East Bengal’s poor run of form in their debut season in the Indian Super League (ISL) continued as they went down 0-2 against NorthEast United on Saturday and remained bottom of the league table.
The Red and Golds' performance against the Highlanders was reminiscent of the Kolkata derby where also East Bengal played better only to be beaten by a more efficient team.
The Kolkata giants had more possession of the ball, played more passes and created more chances than the Highlanders, but in football, goals matter and that is what NorthEast did.
Robbie Fowler made just one change in the lineup that lost to Mumbai City in the last match. He slotted in defensive midfielder Sehnaj Singh as a centre back, replacing injured skipper Danny Fox. Singh did not look very comfortable in his role and the backline did not inspire confidence. And their vital mistakes cost the team two goals last night.
They conceded the first goal in a ridiculous manner as Australian defender Scott Neville failed to clear Kwesi Appiah’s cross which later ricochet off Surchandra Singh’s knees and went inside the goal. Coach Robbie Fowler wasn’t pleased with the silly errors his defenders were committing and he said after the game, “Sometimes it is schoolboy football. When you are a professional footballer, you need to realise what's at stake. We will work on that on the training pitch.”
Jacques Maghoma and Anthony Pilkington, who operated just behind Balwant Singh, worked very hard and looked to create chances. Unfortunately, neither Balwant Singh nor CK Vineeth, who replaced the Punjabi forward in the second half, were able to convert any.
Though there were a couple of refereeing decisions that went against East Bengal, particularly related to penalty shouts, it cannot be an excuse for the team's inability to create and convert chances.
East Bengal are the only team in the ISL so far who are yet to score a goal and that is not surprising considering the state of the team’s forward line. As has been mentioned before, the side does not have a proven overseas finisher. And their Indian forwards are not in great form, given that Jeje Lalpekhlua is coming back after a long injury lay-off and is still not 100 per cent. Balwant on the other hand, has not been among the goals in the last one or two years. Although CK Vineeth was tried out as an auxiliary striker, it did not work.
The Kolkata giants can play as many passes as they want but if they can’t be lethal in the attacking third then there is no point just dominating matches. That is exactly what NorthEast United have done under Gerard Nus so far.
Under the Spaniard’s tutelage, NorthEast United have played to their strengths and Nus’ pragmatic approach has earned the team positive results. They have a solid backline under the leadership of Belgian defender Benjamin Lambot who had a stellar outing against East Bengal. Lambot’s towering presence did not allow the East Bengal attackers to pose any major threat in the NorthEast penalty box.
Fowler needs to find a solution to his team’s attacking woes soon if they want to turn things around. Getting a top foreign striker has to be the team management’s topmost priority and the recruitment must be done at the earliest if they don’t want the club’s debut ISL season turn into a nightmare.