ISL Analysis | Mumbai City FC survive Chennaiyin onslaught to secure win
ISL Media
Mumbai City FC saw luck play a major role in their second win of the season as they saw the hosts winning the penalty through a wrong decision and Chennaiyin squandering a host of chances. The hosts also missed many chances at home, which will definitely give the coach a lot to think about.
Achille Emana - The weapon Mumbai have hardly been using
Strong, athletic, a good footballing brain and unparalleled stamina - these are the qualities any ISL club would want to have in their players. And all of them are present in perfect proportions in former Cameroonian international Achille Emana. The 6ft tall attacking midfielder of Mumbai City FC relies on his brute strength to outmuscle his way up
In today’s game, where neither side seemed to have a clear plan of creating chances, Emana’s presence gave Mumbai a huge advantage near Chennai’s
While Alexandre Guimaraes’ plans for him is quite obvious, playing him up front to create chances and make things happen, the No. 10 is surely not his best position in the ISL. Unlike FC Pune City, or FC Goa or Bengaluru FC, Mumbai
Poor refereeing plays a spoiler
While refereeing in Indian Super League has never top drawer in the past three seasons, the standard has looked surprisingly below par this time. While the advent of game-changing tactics brought in by Sergio Lobera in FC Goa has been a tremendous positive in getting this league an upgrade, poor refereeing could end up doing more damage than that.
The match between Mumbai and Chennai mainly boiled down to physically dominant players’ ability to win headers from both sides. Numerous such attempts were bound to see a flurry of challenges coming in and it was the referee’s job to keep the game disciplined. However, the official looked uncertain the entire game, both at his authoritative duties as well as professional. Not only was the foul, which led to the penalty and turned out to be the game’s decider, outside the box, the official also gave away numerous soft fouls that didn’t call for any interruption of the game.
The game saw 38 fouls jointly from both the sides and six yellow cards. But, referee’s passive approach to the game saw players lunge in at every instance, safe in the knowledge that he wouldn’t be stern in taking decisions.
Enough for Rafa Jorda?
Mumbai City saw their second win of the season today, in yet another unlikely fashion. Their previous win was against FC Goa, who had dominated and bested throughout that entire game and even saw a goal wrongly ruled offside, in the second game. While their display was more commanding this time around, they did see some shaky moments, but most of all a wasteful attack.
Guimaraes will be disappointed with how his attack panned out today. They attempted eight shots on goal today, out of which four were easy tap-ins, and star striker Rafa was responsible for all of them. The first real chance for the hosts came in the 31st minute
As if it was not enough, he went on to miss another sitter in the 75th minute that could have sealed the game for the hosts, when he
