I-League:19/10/2013 : Mohun Bagan AC VS Sporting Club de Goa

Match Review and Analysis:

After two draws and one loss Mohun Bagan played their first I league home game at Salt Lake stadium against Sporting Club de Goa looking for their first win of the I league season.It was always going to be a difficult task with Odafa Okolie still missing because of hamstring injury.Karim Bencherifa fielded a side that seemed to play more the counter attacking game rather than  forcing the issue to go for goals.With Sandip Nandy under the post Kingshuk-Aibor paired as central defenders in the absence of red carded Eche while Wahid Sali and Ravinder Singh(U-23) were the side backs. 
Adil Khan was deployed as a defensive screen infront of the back four primarly to cut the link up play between Ogba Kalu and Boimah Kharpeh.Denson in the middle,Zakir on the right and Katsumi down the left were the midfield men,Denson more of a holding midfielder while Zakir and Katsumi were assigned to keep the ball pushing forward to striking duo of Sabeeth and Eric Muranda.
On the other hand Spanish Coach Oscar Bruzon fielded a strong side with the Spanish duo of Gonzalo Neila and Arturo Garcia in the heart of defence and Mathew Gonsalves and Joyner Lourenco played as both wing halfs.
Ogba Kalu played as the influential holding midfielder giving Sporting a box to box option both while defending as well as going forward.Ogba Kalu was supported in the midfield by lanky Rowlin Borges(U-23),Pratesh Shirodkar down the left and  Cajetan Fernandes down the right while Boimah Khareph was supported by Cajetan Fernandes up front.
Referee Santosh Kumar whistled off the match under the pristine floodlights of the YBK stadium Sporting Club took the control of game from very onset as their wing halfs Pratesh Shirodkar  and Jovel Martins provided width to Sporting attack,Ogba Kalu motored the midfield dynamics to feed Boimah Kharpeh with great through balls as Bagan defence line struggled to cope with the presence of strong Boimag Kharpeh who used his strong physical presence to effectively body shield Kingshuk and Aibor.The Bagan midfield looked in a dismal shape as Denson continued his poor form of play and was struggling throughout the match getting balls forward as well as found wanting while falling back to cut off Sporting bild up play.Zakir too had an ordinary day as Bagan midfielders were happy to play series of square passes and back passes in the mdfield and showed little impetus to move forward .Highly rated Japanese medio Katsumi was guilty of keeping the ball too long and attracted challenges from opponent players and ended up losing possession a number of times.Despide all odds,Sabeeth and Muranda got two back to back chances on 10th minute but failed to capitalize on the opportunity.Sabeeth's finishing ability is already questionble among mohun bagan ardents and Eric Muranda failed to show glimpses of his Calcutta League form against high quality I league opponents.
With no midfield play and poor passing Mohun Bagan was caught off guard in a quick counter attack as Kalu needled through a ball to Boimah who easily thwarted Aibor with his physical presence and dribbled passed an advancing Sandip on the edge of the box with acres of space at his disposal coolly slotted home a neat finish to give Sporting a goal advantage. Bagan failed to equalize in the first half .
Bagan made some changes in the second half getting in Manish Bhargav(in place of Adil),Rowlinson(in place of Aibor) and Ram Malik (in place of Sabeeth) as the Mariners looked to claw back into the game on 77th minute their hopes were dashed as Boimah Kharpeh again shielded off two defenders,squared off Sandip Nandy and netted the ball to make it 2-0 for Sporting.
These two goals put's a few uneasy questions on Mohun Bagan's defence and goalkeeper's outing ability.The quality difference in the midfield was evident as Mohun Bagan midfield presented a sorry picture with no snatching,passing or possession. Mohun Bagan however pulled one goal back through penalty scored by Eric.

Tactical Note:

As Sporting Club fielded all four foreigners(Neila,Aruro,Kalu,Boimah) Mohun Bagan had two foreigners on pitch(Katsumi and Eric) and the difference in quality was clearly visible as Sporting 4-4-2 formation outplayed Bagan in all three departments.Midfield trio of Kalu-Jovel-Pratesh dominated midfield play as Denson-Katsumi-Zakir had a day to forget,passing was poor,holding the ball for unnecessary longer duration and inability to hold possession cost Bagan the game.Eric and Sabeeth were below par,it's high time Coach Karim starts looking for alternate options as Sabeeth had too many opportunity to start for Mohun Bagan and had wasted many goals in almost all matches.

Final Score:

Mohun Bagan 1-3 Sporting Club de Goa

Eric Muranda(pen.)            Boimah Khareph(15',77')