ISL 2017, Match 34: Mumbai City FC vs Delhi Dynamos, 5 Talking Points

Mumbai City FC made sure that the Delhi Dynamos' 2017 ended on a miserable note as they ended up with a 4-0 win at home, their biggest of the season. Delhi Dynamos fared decently in the first half, but as has been the tale all season, they were poor defensively to allow Mumbai way too many easy chances while not taking their own.

Here's what stood out from the game:

Route one football leads to chances for Mumbai

A fair indication of how poorly the Dynamos are doing at the moment could be gauged by how easy Mumbai found it to launch an attack by just lumping the ball forward from the back.

Whether it was from the keeper or from the central defenders, it was too easy for the hosts to get the ball ahead. The first goal, in fact, came from one such move. The defence's ball found Balwant Singh, who chested it down beautifully to Everton Santos to run onto and get free of the defence. He was eventually brought down in the box by the keeper, leading to the penalty. It wasn't the only chance that Mumbai created in that fashion on the night either.

Shoutout to Balwant here as well; he was instrumental in some of the build-up play for Mumbai. He picked up a goal to his name at the end too. Five goals now and his first at home this season.

Delhi could have scored a few here

Delhi had their chances but failed to put them away. (Photo: ISL)

You know what? This was a funny game. The Dynamos could have easily scored three goals here. After conceding the early goal, the Dynamos had chances of their own that could have seen this turn into a contest.

Mumbai helped them too with welcoming assists. Raju Gaikwad's horrible touch went nicely to Romeo Fernandes down the right, whose shot went horribly wide when presented with a good chance.

Abinash Ruidas had another horrible clearance that went to Matias Mirabaje outside the box. His shot was well-placed, but hit the upright with the keeper beaten and went out for a goal-kick. The man on the other flank for Delhi, Nandha, also had a chance of his own that went agonizingly wide. Could have been 1-1, it could have been 2-2.

Guyon Fernandes, who was frustrated at the lack of service from his teammates, fluffed it when he eventually got one. In the opening stages of the second half, he was left with a wide-open header in front of goal with Mumbai's defence out of position. He could only manage to head it into the ground and wide of goal, however.

To rub salt into Delhi's wounds, Mumbai went down the other end immediately and scored their third. Game over.

Fight! Fight! Fight!

Both Sides saw red after a fight broke out between Sehnaj and Mirabaje. (Photo: ISL)

Mumbai City's Sehnaj Singh and the Dynamos' Matias Mirabaje both butted heads, literally, in a match that had no festive cheer whatsoever. Maybe they were just exchanging pleasantries.

With Mumbai 2-0 up and the first half coming to an end, Sehnaj, who was playing at right-back in this match, battled for the ball with Mirabaje down Delhi's left channel. Both players went tumbling over, but then Sehnaj did his best Jinder Mahal impression as he proceeded tog grab Mirabaje by the throat with both his hands, probably saying 'Merry Christmas.'

Mirabaje predictably didn't take too kindly to it and retaliated with a headbutt, probably wishing Sehnaj 'Happy new Year.' The referees have come under the scanner quite a bit so far in the ISL, but today it was the correct call to send them both off. Straight reds saw both teams reduced to 10 men.

Mirabaje was seemingly not done with Sehnaj as he chased him down the tunnel for some afters. There might be some fines coming after this game.

Mumbai win big but were massively helped by their opponents

Delhi gave away a lot of chances. (Photo: ISL)

The 4-0 scoreline was flattering to Mumbai City.

Yet again, at home, they didn't exactly set the tempo rolling with their play.

All four of their goals were gifts from the Dynamos' defence, a reflection of that team's struggles at the moment. This scoreline represented the most goals scored by Mumbai this season which says a lot about how poor the Dynamos' defence was.

The first goal came after Delhi's keeper brought Everton Santos down in the box to give away a penalty. Emana made a hash of his penalty by trying to be too clever, but thankfully for them, the rebound off the post fell to their captain Lucian Goian. It still needed the Delhi keeper's intervention though as it was his touch that took the ball into the net. It was quite the comedy of errors all around. That should be an own goal.

As mentioned earlier, after having the chances to come back, they left Santos free in the box from a corner to double Mumbai's lead. The third was another misjudgement from the keeper as he realised very late that Santos header was going in. And for the fourth, Balwant was left totally free despite three defenders around him, and he completely miscued his kick, aiming right corner, but the ball going to the left thanks to his miskick.

Against ATK, Mumbai were outplayed, so too against Chennaiyin despite them winning that one. They will have to up their game against the better sides.

Give Chhangte a chance

Chhangte had impressed on previous occasions. (Photo: ISL)

Lallianzuala Chhangte was fantastic in the Dyanmos' first game of the season versus FC Pune City. It looked like he was primed to continue his fantastic form that he showed last year playing for DSK Shivajians.

He was taken to the cleaners against Bengaluru FC as the Dynamos were decimated. However, the entire team was poor that night and they were up against one of the best sides in the tournament. He's dropped out of favour since finding game time hard to come by. Today he came on as a sub and looked lively. The 20-year-old must be pining for more.

Even if one is to concede that he isn't blazing a trail, he surely cannot be any worse than some of the others that the Dynamos are opting for over him. The Dynamos are anyway rock-bottom, they might as well give their young striker chances to prosper.