Mohun Bagan turned the race for the table topper wide open by giving FC Goa their first taste of defeat, and that too in their own backyard. It was a tactical battle between veteran Antonio López Habas and Manolo Márquez. The match looked like a heavyweight boxing match where both parties survived through vicious punches and were still able to stand. Eventually, Mohun Bagan capitalised on a mistake from Goa goalkeeper Arshdeep, who had a wonderful game, and the ‘DIMIGOD’ Petratos scored a screamer from almost a distance of 40 yards to seal the deal.
The match started at a slow pace as both teams looked to control midfield. Goa fielded a 4-2-3-1 formation to counter Habas’s 3-5-2. Manvir seemed to continue his form where he left off in the Northeast match. He spent more time in his own half as a wide wing back on the left-hand side and did it brilliantly. Both Juan Ferrando in Mohun Bagan and Igor Stimac in the Indian National Team tried him on the right wing like that but misserably failed, but when Habas switched sides and putted him on the left, it paid dividend.
FC Goa had a dissalowed goal in the 12th minute of the game when Brandon’s cross was put in by Odei Onaindia and deflected through Vishal’s leg onto the net. But it was quite clear that Odei’s touch was from outside the goal line area.
Petratos, on the other hand, took a brilliant left footer from outside the box, which was denied by Arshdeep’s acrobatic save in the 20th minute.
Mohun Bagan altered the side at halftime and put Joni Kauko in place of Anirudh Thapa, who was not as clinical as needed to be.
The deadlock was finally broken in the 75th minute. A through ball from Kauko was hurriedly cleared by Arshdeep and landed on the legs of unmarked Petratos, who wasted no time to grab the opportunity to score from 40 yards in the empty net.
Antonio Lopez Habas showed why he has been respected so much in Kolkata. The team played exactly how an away team needed to play with a higher-ranking team: compact in defence and hurting the opponent on the counter by going very directly. The team didn’t allow a single inch to FC Goa’s star player, Noah Sadaoui.
Brandon was also heavily marked by Dipak Tangri, and it is a crime if we don’t mention the name of Dippendu Biswas, the 20-year-old Bengali kid. Habas opted to field three centre backs and trusted the confident Dippendu, who made his first ISL start of the season in a difficult game, and he proved that the trust of his coach is quite true.
After the goal was conceded, Goa did leave a few gaps in their defence, along with Liston Colaco (who came in place of Sadiku in the 2nd half) and Petratos unleashed in open spaces, Mohun Bagan created quite a few chances. But his brilliant lob goes just wide, and Manvir failed to capitalise on a one-on-one opportunity with the goalkeeper.
Goa, on the other hand, in the absence of Sandesh Jhingan due to injury, fielded Carl McHugh as a centre back and left central midfield with Raynier and Ayush. They did get a chance through Carlos Martínez, but his shot went wide in the first half. They seem to be more concerned with the solidity of the midfield, and for that reason, both Noah Sadaoui and Carlos Martínez played a little too deep to support the field. That allowed Mohun Bagan to narrow the space on the middle. The physical presence of Yuste, Subhasish, Manvir and even Sadiku didn’t allow Goa to capitalized on setpieces. And the crosses from the wings was also delt well. Goa unable to put enough bodies on the box and more occationed than not their players are outnumbered inside the 18 yards of goal. There seemed to be lack of intent or lack of creativity and too much dependency on Noah Sadaoui cost them the game. They have failed to beat Mohun Bagan defence even for a single occassion and that was not expected from a team who are aiming for the top position of the table.
Mohun Bagan seems to have a proper plan for their gameplay and tactics, and their players are very much up to it. They now move into the third position of the table, 26 points ahead of the Kerala Blasters and Mumbai City, just behind Goa and table-topper Odisha FC.
The coach, Habas, talked about a one-match-at-a-time approach and was not very concerned about the current table position. But it shows that they are quite definitely closing the gap to the top.
Starting XI:
Vishal (GK), Subhasish, Yuste, Dippendu, Asish, Manvir, Deepak, Thapa, Sahal, Petratos, Sadiku
Player of the Match: Dimitri Petratos
Manager’s View:
“The result is fantastic for me. We needed energy. In professional football, energy is important. Aman, Dippendu, Hnamte, and Abhishek are very important for the team. Youth power is important to complete the structure of a team.”
