Mumbai: What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? We get a stalemate. Well, we got exactly that, when Mumbai City FC met Atletico de Kolkata (ATK) at the Andheri Sports Complex, in Mumbai, on Tuesday.
While both the sides are yet to suffer a defeat so far in this year’s Indian Super League (ISL), Mumbai were the clear favourites in the match, as they were coming to it on the back of two back-to-back victories. Indeed, the hosts started off the match with greater intent, and possession of the ball, as they looked to make early inroads into the game.
Mumbai manager Alex Borges Guimaraes was left without star striker Diego Forlan, who carried a knock from the previous game. Hence, he decided to go for a slightly unconventional setup – one without a recognised striker in his starting XI.
Guimaraes recognised that in a match as important as this, he would invariably need to gain control of the midfield. Thus, Mumbai started with Boithang Haokip as a false no. 9, often dropping into midfield, to give playmakers Leo Da Costa and Krisztian Vadocz another option to pass the ball to.
This tactic worked wonders, as Mumbai clearly outnumbered ATK in the middle of the park, at the start of the game. The hosts kept majority of the possession in the opening exchanges, and created a number of chances, while ATK struggled to defend the incessant attacks on their penalty area.
“The team understood what kind of game we had to play without Diego (Forlan),” said Guimaraes.
“They understood, and Boithang (Haokip) moved very well in the first 45 minutes.”
The duo of Haokip and Matias Defederico looked the most dangerous in the first half, as they made a number of daring runs, trying the get behind the towering ATK central defenders Arnab Mondal and Jose Arroyo.
On paper, both Mondal and Arroyo should dominate the diminutive duo of Haokip and Defederico. However, that was hardly the case. The ATK defence looked especially uncomfortable against aerial through balls, which in turn, afforded Haokip and Defederico a lot of opportunities to take their shots.
The former got a couple of great chances to put his team ahead, early in the first half, only to be thwarted by ATK goalkeeper Debjit Majumder on the first occasion, and the crossbar on the second.
It was their inability to deal with the long balls that finally did ATK in, on the 27th minute. An aimless lob, that should easily have been taken care of by the defence, resulted in a clear goal scoring opportunity, as Mondal completely misjudged the header, leaving Defederico to control it on the bounce.
The diminutive Argentinian smartly turned Arroyo and sped past Pritam Kotal, and slotted the ball out of the reach of an onrushing Debjit, to give Mumbai their deserved lead.
However, the game completely turned on its head, after ATK boss Jose Molina made a couple of changes to his side in the second half.
Seeing that his side were outnumbered in midfield, the Spaniard took off star forward Iain Hume and Bikramjit Singh, and brought on Stephen Pearson and Abinash Ruidas, to reclaim control of the midfield.
The ploy did work to some extent, as ATK held on to lion’s share of the ball, but chances were still hard to come by, as they were crowded out in the middle of the park.
“I was not happy with how we played in the first 45 minutes. I tried to change some things,” said Molina.
