ISL 2018-19: Chennaiyin FC 0-1 Mumbai City FC - 5 Talking Points

Chennaiyin lost 0-1 at home to Mumbai City on Saturday evening in front of a quiet Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium crowd, keeping their winless run intact. Senegal striker Modou Sougou scored the solitary goal, with other players from both teams proving shot-shy.

Mumbai now climb to the fifth spot after the narrow win in the sloppy game, while the result leaves the Marina Machans rooted to the bottom of the Indian Super League standings after six games.

John Gregory's Chennai now have a mountain to climb with one-third of the season already over, and they need to do that without help from Dhanapal Ganesh, Henrique Sereno and Bikramjit Singh, three players who played key roles in their title-winning season in 2017-18. Mumbai, on the other hand, could still go all the way, with a few tweaks to their playing style.

Even though the game didn't have major moments, save for coaching staffers from either team constantly yelling at the linesmen and the home fans hurling abuses at the referees at every opportunity, one could make several major observations, and here are the five major ones.

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#5 High-profile absentees

Mailson Alves sat out again as Inigo Calderon captained the team [Image: ISL]

John Gregory stuck with his preferred eleven, benching Jeje Lalpekhlua, Gregory Nelson and Mailson Alves again. With Andrea Orlandi spraying passes to Thoi Singh and Isaac Vanmalsawma and Carlos Salom proving more well-rounded than his Indian counterpart, one can see why the high-profile players found themselves starting from the bench even though the former two had immense influence after coming on.

With his new contingent failing to produce results, however, one would have thought the English manager would bring them back into the fold. However, it’s unlikely he butchers his line-up having claimed a change of personnel isn’t the answer to their problems.

#4 Mumbai City’s lack of killer instinct

Jorge Costa's side was rather wasteful on the night [Image: ISL]

While Mumbai City secured all three points, moving level on points with fourth-placed Bengaluru, they hardly looked a strong side in Chennai. For extended periods during the game, they looked devoid of ideas as they completed the game with a measly pass percentage of 68%.

The Islanders created only three chances in 90 minutes, and Chennai head coach John Gregory even claimed Mumbai had no right to secure maximum points. Mumbai gaffer Jorge Costa admitted there’s room for improvement as well.

After the final whistle, he said: “We go back home with three points. It's good but, obviously, we are far from perfect. We have a lot of work to do.” With only two-thirds of the season left, he must get to the drawing board quickly, with ATK and Kerala Blasters breathing down their neck.

#3 Chennai’s poor use of possession

John Gregory's team hardly tested Amrinder Singh as they lost 0-1 [Image: ISL]

Chennai did enjoy extended spells with the ball but failed to do anything meaningful with it. In fact, they had 58% possession and made over 200 passes more than the visitors did, with Andrea Orlandi marshalling the midfield that also comprised industrious Anirudh Thapa and dynamic Raphael Augusto. They even managed to win numerous midfield battles.

However, they couldn’t quite find the killer final ball again on Saturday evening, as Carlos Salom looked isolated up front for the majority of the game. In fact, they had only a solitary shot on goal, leaving Amrinder Singh undisturbed for the majority of the game.

After the introduction of Gregory Nelson, though, they looked much more lively, as he combined excellently with fellow foreigners. John Gregory must look to tweak his system so he can accommodate his best players.

#2 Paulo Machado’s influence

Paulo Machado (second from left) bossed the midfield in Chennai. [Image: ISL]

Several eyebrows were raised when Mumbai City stripped Lucian Goian of the captaincy just days into the current campaign. Jorge Costa, however, claimed in the pre-match press conference he had three or four players with exceptional leadership qualities in his team.

Paulo Machado, a Portuguese midfielder who once shared his Porto dressing room with the Mumbai coach, justified his assertion with a humdinger of a performance. Standing up for teammate Modou Sougou and cooling off before matters escalated during a first-half scuffle, he proved an excellent leader on the pitch.

It wasn’t just his attitude, for he also proved solid in the midfield. With 45 passes and five tackles, he was all over the pitch, causing the shaky Chennai backline plenty of problems. With a stronger supporting cast, perhaps, he could have had a Team of the Week performance.

#1 Karanjit Singh at fault again

Karanjit Singh looks on as Modou Sougou scores the goal on second attempt [Image: ISL]

Although Mumbai City did have five shots on target, none looked like it was going in, perhaps except for the one that did. Even though Karanjit Singh blocked Modou Sougou’s initial effort, he didn’t do a great job of preventing further danger, as he let the ball fall invitingly for the Senegal international striker to tap home from close range.

A two-time Indian Super League-winning goalkeeper, he's been nothing short of an excellent servant for the Chennai club. However, he’s been showing signs of senescence for some time now, with the goals he conceded against ATK and NorthEast bearing testimony to his recent decline.

With most ISL sides having Indians in goal because of the Indian player quota, it’s about time the Marina Machans looked at replacing him with a younger shot-stopper.