PREVIEW: ATK desperate to regain form and its "fans" against equally lacklustre MCFC

THE NEW HOME isn't suiting Atletico de Kolkata that much. 

It's a small stadium with a capacity of 22,000, which ATK 'magically' cut down to 12,750 (Just like they 'reduced' the capacity of the Salt Lake Stadium from 120,000 to 68,000 overnight), and they still cannot fill up those seats. Even the fact that the new stadium is more easily accessible does not seem to be helping, nor is the franchise's enviable status as the only franchise still unbeaten in ISL 2016.

So the franchise has reverted to the old trick of getting a new celebrity in the stand to draw crowd. Till now this role was being executed by injured marquee Helder Postiga but clearly it hasn't been enough; so in tomorrow's match against Mumbai City FC, ATK are flying in former French striker Thierry Henry, in the hope that his star presence in the VIP box will help them get as much crowd as Mohammedan Sporting regularly drew during their Calcutta Football League matches at their own ground at the Maidan, on weekdays at 3 pm, without any celebrities on the stands. 

But in all honesty, the franchise probably did not need to resort to such tactics to pull crowd, at least for this particular match. Because ATK's singular avenue for marketing themselves - that is, vigorously appealing to the East Bengal and Mohun Bagan fans by signing a lot of their players - is further boosted by the fact that Mumbai City FC feature quite a few players who are popular with ATK's target crowd. Sony Norde is a Mohun Bagan legend, and Pronay Halder is a regular starter for the Mariners. Sehnaj Singh was with Bagan in the past and last season he played at East Bengal. Going by ATK's last starting line-up, that's a potential 8 players from the two iconic Kolkata clubs who will be on the pitch Tuesday night.

The match itself is going to be quite interesting. Both teams have the lure to go top of the table if they win. ATK are second (9 points from 5 matches) and MCFC are 4th (8 points from 6 games). Both will be seeking this win as a means to recover from their recent lack of form. 

Mumbai City, after a bright start to their campaign, have not won any of their last 4 matches. In the last match against FC Goa, they got their marquee striker back at the fore, but Forlan seemed to be perpetually out of touch from the rest of his team, staying too far ahead for the midfield to reach him. They lost the game 0-1 to a bottom-table Goa and after leading the points table for a while, have slipped to the fourth place.

Meanwhile, Atletico de Kolkata have problems of their own. Their marquee player Helder Postiga is out with the same injury that made him sit out the entire tournament last year, and no one will clarify exactly how bad his injury is. Iain Hume, the designated man up front, is not having a good time; he's been missing plenty of chances, and scored only through a penalty in the previous game. And it was that penalty goal that won ATK the match against Delhi Dynamos; had Marcelinho not bottled the penalty for DDFC things probably wouldn't have ended favourably for the home team. 

So both teams are not at their strongest; the inevitable fatigue induced by the congested ISL fixtures is having a negative effect on both sets of players and for both coaches it will be a matter of managing to gain a positive outcome without incurring injuries on one of the main players.

But of the two franchises, Mumbai City appear to be worse off. They are missing Sunil Chhetri, who would have been the perfect bridge between the midfield and Forlan. But he won't be back until second week of November as Bengaluru FC have reached the AFC Cup final. On top of that, two Mumbai players M Defederico and Pronay Halder had to leave the pitch on stretcher midway through the second half with hamstring problems; another product of the ISL's poor fixtures. ATK's Iain Hume also felt similar problems in the last game but it's nearly not as bad. 

So overall it's advantage ATK. They will probably get all 3 points from this encounter and go to the top of the table. Unless Mohun Bagan's Sony Norde fires up in front of his home fans and makes ATK suffer like he did last year with a solid brace. 

And if Norde fires up tomorrow night, it wouldn't be surprising to see the entire bunch of "ATK fans" present at the stadium cheering along for the Mumbai City player.