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The Mumbai based franchise of the Indian Super League had a rather ordinary campaign in the previous season as they finished at a dismal seventh position, with 23 points from their 18 matches.
There were plenty of new faces brought in by the blue outfits such as Subhashish Bose, Souvik Chakrabarti, Alan Deory, Milan Singh, Bipin Singh, Rafael Bastos, and Marko Klisura in a bid to change their fortunes.
However, The Islanders did not have the start which they would have hoped for in the ongoing season.
Their first match was against Jamshedpur FC and they ended up as the losers with the Tata Steel-owned franchise finding the back of the net twice. Mario Arques and Pablo Morgado were the goalscorers of the day.
Next up, Mumbai City FC faced Kerala Blasters. Halicharan Nazary put the Yellow outfits in the lead with a goal in the 24th minute.
However, a wonder strike by Pranjal Bhumij in the 93rd minute helped Mumbai City manage a 1-1 draw and pick up their first point of ISL season 5.
The Islanders are currently placed at 8th position in the table and will be locking horns with Pune City FC -- in the Maha-derby -- next on 19th October.
This will be their second home game and they will be looking to ensure that their fans do not go home unhappy from the Mumbai Football Arena.
The best performance of The Islanders was when topped the table during the 2016 ISL Season under Alexandre Guimaraes. The former Portuguese international Jorge Costa, their current manager, needs to pull the strings together before it gets too late.
In this article, we assess how the three key players -- who will prove to be instrumental in the coming matches -- have performed so far for Mumbai City FC.
#3 Matias Mirabaje
The midfielder has not been impactful in the two games and did not pose a threat to the opposition. However, then again he has just got so less playing time. Mumbai City roped in the attacking midfielder Matias from Delhi Dynamos before the start of the season.
The Uruguayan was a key figure for the Lions and scored three goals in 12 matches and also created many chances.
It comes as a surprise that the 29-year-old has only played 44 minutes in Mumbai's two matches. He came on as a substitute in the 84th minute in the match against Jamshedpur while he was subbed on in the 65th minute in the match against Kerala Blasters.
Giving such less game time to such an influential player on the pitch has no backing. Matias does have disciplinary issues though as he was banned for four games last season after having an altercation with Sehnaj Singh.
He got three yellows and one red card in the 2017-18 season and has already been booked once this season in the match against Kerala Blasters.
#2 Rafael Bastos
The 33-year-old Bastos has made a decent debut in the ISL. Jorge Costa has played the Brazilian midfielder the full 90 minutes in both the matches.
Bastos has played all around the globe -- Bahia and Cruzeiro (Brazil); Belenenses and Nacional (Portugal); Consadole Sapporo (Japan); Al Nassr (Saudi Arabia); Levski Sofia (Bulgaria); Kuwait SC (Kuwait); Hatta Club (UAE); Buriram United (Thailand); and many other Brazilian clubs. Having such an experienced candidate in their ranks is proving to be beneficial to the Islanders as Bastos is a real asset to have.
The attacking midfielder can also double up as a winger if needed and is also known to score from set pieces.
In the two matches he has played for Mumbai City so far, he has shown glimpses of his prowess as he contributed both in attack and defensively.
The 33-year-old put in a couple of crosses, has a few shots, made a few tackles, blocks, interceptions, and clearances. He also has a fairly good passing accuracy of 70.42 %.
Basically, the Brazilian is seen all around the pitch but Jorge Costa and co. will expect even more from him in the upcoming matches.
#1 Subhasish Bose
Subhasish Bose has played a key role for Mumbai City in the initial two matches. The young 23-year-old defender has also cemented his place in the Indian national team in the recent past and was also part of the starting XI as a central defender when The Blue Tigers faced China in the international friendly recently.
Discipline and Subhasish go hand in hand. The aggressive Kolkata-born player had an excellent passing accuracy of 79.45%, made 5 tackles, 2 interceptions, 11 clearances, and 2 blocks -- in the first two games.
The left-back was instrumental at the back for table toppers Bengaluru FC last season and is again proving his worth with his new club.
The 23-year-old also got the chance to captain the national team at the SAFF Championship and has leadership abilities too.
Bose took a brilliant freekick in the match against Jamshedpur and whipped a cross in with Sougou heading it in but unfortunately for Mumbai he was deemed offside.
The Islanders will hope that Bose can continue or even improve upon the form he is in currently for their upcoming matches.
