SC East Bengal vs Mumbai City FC: 5 Talking Points From the ISL Match

Despite getting only a point, SC East Bengal looked to have better of the leader board toppers. Although there was a lot of goalmouth action from the Kolkata Giants, a wastefulness upfront deprived them of the full points.

On the other hand, Des Buckingham's Mumbai City FC continued their win-less run for four games looking absolutely disorganized. A very stout SC East Bengal added to the woes of the Islanders as the likes of Igor Angulo, Ahmed Jahouh and Cassio Gabriel were kept at bay. As SC East Bengal looked to be a better side, Sourav Das was adjudged the Man of the Match.

The encounter was a highly contested one, although there wasn't much action. However, we at The Bridge endeavour to highlight some interesting outlooks from the game.

Interesting line ups

Going winless for nine games, SC East Bengal were more than desperate for a win. However, with the camp being hit by negatives, Coach Renedy Singh had to make use of whatever resources were available to them. With Darren Sidoel still recovering, along with Tomislav Mrcela and Franjo Prce being injured, SCEB could start with only one foreigner, Daniel Chima. Antonio Perosevic was also away serving a suspension.

A change was also seen in the starting lineup of Mumbai City FC. Going winless for the last three matches, Des Buckingham chose to drop Nawaz. Conceding 10 goals in their last three encounters, Buckingham chose to opt for Phurba Lachenpa under the sticks. The game also saw Vinit Rai make his debut for the Islanders after joining the former champions from Odisha FC.

SC East Bengal looks better under Renedy Singh

With the departure of Manuel Diaz, Renedy Singh took over a shambolic SC East Bengal as an interim manager. From his first game against Bengaluru FC itself, the side looked a lot freshened and better. The form continued against Mumbai City FC as well. Although the team failed to register any goal for the first forty five minutes, there were a lot of positives from the time, especially in the defence.

The defence looked way more organised. The defenders reduced the distances among themselves, allowing fewer spaces for an attacking Mumbai to go through. The individual brilliance of Hira Mondal, Adil Khan and Amarjit Singh Kiyam was very much evident and the reason somehow seemed to resonate with Renedy Singh's management skills. In all, it can be said that Renedy Singh looked to get better of Des Buckingham throughout the whole game.

Mumbai City's momentum has been suddenly stopped

Mumbai City FC started on a good note. Players like Cassio Gabriel, Ahmed Jahouh, Igor Angulo shone brightly as the team displayed some brilliant attacking football. However, with time the flair seemed to phase down and Mumbai couldn't hold onto their big lead on the top.

However, Igor Angulo and Ahmed Jahouh kept their momentum. Igor Angulo in fact stays put in the run for Golden Boot with eight goals in 10 games. But still, they couldn't go over the line.

Daniel Chima Chukwu's wastefulness upfront

SC East Bengal defence looked to remain Rock solid. The players did a brilliant job keeping the likes of Ahmed Jahouh, Igor Angulo, Cassio Gabriel at bay. At the same time, the SCEB attack looked below par. Taking as many as eight shots, the team could register only one. SC East Bengal failed to take away all the three points from the encounter, and the wastefulness of Daniel Chima can be termed as a big reason for it. Taking four shots, the acclaimed goal scorer could only attempt one at the target. At the same time, the absence of Perosevic was evidently felt throughout the game as the Red and Gold Brigade could not register any goal.

Questionable substitutions

As interesting as the lineups were for both the teams, the substitution decisions seemed quite questionable.

Renedy Singh did not have much luck with substitution, with most of the players out. Renedy brought in Mohammed Rafique for Bikash Jairu and later brought in a not so fit Darren Sidoel for Amarjit Singh Kiyam. However, the coach had no proper goal scorer to replace Daniel Chima with despite the forward's wastefulness upfront. However, Singh took a risk bringing on Balwant Singh and Jakichand Singh in an attempt of getting goals.

However, Des Buckingham made some questionable changes. Buckingham brought in Ygor Catatau in the hope to have some flair in attack, which was not seen. Especially in the second half, Mumbai City FC failed to make any proper forward runs. Des later brought in Vinit Rai for Raynier Fernandes which seemed to raise a lot of confusion. Bringing in a defensive player like Rai, in place of Raynier while the team is in desperate need of goals seemed like a not so clever decision. So was the decision to bring in Bradden Imman.