The Kolkata Derby Review: Analysing Mohun Bagan's performance
Losing a derby against your fiercest rival is never a good thing. When you include the fact this result prolongs the Mariners’ drought in the Kolkata Derby to five matches without a win in the fixture and slumps them down to 9th in the table, the pain just escalates that much more. Mohun Bagan in recent years has certainly become the red-headed stepchild team of Kolkata in terms of success on the pitch (even United SC were able to bag the IFA shield last season). The loss did the Green and Maroon faithful no favours in terms of bragging rights or points but there were a number of positives to take home from the game.
When you break down the whole machinery that is Mohun Bagan into separate but vital cogs, here are the things that stood more than most for the Green and Maroon:
Young brigade comes to the fore
Pritam Kotal impressed all and sundry with his peformance on Sunday
When the team list came out, it showed a back four consisting two youngsters with precious experience and nearly none of playing in such a high voltage game. As Bengalis, both Pritam Kotal and Souvik Ghosh must have witnessed a number of derbies from the stands but when you’re at the middle of the park surrounded by 80,000 odd vociferous fans; its a whole new ball game.
Posted on either flanks of the backline, you can literally say that they had been thrown into the deep end of things as no real alternatives was left for Bencharifa with Eche suspended, Wahid Sali out of form and Kingshuk Debnath having to marshal the middle of the park. There however was not much for the Moroccan to worry about as both Kotal and Ghosh played superbly to keep the East Bengal attacks from either flanks at bay.
Kotal was the impressive of the two. With most East Bengal attacks coming down the left in the first half, the 20 year old had to show presence of mind and great defensive skills to stand strong against the threats of Sueoka and Lalrindika. It was Kotal again in the second half who produced a peach of a cross to find Odafa unmarked in the box, only for the Nigerian to head it straight at Abhijit Mondal from 8 yards out. Even Ram Malik, who came on a substitute, looked unfazed in the limited minutes that he was afforded in the game.
Nearly paid off
Muranda had a golden opportunity to make things a lot different for Mohun Bagan on Sunday
Karim Bencharifa kept his cards close to his heart coming into the game and as the whistle signalled the beginning of the game, it was clear that the Moroccan had played a trick that not many had expected. Okolie Odafa, Bagan’s main hitman who was coming back into the fray after spending nearly all of this season on the side-lines was slotted into the hole; allowing Eric Muranda to be the man to play off the shoulders of the last defender. That had caught the East Bengal team out for sure in the opening few minutes and it nearly paid dividends when he was allowed the space to turn and play in Muranda in the 6th minute only for the Kenyan to hit it straight at the keeper. The red and gold soon came to terms the tactics as Odafa was rendered little space to manoeuvre from there on. The Moroccan’s initial tactics had certainly caught Armando Colaco’s team out. Muranda’s had the chance to change the script altogether but as we know the rest is history
Defence impressive; but don’t jump on the bandwagon just now
Rowilson Rodrigues alongside Aibor thwarted the explosive East Bengal attack with competence
Looking for experience in the Bagan defence? Aibor Khongjee was the only one in the Bagan backline that would have popped out. With Rowilson just beginning to flourish in his role at the back, the lack of experience on the defensive front was glaring with two new-comers pitted in at the wingback positions. That’s why the performance from the Bagan backline to hold the formidable East Bengal attack to just one clear cut opportunity at goal for the entire game is worthy of real praise. With Bagan spending heavily up front, the defence has always been a cause for concern for the Mariners and it was a pleasant change for their fans to see some semblance of authority at the back and that too against an attack comprising of Chidi, Moga, Sueka with Khabra and Ralte to contend with as well.
One game however is not a big enough sample size for this unit to be called an effective one just yet (remember Daniell Zeleny?). There is however something to build upon.