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#1 Defenders need to get their act together
After the signing of Johnny Acosta and Borja Gomez, East Bengal were touted to have the strongest defence. But conceding five goals in the last two matches has brought their ability into question.
More than the number of goals, the way they have conceded is definitely a cause of concern. Against Aizawl, Kamalpreet failed to clear a rebound from goalkeeper near the goalmouth and Felix Chidi easily tapped it home.
As for the second one, Lalkhawmawpuia scored from a goalmouth melee and East Bengal defenders were clearly at fault for that. They failed to clear the corner quickly and also forgot to mark the Aizawl midfielder, who was let free inside the box.
The third goal was the worst among them. Lalkhawmawpuia scored from a brilliant counter-attack for the home side. During the goal, there was a clear miscommunication between Gomez and Acosta, with the latter nowhere near the incident.
Gomez even acknowledged they were at fault when he said, “Our defence put up a good performance overall. But in the last match, we made some mistakes and paid for that. From the next match, we’ll try not to commit a mistake."
True to his words, East Bengal defenders need to get their act together. The gap between the I-League teams is slim and a single mistake can cost you the game.
