ISL 2018-19: Mumbai City FC 2-0 Chennaiyin FC - 5 Talking Points

Mumbai City FC were comfortable victors over Chennaiyin FC in a one-sided contest at Mumbai Football Area. The hosts extended their unbeatable run with a 2-0 win by securing their fifth win out of the last 6 to climb to second in the league table.

Jorge Costa's side opened the scoring through the 22-year-old attacking midfielder Raynier Fernandes in the 27th minute. They got lucky in the second half through Rafael Bastos' shot which got deflected off Eli Sabia to fall onto the head of Modou Sougou who just had to head the ball into the empty net to pile even more misery on the reigning champions.

With just one victory in eleven games throughout the season, John Gregory's team's chances of qualifying for the playoffs look out of equation following a horrendous display today. On the other hand, the hosts are just 3 points off the league leaders Bengaluru FC.

Here are the five major talking points from the game.

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#1 Chennaiyin FC's midfield was non-existent

Inigo Calderon was non-influential again [Image: ISL]

Chennaiyin FC's defensive midfield consisting of Inigo Calderon and Anirudh Thapa was crummy throughout the game. Sehnaj Singh and Paulo Machado were like rocks and ran the show in the middle of the park to totally nullify the away side's midfielders and feed the attackers.

Both the goals were conceded because the failure of one of the midfielders to stay with the defence. When the ball was lost high up the pitch, it was too easy for Raynier Fernandes to take a shot with no Chennaiyin player closing him down.

The same can be said about the second goal when Rafael Bastos dribbled all the way from the defence which deflected off Eli Sabia and fell onto the Mumbai striker Modou Sougou's head who had no right to miss that chance.

Chennaiyin's defence was well protected by Dhanpal Ganesh and Bikramjit Singh last season. But, without conventional defensive midfielders, it has taken a toil for John Gregory who is struggling to find a formula to repeat the last season's form this season. Even though Gregory has asked them to play in this position, part of the blame must go to players who are not learning from the past experiences early on in this campaign.

#2 Eli Sabia does not learn from his mistakes

Eli Sabia (middle) fails to put enough pressure on Rafael Bastos [Image: ISL]

Following the departure of their former skipper Henrique Sereno, Chennaiyin FC has never produced any solid defensive displays throughout this season. The addition of Eli Sabia has not done any favour to the blues who are finding it hard to replace the Portuguese International.

During the last game against ATK, the Brazilian failed to close down Jayesh Rane who had acres of space to calmly slot the ball into the back of the net from outside the box. He repeated the same mistake by allowing Raynier Fernandes to take the shot just inside the penalty box leaving the goalkeeper Sanjiban Ghosh with extra spare work to do. The defender was unfortunate for the second goal which ricocheted off him and resulted in a goal.

It is a no brainer that Eli Sabia is an enormous threat from the set pieces, but his lapse of concentration at times has cost his team at times this season. He needs to have a proper understanding with the Skipper Mailson Alves to cut down the leakage of goals at the back.

#3 Mumbai's defence shows character despite Subhashish Bose's struggles

Lucian Goian puts in a sliding tackle [Image: ISL]

Centre-back Lucian Goian and Joyner Lourenco put in a stellar show to rescind the attacking menace possessed by the Chennaiyin FC attackers. Carlos Salom had to run through the flanks of either side because he was not able to find any space at the back. Maintaining a high line is another reason why the Argentine found it hard to outrun the defenders centrally.

Since Subhasish Bose struggled to match the pace of Thoi Singh, the Chennaiyin forward was the only one to constantly cause trouble at the back. Carlos Salom, Isaac Vanmalsawma and Raphael Augusto were striving hard to get past the defence, but they lacked ideas to break the backline which consisted of Goian and Lourenco who looked rock solid throughout the game.

It was the sixth clean sheet in ten games for Jorge Costa's Mumbai City FC who have looked fully resilient and sturdy at the back all season.

#4 Attacking midfielders Arnold Issoko, Raynier Fernandes and Rafael Bastos combined well to cause trouble

Mumbai City FC's Arnold Issoko gives chase to the ball [Image: ISL]

The linkup play between the full-backs and the attacking midfielders was brilliant, to say the least. Since the visitors struggled with no provisional defensive midfielders, it was just a matter of how many times the midfield department consisting of Arnold Issoko, Raynier Fernandes and Rafael Bastos was going to run past the opposition's midfielders.

The attacking prowess showed by Raynier Fernandes to score the first goal, and Rafael Bastos' extraordinary run to setup Modou Sougou should have been convincing for Jorge Costa who looked animated near the touchline throughout the game. They came up against a dire midfield which looked flat and struggled to contribute offensively and defensively.

When Chennaiyin conceded the first goal, they pressed high up the pitch to retrieve the ball. But, they were totally undone by Mumbai City midfielders who kept on passing between them to burn them out. It was a game of two ends, but the hosts' midfielders won the battle which affected the result.

#5 Amrinder Singh looked unbeatable between the sticks

Amrinder Singh in action [Image: ISL]

Mumbai City FC looked vulnerable through set pieces and when Chennaiyin had the speed to break through on the counter. Buts Amrinder Singh acted as the last line of the defence and saved the hosts on several occasions.

During the first half, Carlos Salom tried to place the ball into the bottom corner, but Mumbai City FC's shot-stopper came to their rescue by making an exceptional save and kept the ball out. He made another great save when substitute Andrea Orlandi tried to slot the ball into the far post corner, but Amrinder dived to parry the ball away to the corner. Thoi Singh was ready to tap-in from close range, but the goalkeeper did well to get a strong hand on that.

He did not have to make an awful lot of shot-stopping as Chennaiyin FC forwards did not test him apart from these two moments. Amrinder has been saving Mumbai City FC in between the sticks week in week out and has the most number of clean sheets with 6 this season.