I-League 2017: East Bengal 0 - 0 Mohun Bagan, 5 talking points
East Bengal remain at the top of the I-League after a hard-fought goalless draw against Mohun Bagan in this season’s first Kolkata derby. Both side’s produced solid defensive performances at the Kanchanjangha Stadium in Siliguri.
#1 Jampacked midfield results in deadlock
Around the 12th minute, Bagan’s Souvik Chakraborty received the ball in the opposition half. He looked up and surprisingly found himself with 15 yards of free space to move forward. You’d reckon he would have moved ahead with intent. Instead, he chose to play a backwards pass. That move was a testament to what transpired in the first half.
An ugly midfield battle ensued for the entire 45-minutes. At times, it got nasty. Both sides deployed heavy numbers in the middle of the park and neither wished to take the risk of dealing with situations in their final third. As a result, there were moments when Bagan forward, Duffy had to fall back into his own half to receive the ball.
East Bengal’s Robin Singh, though, as we all know, doesn’t like doing the same. The stakes were high and so were the number of players around the centre circle.