#MUMvATK Preview + Predictions: Mumbai have a void to fill; ATK lead but can they hold on?
AFTER DOMINATING the points table in the league stage, Mumbai City suffered a rude awakening on Saturday when they faced Atletico de Kolkata in the first leg of their ISL 2016 encounter. The well-balanced team, featuring talent and squad depth nearly unmatchable by any other ISL franchsie, saw their strategies fall apart at the Rabindra Sarobar, suffering a 3-2 defeat in a high scoring slugfest.
Their defending was haphazard. The defenders were out of position and so was the man-marking. They couldn't contain ATK's gameplay and often gave away the ball - and chances - to the opponents due to individual errors and could not keep calm in the face of pressure. As a result, Mumbai City are going into the second leg with the deficit of one goal and one marquee player. Forlan received his marching orders after a second yellow and will miss the second leg.
So when they host Atletico de Kolkata tomorrow night, the 2014 champions will try to turn the screws on them once again, de-stabilizing them by controlling the game, as they hope to reduce the Forlan-less Mumbai attack to bluntness. And the task to overcome the one goal deficit will not be easy.
Trump Cards - Norde and Lara
Guimaraes chose not to introduce Sony Norde in the first leg though the striker was match-fit and available. He may have planned to use the Haitian in the closing minutes of the game to put in some firepower to get the equaliser but that move might have been scrapped with the fact of having a man less. Guimaraes had two options at that juncture, either getting on Norde to reduce the deficit or limit the damage. He went for the second choice to limit the damage by introducing defensive Cardozo. We expect Norde to start the game tomorrow.
Lara came on in the last 10 minutes, the same that was expected from Norde. Molina will be using the services of Lara at length in the next game as he can ruffle the game and attract a lot of free kicks which can turn into dangerous set pieces to defend with the likes of Hume and Postiga with a lethal aerial presence. You never know, ATK might even score from that combination.
Tactics
Molina sent a team in the first leg with instructions that was visible in the game displayed by his players, The game played by ATK was fast, aggresive and smart. ATK players imposed pressure on the referee to show cards after every challenge they suffered. This led to two things; one it influenced the decisions in some cases and second it got to the head of a few Mumbai players and they reacted (like Forlan did). It leads to disrupt the player's natural game play. But this was ATK's home game so the crowd also gets behind the team . For sure, Molina will not have a repeat of this tactic in the second leg. We wait to see if Molina comes up with something to deter Mumbai from playing their best game.
Forlan void
Mumbai have a lot more choices to replace a player in case of unavailabities compared to ATK. Forlan has been intrsumental in the Mumbai team with his pin-point crosses to free movement attracting defenders towards him to keep the opposition on their toes. But given the squad of Mumbai, the position of Forlan can be replaced but is there replacement for the role that he played? An answer to this question may be the key to Mumbai's good show at home.
Predictions
The away goals do not matter in Indian Super League. It means if Mumbai were to win the second leg 1-0, we would see extra 30 minutes being played rather Mumbai winning on away goals rule. So Mumbai need two goals to win and that means work to be done in goal scoring. ATK will be seen visting Mumbai to add to their slender lead, we say Doutie, Lara and Hume will play a huge role in getting goals for the 2014 ISL champions.
A sense of confidence looms in ATK players having won against Mumbai and knowing that if they can score a goal, it will get tougher for Mumbai to get overcome that huge deficit. We lay forth a prediction of an aggregate of 5-3 win to ATK with the second leg also being won by ATK with 2 goals to 1.
Get the latest in the world of Sports, Teams, and Players! Free Delivery to your Inbox.
