Match Review :
The first goal came at 8 minutes when a quick counter attack move from midfield saw Darrel Duffy finding empty space near EB box and his low drive was saved by Abhijit Mondal but the rebound fell nicely to the foot of right winger Karma Thiley who placed it neatly at the back of the net. Before East Bengal could recover from this shock East Bengal's midfield again caught napping and the left the flood gates open and Salgaocar medio Francis Fernandes had acres of space to surge forward and brilliantly lobbed the ball at the back of the end over an advancing Abhjit Mondal.The East Bengal players and fans were deflated being 2-0 down so early.
Both the goals contributed to lapse of East Bengal midfield as their attacking and holding midfielders could not hold the shape of the team and were scattered with poor off the ball positioning.
There was no attempt to close down on the attacking Salgaocar midfielders and attacking midfielders failed to track back as a result the Salgaocar midfielders dominated midfield play through out the 90 minutes.
Salgaocar Coach Derek Perreira normally plays a very solid formation in away game with 4-5-1 formation.Rocus Lamare and Gilbert normally plays as holding medio while Frances Fernandes and Karma Tsewang along with their U-23 player Clifim Dias were attacking options and also linked up as attacking wing halfs to assist lone striker Darrel Duffy.Chika Wali and Augustin Fernandes forms a solid combo at the back.
Salgaocar displayed perfect away game discipline being solid at the back,increasing men in midfield to deny any free space to opponent,attacking midfielders overlapping perfectly,holding midfielders maintaining minimum gap with the backline while defending and they looked solid for most part of the game.
On the other hand East Bengal midfield was least impressive as they allowed too much space in midfield,lost possession easily, they failed to snatch and closing down of their attacking midfielders was non existent.
Kevin Lobo and Lalrindika managed to create few openings down the flanks but their "blow hot-blow cold" attacking duo of Moga and Chidi were closely marked by Salgaocar defenders and denied them any space and time to turn or take a shot.
Moga playing as the lead striker had few good chances but his poor touch and control let him down.Chidi too searching for his golden form of last season had a few cracks at goal and they sailed well over the cross bar.East Bengal went 2-0 down at half time.
Post break as East Bengal looked to get back into the game,East Bengal Coach Falopa desperately in search of some goals brought all his attacking options in form of Joaquim Abranches and Baljit.But it showed no change in fortune as Francis Fernandes sprinted down an empty right flank crossed the ball in and Gilbert Oliviera headed the ball back to the path of Clifton Dias who made it 3-0 for Salgaocar.
Down and out East Bengal finally got one goal back when Moga out jumped his marker from a curling ball down the left flank from Kevin Lobo and headed the ball at the back of the net to make it 3-1.With a goal back East Bengal showed some urgency and with the substitution of Chidi with Semin Lane showed some spring in the stride of East Bengal as they pressed hard for another goal.The post 70 minutes game saw a changed East Bengal side as they had series of chances around the Salgaocar goal and a number of corners as the ball flew past the Salgaocar goal every now and then. Finally the pressure paid off as Semil Lane's low shot from the right side of the box beat GK Karanjit Singh git the base of far post and went back into the back of the net.3-2 East Bengal..come back was on with approximately 15 minutes of play left as the fans were gripped in anticipation.
Derek Perreira brought in his reserve foreigner Claude Gnakpa in place of Duffy who almost put the encounter when he got an open chance in a quick counter attack but Abhjit Mondal covered his near post well and saved the powerful shot.East Bengal pressed forward looking to snatch one point as Baljit and Khabra tried a few long rangers and were close but not close enough to earn them a point. As the 4th referee showed 5 minutes it raised hopes,but Salgaocar managed to hold on to the slender lead and dashing East Bengal hopes for a comeback and finally the game ended in 3-2 loss for the home team.
Tactical Note:
Salgaocar Coach showed perfect acumen and brilliant game reading to create a crowded midfield formation 4-5-1 as they took the control of the game from onset. The 5 midfielders outplayed the free flowing East Bengal game and also curtailed the Lobo-Dika creativity down the middle as a result the strikers were cut off from any midfield supply.
Coach Falopa needs to rethink his strategy on how to use Chidi and Moga.Chidi needs to be used as their no.1 attacking option and he seems to be struggling to play his natural game as a withdrawal forward behind Moga.East Bengal need to co ordinate the wing play of their side backs and while the side backs are overlapping the midfielders are not tracking back deep enough to plug the gaps and as a result they got caught on the counter attack.
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