Mumbai City managed to secure a 2-1 away win over newly-promoted Inter Kashi, in a closed-door encounter at the Kishore Bharti Krirangan. Mumbai took the lead late in first half stoppage time, when winger PN Noufal scored a close range backheel. Kashi hit back early in the second half through Rohit Danu, who scored a brilliant header following a Sandip Mandi cross. But Lallianzuala Chhangte scored the eventual winner for Mumbai City FC just a minute later. Late in the game, Mumbai right-back Valpuia was shown a straight red card for violent conduct.
Despite a Kashi onslaught at the end, which saw them hit the crossbar twice and draw a stunning save from Phurba Lachenpa, the Islanders just about held on for a 2-1 win. Here are three takeaways from a slowly-improving Inter Kashi’s defeat against Mumbai City.
Petr Kratky’s tactical adjustment
During the game, Mumbai head coach Petr Kratky frequently transitioned from the 4-2-3-1, a recent staple of Mumbai City, to a 3-2-4-1 formation. The shape employed Akash Mishra and Bijay Chhetri as “quarterbacks”, alongside a sweeper in Nuno Reis, PN Noufal and Valpuia as the wide players, Jorge Ortiz and Chhangte as the attacking midfielders taking up more central areas, and Ayush Chhikara at striker.
As part of the system, Chhikara dropped deeper from a traditional striker position, allowing Ortiz the freedom to take up a role further forward. Valpuia also frequently inverted into the midfield, allowing Kauko and Bawitlung (or Tluanga) the freedom to interchange positions. This freedom subsequently allowed Kauko to venture forward without the need to immediately hurry back to defend, hence allowing him to cover less distance while still influencing the game. It was Kauko’s run forward post-kick off and pass over the top that led to Mumbai’s second goal.
Inter Kashi slow start to season continues
Despite progress and improvement in performances, the results for the Varanasi-based side still do not fall in their favour. The second-half performance from Inter Kashi was noteworthy, coming forward with confidence on various occasions and testing the Mumbai defence, but were only able to score once. And despite the breakthrough, Kashi lost focus and conceded the eventual winner straight from kick-off.
The second half was also similar to their loss against Jamshedpur. Despite dominating, the side failed to convert their chances, and suffered a loss by a solitary goal. While these could still be teething problems for the side, the margin for error in this shortened season is minimal. It will be on Antonio Lopez Habas to drill the goalscoring edge into the team as soon as possible.
Mumbai City continue to be pinned back in the second half after leading
Mumbai City scoring to take the lead and being pinned back soon after has been a trend throughout the season. In their first game, the side were dominated by Chennaiyin FC in the second half. However, the Islanders were aided by CFC’s attack being one-dimensional, just putting in crosses from the right wing in the hopes it met a Chennaiyin header. Most crosses were also below par.
Similarly, the club was able to repel late pressure from Kerala Blasters, but were defensively resolute to prevent a high volume of chances being created. For the few chances created, the Blasters were ineffective in front of goal and spurned them. The club were punished for taking their foot off the pedal for the first time against SC Delhi, giving up a 2-goal lead to SC Delhi at home.
In this game, Inter Kashi were once again the better team in the second half and posed a real threat, but a top display from the defence, and smart saves from Phurba Lachenpa in goal, secured the victory. This trend will need to be stamped out, otherwise the club could see a lot of wins slip away from their grasp.
What next for both teams?
Antonio Lopez Habas’s side will take on Bengaluru FC at home, looking to right their wrongs from this game. However, Habas will be watching from the stands, after his red card in the first half. The matchup will take place on 22nd March, at 7:30 pm.
Petr Kratky will now turn his attention to arguably the toughest test of the season, away against Mohun Bagan. Mumbai have only lost once to Mohun Bagan, but the difference in squad quality this season is arguably the vastest in a long time. The game will take place on 20th March, at 7:30 pm.
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