I-League 2018-19: 3 reasons why East Bengal lost to Minerva Punjab

Defending champions Minerva Punjab FC got away with a 1-0 win to pile mile more misery on the Red and Golds
Defending champions Minerva Punjab FC got away with a 1-0 win to pile mile more misery on the Red and Golds

East Bengal’s dream to win the elusive I-League dealt with a major blow after their third loss on the trot this season.

Defending champions Minerva Punjab FC got away with a 1-0 win to pile mile more misery on the Red and Golds at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on Tuesday.

William Opoku scored the only goal of the match in the 77th minute after a defensive blunder from East Bengal.

Minerva climbed four places to move to the second position of the league table with 11 points from six matches.

East Bengal, after enduring a ‘hat-trick’ of losses, will now ponder over how to get back to winning ways before they face Gokulam Kerala FC at home in their next match. The Red and Golds remained stranded at six points from five matches.

The home side started the match on an attacking note, creating a web around the field with passing football.

Jobby Justin was wrongly adjudged off-side in the second half and Esqueda’s stunning shot was saved the Minerva goalie Arshdeep Singh.

They continued to dominate the game but lost the plot after the lemon-break as Minerva came back with counter attacks. Ultimately Opoku’s goal proved to be the difference between the two sides.

Let us look at the three reasons behind East Bengal’s loss to Minerva:


#3 Strikers’ inability to count their opportunities

After four matches, East Bengal finally played passing football and had fair share of possession in the first half.

The created so many opportunities during that time but there was no real movement in the first half an hour. Both Jobby Justin and Enrique Esqueda were tightly marked at the upfront by Minerva defenders.

In this kind of situation, generally, the attacking midfielder takes the goal-scoring responsibility.

But both Brandon Vanlalremdika and Yami Longvah were wasteful. Longvah even had an open goal in the second half but his shot went wide. Brandon was slightly better as left-winger but he too was trapped by Minerva’s web.

Kassim Aidara was playing as a defensive blocker and didn’t contribute too much in the upfront.

So there was no real link between the strikers and them midfielder which East Bengal could on.

Mahmoud Al-Amna was an ideal man but his injury proves too heavy for the Red and Golds. It remains to be seen If Jaime Colado can provide the attacking solidity.

#2 Stout defending from Minerva

Minerva had an excellent aerial advantage thanks to the African defenders in their side
Minerva had an excellent aerial advantage thanks to the African defenders in their side

Before the match, Minerva Punjab coach Paul Munster had said his team will keep an eye to East Bengal’s strikers, especially Enrique Esqueda.

He kept his words and adopted for an ultra-defensive strategy against East Bengal. He fielded five defenders in his line-up including two foreigners.

Centre-back Lancine Toure was given the responsibility to block Enrique Esqueda. He did the job perfectly and gave Enrique no space to move in the whole match.

There were at least three defenders posted in Minerva’s half even when they were attacking. As a result, East Bengal couldn’t bite their teeth during a counter attack.

Minerva had an excellent aerial advantage thanks to the African defenders in their side. They foiled every East Bengal attack which came from the wings.

Not for a moment did the defenders lost their concentration in the match. East Bengal were too reliant on passing football.

But Minerva defenders kept the shape of their defence. Though there were minor mistakes, it was enough for them to earn all the points from the match.

They took their opportunities in attack too. Whenever they got the ball, they tried to taste red and gold defence.

William Opoku was at the centre of their attacks. Their perseverance ultimately paid off when the Ghanaian scored the only goal of the match in the 77th minute.

Minerva coach Paul Munster even conceded after the match that, “We tried to win the second ball and knew that even if we get a chance, we would score. That is what happened but we got more chances which we should’ve scored. However, for me a 1-0 or 4-0 remains the same importance.”

#1 Familiar mistakes occur again for East Bengal

Minerva started taking their presence felt in and around East Bengal box
Minerva started taking their presence felt in and around East Bengal box

Being a weekday, there was not many supporters in the stands. But those who took their time out were enthralled to see a beautiful brand of passing football from their team. East Bengal were dominating the game and on few occasion went near the goalmouth.

But the situation changed in the second half. Minerva started taking their presence felt in and around East Bengal box.

Amid constant pressure, East Bengal started crumbling. Gaps opened between Johnny Acosta and Borja Gomez Perez and Minerva started taking their opportunity from sudden counter attacks and eventually got the goal in 77th minute.

The way East Bengal conceded the goal was worst, to say the least. Young lad Makan Chothe provided a defense-splitting pass on the left hand to Moinuddin Khan. Moinuddin saw Opoku near the box and crossed for him.

East Bengal goalkeeper Ubaid CK completely failed to judge the bounce of the ball and clashed with Manoj Mohammed who too failed to intercept.

Opoku got a little touch on the ball which was enough to see the net. Neither Borja nor Acosta were present on the scene and there was a complete mess within East Bengal defence with players blaming each other.

Despite failing to leave an impression, East Bengal coach Alejandro Menendez handed Yami Longvah a start.

The move was backfired and he forced to change the right-winger early in the second half. The move to start with pint-size Brandon against tall Minerva defenders was also a questionable decision from Alejandro.

Though after the match he said, “We can still win the I-League. I am not feeling pressure. We made some mistakes and our opponents utilised that.”

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Edited by Alan John