halves, and Samir Zelkovic in the midfield. Subhasish's place has gone since Abhishek Singh joined the Bagan. Coach Panos can cite Subhasish's poor form as an argument for relying more on Abhishek. Maybe so. But the game that Subhasish, who was in form, would increase the attack or even score goals while handling the defense, was not seen in the game of Abhishek or Mehtab in the first half against Chennaiyin. Wing half Chante and Dragic also looked ineffective for the first 45 minutes of the half. Naturally, due to the lack of ball supply, Lee Erwin and Manbir had to play the role of spectators up front.
For that, however, there is no way to not give Chennaiyin FC coach Clifford Miranda a number. He did not ask his team's footballers to play in a huddle, feeling inferior, considering Mohun Bagan as a poker, this was understood by the active attitude of his team in the first half. At the same time, Clifford's strategy of keeping a close eye on the opposing footballers to prevent them from becoming dangerous was also evident in the fact that footballers like Changte and Dragic were bottled up. In the Chennaiyin FC midfield, Nikola, Talal, and Bryson showed so much dominance that the Bagan attack could not create any pressure on the opponent in the first half. On the contrary, where Mohun Bagan created only one goal-scoring opportunity in the first half, Chennaiyin FC footballers would have scored at least four to five goals if they had not wasted the opportunity and Bagan goalkeeper Vishal Keith had not been active.
In the 11th minute, Bryson got the ball in the box in a convenient position and like a boundless boy, he shot the ball out of bounds and wasted the opportunity, bringing relief to the Bagan camp. In the 27th minute, Irfan got a through ball from Madi Talal in front of the box. Even after finding the helpless goalkeeper Vishal Keith alone, he could not push the ball into the goal. Irfan's left-footed shot hit the goalkeeper Vishal's foot and went out again. In the 38th minute, Chennai's Mohammad Shahif's shot narrowly missed the target.
Mohun Bagan got the first goal opportunity in the 39th minute against the pace of the game. When Lee Erwin caught Sameer Zelkovic's extended ball, he found a lot of space in front. Using that space, he entered the box and took a corner shot, but Chennai goalkeeper Mohammad Nawaz blocked it and the ball went into the empty net. With that ball, Manbir could not put his head into the empty net. The ball flew over the crossbar.
Seeing the off-form of the team, Bagan coach Panos brought Sahal on in the second half. However, before the Bagan brigade could regroup, goalkeeper Vishal saved the team from conceding a goal in the 50th minute when Irfan's shot was saved by a corner kick. After that, Sahal's sudden shot went wide of the post, raising hopes of a goal. Realizing that the goal was not coming, but time was running out, Bagan coach Panos brought Anirudh Thapa in place of Zelkovic. Even then, the green and maroon attack could not penetrate the Chennai defense. The Bagan coach changed the defense formation and brought Subhasish in place of Rahul Beck to bring an extra edge to the attack. In the 64th minute, Chennai goalkeeper Nawaz cleared Dragic's through ball before Manbir caught it inside the box.
Mohun Bagan desperately jumped for a goal in the last 25 minutes. But no one could be found to score a goal in Bagan. On the contrary, in the 78th minute, Nicola's powerful shot evaded the reach of goalkeeper Vishal and bounced back with the crossbar. Vishal saved Nicola's shot in the next minute. Chennaiyin understood the pain of wasting a sure goal opportunity on the half-court against a big team like Mohun Bagan by conceding a goal in the 85th minute.
Even on a bad day, one chance is enough for a big team to take advantage of the opponent's mistake and score a goal. Many call this the luck factor. Mohun Bagan got the winning goal in the 85th minute from that luck factor. In the 82nd minute, Coach Panos brought Liston on the wing in place of Dragic. In the 85th minute, Manbir, who caught the ball on the wing and reached the edge of the box and crossed with his left foot, pushed the ball into the goal with his chest and ensured the victory and 3 points. This was the only gain for the 18,432 spectators present at Yuva Bharati, along with the green maroon fans, from Mohun Bagan's football.
And that's why at the end of the match, Mohun Bagan coach Panos admitted that his team could not play as expected in the Chennaiyin FC match. He apologized to the fans for this performance at home. There were many mistakes in the game. The victory came by the power of luck. We have to improve our game further to get something good in the coming matches.
Mohun Bagan: Keith, Mehtab, Alberto, Becky (Shubhashis), Abhishek, Chante (Sahal), Tangri (Suryavanshi), Zelkovic (Aniruddha), Dragic (Liston), Manbir, Erwin.