Mohun Bagan won a highly-anticipated Kolkata derby at the Kanchenjunga Stadium in Siliguri, climbing to third spot in the table, and putting themselves in an ideal position to launch a final assault on the I-League table.
The match was not a classic but credit must go to Bagan who looked the brighter of the two teams and finished their rivals off in the first half after they scored two goals in the last ten minutes of the opening period.
Sony Norde and Azharuddin Mallick scored for the Green-and-Maroon brigade before Willis Plaza recklessly got himself sent off for an altercation with Anas Edathodika. Rowllin Borges got a consolation for East Bengal as it was too little, too late.
The vanquished had only themselves to blame.
Did East Bengal play too narrowly?
The Lal Holud started in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Willis Plaza playing in front of Wedson Anselme, flanked by Abinash Ruidas and Romeo Fernandes. But the Under-22 player Ruidas did not last long and he was hooked for the Aussie Chris Payne.
Payne played centrally, as his average position clashed with that of Plaza and Anselme. The majority of their attacks came down the centre too with Eduardo Ferreira and Anas Edathodika comfortably standing their ground, winning 17 of 20 and 10 of 14 challenges contested respectively.
With most of their attacks down the middle, it was imperative that East Bengal seize the initiative in that area of the park. Chris Payne, however, had a shocker of a game was totally ineffective and looked off the pace.
It was possibly one of the worst performances we have seen from a foreign recruit this season, with his stats speaking for themselves.
The Aussie had two shots, both off target and made nine passes, with an accuracy of 53%, the worst of any player on the pitch. Of all of East Bengal’s forward players, only Anselme who played the 95 minutes received more balls from his teammates (32) than Payne’s 31, but the latter managed to lose the ball on 12 occasions, rendering him ineffective on the night.
Superb Sony, Yusa and Mallick
Sony Norde is so often accused of not turning up in derbies, whereas infact he has the highest number of goals in matches between these two teams. He added to that tally, and the Haitian now has four goals in derbies.
On Sunday, free-kick goal or not, he was fantastic, had the most shots on target of any player on the night (three of four attempted), won 10 of his challenges, and completed six dribbles, double that of the next highest and made three tackles.
Katsumi Yusa has led from the front this time and after his two goals against Bengaluru FC, put in another top performance this time. The Japanese had the highest passing accuracy of any Bagan player, completing 87% of his passes, won 10 of his 14 challenges attempted and lost the ball on only one occasion, a controlled display in the middle of the park.
Nineteen-year-old Azharuddin Mallick, in contrast to his Under-22 counterpart Ruidas, fared much better and scored the decisive goal, a superbly placed shot from outside the box.
As shown above, most of Bagan’s attacks came down his flank, Mallick and Kotal dovetailing superbly with the latter occupying a position closer to the half-line. Mallick stayed on the pitch for 82 minutes, also earning a yellow card for a passionate shirtless celebration and kept it tidy, completing 80% of his passes.
The only East Bengal player to emerge with an unscathed reputation was Rowllin Borges, not only firing home a consolation but battling hard in the middle of the park, recovering 8 balls, winning 77% of his tackles, highest for his team as opposed to his midfield partner Mehtab Hossain’s measly 31% success rate.
Robin Singh was also a winner in absentia, and the big Indian frontman hasn’t been at his best this season but may have fared better in a pressure-cooker situation. As for Trevor Morgan, the Australian has a lot to ponder as his East Bengal side look to regain lost momentum in the title race.
(All statistics in this piece, unless mentioned otherwise, have been provided by InStat.)