#TFGtake: Mumbai FC hit the worst form in their history - a debacle from the top down

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME MUMBAI FC LOST FIVE MATCHES IN A ROW?  It has never happened!

What was supposed to be a leap to the next level has somehow landed Mumbai FC in a soup tougher than all their previous homelessness and financial constraints caused them. 

With an aim to finish among the top three of the table, Mumbai have landed closer to the bottom three rather than the top. We look at Mumbai FC from various angles in order to understand where the leak is happening and what needs to be fixed to get them back on track.

Mumbai FC has been the same over the years. This season, they were in for a major overhaul in everything from the squad to the club mindset. This is not an easy transition for everyone involved. In the current phase, Mumbai FC are a team that is yet to complete the major part of this transition. Performance is the first sign if the team has completed the transition, but not the only one. We look at some of the things that are the biggest hindrances to help Mumbai get to the other side.

Too many changes in the starting line up

Mumbai FC have six points from seven games, all of those have been from the first two games. At the start of the season, Mumbai announced a 21-man squad, not a single foreign player included. This is far less than the stipulated maximum allotted to an I-league team. Santosh Kashyap, Coach of Mumbai FC, said that the reason this number is smaller is because they were yet to sign few foreign players and the number would increase as the formalities are complete.

Also, the team was blessed to have just one injury in the entire squad that ruled out experienced Allan Dias from playing the first couple of games. Mumbai won the first two games with an unchanged starting eleven. All results after that have been losses for the team.

Below is the statistic that shows the number of starting line-up changes that were done and the game results.

Mumbai FC got both foreigners starting against Shillong Lajong so two changes made sense. In the same game, Kattimani received a red card so there had to be a forced change in the next game. Having too many changes in the squad does not really help a fairly new team.

To lay forth an example of the advantage of playing an unchanged side, consider Shillong Lajong this season, a team that has been on a four match winning run, have played with an unchanged side in the last four games.

Kashyap defended having smaller set of players as he said he believed in having a compact but all effective squad to a larger but a few stars in the team. Mumbai FC would hope the Coach finds his right combination of players soon before the poor run of results start spoiling the plans of finishing in the top three.

Attractive, Attacking and effective Football

The repeated statement made by the Mumbai FC gaffer was the promise of "attractive, effective and attacking football".

A look at the statements made by the Mumbai FC Coach after each game helps us understanding what was missing from the Coach's perspective.

After the Churchill victory, Kashyap said,

"With our foreigners, we will also become a stronger side"

Requirement #1: Foreigners in the squad

On the home loss against Aizawl, the Coach said,

"We missed a strong striker upfront"

Requirement #2: A Striker

Mumbai lost 3-1 to Shillong away from home. Mumbai started two foreigners; one of them striker.

On that Shillong loss, Kashyap said,

"Scoring is the problem that’s why we lost"

Minerva beat Mumbai 2-1. Karan Sawhney, Mumbai's top scorer, scored the only goal for Mumbai, had started for the first time in seven games. Foreign striker, Robinho did not feature.

Requirement of foreigners and a striker was delivered with the signing of Robinho and Theobald.

Goals are the end result of attacking football. Mumbai have scored just 5 goals so far. Three of them have come from Karan Sawhney, who is not a foreign striker but has not been started. Now, with the problem of foreigner signings complete, and also with a striker among them, Santosh Kashyap seems to have got what he wanted in making a complete squad. As the I-league signings deadline fast approaches, Kashyap needs to work fast if there is a need for more tools needed to fulfil the promise of "attractive, effective and attacking football".

Squad changes

Once a coach finds sees the efforts put in the on a player's development reaping fruit, a bond is established between the two. It is vice-versa as the player also enjoys the trust bestowed on his capabilities to perform better as the time goes by. So it is but natural to an outgoing coach to tug along his trusted players to the new club that he moves to. Kashyap also roped in his trusted players like Laxmikant Kattimani, who was with him at Royal Wahingdoh, also got in Lalchaawnkima and Theobald. Now, Mumbai FC also had a Coach that has moved to another club, he too attracted two of his best players Ashutosh Mehta and Jayesh Rane along with him. These two were very popular among the locals as they came up the youth ranks and stayed with the club through thick and thin.

Also departing the club were strong performers Min-Chol Son and Taisuke. Both were they strong holders of the game. Min-Chol Son the ever reliable force at the back line partnering with Pratik Chowdhary and Taisuke the player was found to be covering every corner of the field.

All of these players were among the top 10 players played the most for the club last season. To fill the void left by these regular and impact-creating players should have been the top most task for the club.

12 conceded in 7 games. Goal scoring is the only problem? Defence, all fine?

Comparison of Goals conceded by Mumbai FC

Last season's number could have been much more had the performance of Min-Chol Son in the defence and ball-winning tackles of Taisuke not been there. Mumbai FC must be missing the services of these two henchmen by the way goals are being let in without any restraints. It is a huge surprise there has not been a word of mention by Kashyap of correcting the defensive woes which are quite evident as his post-match analysis has emphasised on not being able to score.

The great attacking football show

If attacking is what the coach wants to get to the team game play, strikers are needed. If we look at the strikers in the team, it shows up Farukh, Victorino, Robinho and Karan. None of them in the seven games so far have played a full 90-minute game. Is it the trust that is lacking in the strikers or is there a wait for some more foreigner striker to single-handedly deliver all the goals?

Captain Dias, the right choice?

Steven Dias was the senior most with regard to experience prior to arrival of Densill Theobald. In his second season at the club, Steven has played for the India national team on many an occasion. He earned over 20 international caps playing as a midfielder and has won the Nehru Cup the AFC Challenge Cup.

In this season, has started on just four occasions and played the entire game only once. The lack of game time to Steven comes as no surprise as even in the last season, he was featured only in 9 of the 16 games Mumbai FC played in. Steven is known to have scored some great goals from free kicks; that when he was in his prime. At the campaign, Kashyap, who was also known for his set pieces, said Steven Dias will be seen as an even more dangerous dead-ball specialist. So much for the dangerous free kicks, Steven Dias, in the line-up, has become a rare sight.

The captain of the team has picked up two yellow cards already and both of them for unwarranted actions. The frustrated character that Steven has displayed at times this season does not suit a team that has running with a series of poor results. Mumbai FC lack a leader on the field to edge the team on with some hard-fighting performance; the kind of leadership that Taisuke showed even against the toughest of opponents. Is Steven Dias been the one? Not quite already.

The way things are going, Mumbai FC are stranded on an airplane that has lost its course and will soon send out an S.O.S. if the results don't get them back to its destined path. It won't be surprised if the passengers hear an announcement asking to brace them for a crash landing.

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