Odafa and Sunil keep Bagan in the title chase after they scored for Bagan in the game against Southern Samity today. It was a good game as both the teams played open football till the end and many opportunities were created. Both the goalies – Sangram and Abhijit had busy days under the wood works and did well in saving goals.

Bagan played in a formation of 4-5-1 in the first half of the game. It was a new defense and for the first time Pradeep, Masih, Anwar and Daljit played together as the defenders. Midfield was of Manish Bhargav (U-19), Jewel, Zeleny, Murali and Lima. Ashim was the lone forward in the frontline. Lima played well and operated from the left keeping Southern defenders busy.  Jewel operated from the middle while Pradeep was operating well from the right. Zeleny played well as a defensive mideo foiling many southern attacks.

But ball distribution by Zeleny, Murali, Anwar and Daljit were awful. There were series of misspasses – and at timesDaljit and Pradeep failed to come back after they overlapped. Sangram and Anwar did well in foiling Southern moves from counter attacks.

In the second half Odafa replaced Murali who was miserable today. But the situation did not improve. Soon sunil replaced Zeleny – and Bagan moved into 4-3-3 combination. In Zeleny’s absence there was a pressure on the defense. However, again Anwar and Sangram did well to stop Southern attacks. In the 76th minute Barreto replaced Jewel and Bagan had 4-2-4 formation. Southern failed to resist the pressure and in the 79th minute Celestine fall down in an Odafa move and stopped the ball with his hand. Bagan was awareded with a penalty. Odafa scored the first goal by placing the ball to the right of Abhijit.

But Southern faught well and tried to equalise. In the 90th minute Odafa got an opportunity to increase the margin but Abhijit saved his shot – the ball went to unguarded Sunil who didn’t make any mistake to convert that to a goal.

Bagan earned 3 vital points and are still in the title chase.

It is a bit early to single out Dempo and East Bengal as the only title contenders for I League this season, but it appears highly likely that Mohun Bagan will not be among the chasing pack while Pune FC and Prayag chasing for the top spot. Crippled by injuries to some regular starters like Nabi, Jewel and Masih, and even more so by the injury and unavailability of Sunil, Mohun Bagan were so off the pace for most of the match against Prayag that the fans will want to forget as soon as possible.

With the team’s vertebrae boiling down to inconsistent and injury-prone Jose Barreto, Bagan TD Subrata Bhattacharya faces a mammoth task of rebuilding his side. Add to it – it seems the changes that were done in the Prayag match was of the thought process of the Finance Secretary than of the TD and the Coach. Wrong inclusion of Jose Barreto in a game in the last season led to a humiliating defeat of Bagan against the arch-rivals. If the official influenced the changes done in the field in the last game – it seemed he had not learnt his lessons yet. Add to it – he has taken active part in recruiting or retaining a team that has been suffering in midfield and in defense in last  27 games the team has played. The TD and  the coach never got a full team now that half of the season is over!

Several pundits have suggested that the ten-year drought of iLeauge could have ended this season, but perhaps Bagan will fail to be there in the top three positions of the iLeague at the end of the season – and is heading towards another trophyless season thanks to the team selection. It is high time that officials understand the same and stop interfering into the changes from the side bench.

We must check who all are becoming match winners of the clubs at iLeague – Chidi, Sueoka, Ishfaq, Gaurmangi, Deepak, Lalkamal, Sankar, Mehtab, Ravanan, James … finding something common in these players ?

In addition – Jose Barreto must be used as a reserve player and not into playing XI from the beginning of the game. A more fit set should be fielded from the beginning of the game.

However, the future of Bagan is completely in the officials’ hands – they need to prove that the future of the club is in safe hands – rather than using Rapid Action forces to dismantle the weary supporters.

Picture Courtesy: Sangbad Pratidin

Mohun Bagan’s hopes for the iLeague title suffered a blow Sunday with a 2-1 road loss to Prayag United. Vincent and Deepak scored for Prayag while Anwar scored the lone goal for Bagan. Prayag outplayed Bagan thanks to ex-mariners – Deepak, James and Sankar Oraon. Bagan’s second consecutive loss from three matches in the second leg makes Bagan behind Prayag now – and is now with 27 points from 16 matches and has moved to the fifth position of the leagu table.

Prayag has dashed Jose Barreto’s hopes of a dream return and winning the iLeague titl before he hangs up his boots. Vincent had given Prayag a lead in the 16th minute when he headed the ball into the goal from a James Singh corner. Sangram had taken away his eyes from the ball during this goal.

In the 19th minute Anwar scored a goal from 9 yards to find the equaliser.

Soon Prayag started operating from down the middle – and Bagan players, in absence of Nabi Jewel and Masih had no ideas how to stop them. There was a surprised change in Bagan’s team in the 40th minute when Gouranga Dutta replaced manish Bhargav.

However the first half ended in 1-1.

In the second half Deepak moved to the right to stop Lima’s movements while Arnab and Razzac went for a double coverage for Odafa. It seemed Prayag coach did not bother covering Jose Barreto who is slow and seem to have lost his touch this season!

Deepak scored a brilliant goal in the s64th minute. His 30 yards shot had beaten Sangram, hit the far post and went in.

The other changes that were done for Bagan were equally surprising – Pradeep for Ashim and Snehasish for Lima. None of them clicked and Prayag ruled the rest of the match to ensure they secure 3 vital points.

Refereeing was also not upto the mark. Once Odafa was in a scoring position and the referee had halted the game for reasons no body understood. Once Yakubu fall down without any reason and Pratap Singh gave a foul in favour of Prayag.

This is the second consecutive game refereeing went wrong against Bagan and in this game also Bagan was deprived of a penalty.

But perhaps it is time the TD must think of using Barreto as a replacement.