#TFGtake: Moritz absence not big worry for Anelka; changing team's on-field fortune should be
A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO, FC Mumbai City abruptly announced that they were parting ways with their star attacking midfielder Andre Moritz. The official reason cited in the press release was that of some "personal emergency", although there were rumours abound that the 29 year old Brazilian had fallen out with the team's player-manager Nicolas Anelka.
Yesterday it became clear that Moritz had not left for his home country, and didn't look like having any emergency at all. He was in Goa, from where he has now left, reportedly for Thailand to find a club for the rest of his loan spell before he returns to his parent club, Pohlang Steelers in South Korea.
It's quite clear he is through with Mumbai City, for good. His open defiance of the official narrative reminds of the Habas-Fikru saga from the inaugural season of ISL.
Many fans are understandably upset. Andre Moritz was one of the players Mumbai City had projected as one of the stars of the team. They had retained only 3 foreigners from last season and Moritz was one. He was featured in their home kit launch, and was visible in many of the billboards and adverts.
Our main man. Great on and off the pitch. pic.twitter.com/VxvBfbZrZD
— Indranil Das Blah (@indranildasblah) October 5, 2015
But where does losing a player like him at the very outset of the season leave Mumbai City? The franchise struggled last year, ending up 6th on the table, and they are struggling now, with only one point to their name after 3 matches. Losing one of the supposed core players at this juncture is bound to hit them hard. Right?
It's not that simple. Because, although Moritz is undoubtedly a talented player with a good record backing him up, he wasn't that effective for Mumbai City last year. Apart from the hat-trick he scored in the Maharashtra Derby that Mumbai City won 5-0, he did not score a single goal, and had few assists. Although his presence in the attacking midfield was reassuring for the team, its translation into effectiveness was not that impressive. That his achievement is magnified and played up by the management speaks for how bad a season Mumbai City had, and how few things they had to be happy about.
This year, Anelka started him in in the first match against Pune City. Ominous rhetoric from the team warned of yet another stormy raid by Moritz. But he wasn't good at all. Positioned at the central midfield and trusted with a pivotal role, he was a lukewarm presence at best, with most of the Mumbai City attacks being relegated to the flanks, channeling mainly through Sony Norde. Fed up, Anelka substituted Moritz for Selim Benachour. But the medio took offence to that and had a spat with Anelka which ultimately led to the fallout.
The whole incident seems very unprofessional on Moritz's part; although the finer details may present a very different picture. But it is also up to the manager to dissuade rebel players and make them fall in line with the rest of the team. Man management is part of the job and having a player, an important one at that, leave the team in the middle of the season does not bode well for the morale of the dressing room.
And the loss of Andre Moritz won't do the team any good either. The 4-2-3-1 that Anelka went with in the third game changed to a more defensive 4-4-2 in the match against Kerala and they were able to grind out a draw, even though the midfield was considerably weak. Against Chennaiyin FC he went for a more attacking 4-3-3 but it backfired again and they lost.
While Selim Benachour, the player who replaced Moritz in the match against Pune City, is definitely doing better than Moritz did, it is a loss for Mumbai City that Anelka could not find a way to play these two talented midfielders alongside each other.
When Fikru was dropped from the ATK side, their forward line suffered. They failed to score a single goal from open play during the semi-finals, and got lucky in the final with that sneaky goal from Mohammad Rafique. But ultimately they won the ISL, which glosses over the bout of trouble they ran into due to the absence of their most successful striker.
Mumbai City's problems seem larger because they have not got a good start either. Though the presence of Moritz might not have changed their performance, his absence and the perceived effect of the coach-star player spat on the team will gain undue importance unless they start performing on the field and clock in a couple of wins. Anelka would be hard at work right now, not only managing perceptions, but also devising strategies to fill the gap in the midfield created by Moritz's absence, which could include bringing himself on.
