AfterAnwar Ali was taken off the ground against Basundhara Kings in AFC cup, Mohun Bagan’s skeleton came out of the cupboard.
A series of matches followed and Mohun Bagan lost 3 AFC games, and 3 ISL games.
It is time to revisit and find out the root causes of the dismal performance of the team.
It is true that Mohun Bagan had faces unprecedented injury lists ever since they joined ISL. Biggest was the loss of Joni Kauko, followed by Anwar Ali and Sahal Abdul Samad. Not to forget Ashique Kuruniyan faced a heavy blow at the beginning of the season.
However, Manvir, Glan, Hugo, Hamill, Ashish, Dimitri – all of them had injuries. This raises eyebrows – and a valid question came into minds of supporters – what happened to pre-season conditioning?
Now let us focus on the cards and unavailabilities of the players. Hugo, Vishal got booked for showing anger on the field. Liston got a 4 match ban for using cuss words against the referee. Juan himself was banned. The question, hence arises, is the condition of the dressing room alright? Why are the players so stressed ? Why are they psychologically anxious? This is impacting on the ground.
Next let us see, thoughts of the Head Coach. Juan prefers aggressive football, opts for 3-5-2 combinations. But was the Basundhara away match worth 3-5-2? Had he been consolidating the defense, pressure would have eased of the team. Match against Goa- yes it was difficult, but did he not made mistakes in taking off both Deepak and Sumit together ? Too many changes in the srcond half and ended up having 10 men for last few minutes? He has been very inconsistent in coming up with a Plan B. Anybody and everybody can read his game plan easily. Where is the innovation? Where is the tactics of conaolidating defense? Increaing players in attacking third? Anirudh has been seen in the defensive position when a corner is taken. That is something Ashsih can do, not Anirudh. He is under pressure and fumbling.
Now see how management is doing. All of a sudden the Technical Director opens up and talks about the players indicating some of them will have to go in Jan. This definitely impacted upon the performance of the players. Did management asked for an explanation from the TD? Or, was it intentionally done to disrupt Juan and his thought process.
Mohun Bagan missed a box striker ever since Roy Krishna left. Who ooted for Cummings and Sadiku? Whose decisions were to hire them who can’t convert opportunitites into goals by their own credits? Who decided to go with one single Indian stopper and rely on juniors ?
Whatever it is, Mohun Bagan did suffer since Anwar was injured. And yes, players, coachong staff, TD, and Management – all are to be blamed for the situation we have today.
