Mumbai City FC 1-0 NorthEast United FC: 3 Reasons why the home side registered a hard-fought win | ISL 2019-20

NorthEast United FC took on Mumbai City FC in their 13th game in the Indian Super League. Both the teams were looking to win the game after failing to get all three points in their last league encounter.

The Islanders and The Highlanders made a couple of changes to their starting lineups. The game started off as a cagey affair as both the teams didn't want to concede first. Mumbai City FC finally took the lead in the 44th minute through a Diego Carlos shot from inside the box and went into the break with the lead.

The second half saw some end to end action without any change to the scoreboard. With the win, Mumbai City FC moved into the fourth position while The Highlanders remained in ninth.

On that note let us take a look at three reasons why NorthEast United FC lost to Mumbai City FC.

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#3 Misfiring attack for NorthEast United FC

NorthEast United FC have scored the least amount of goals in the Indian Super League this season. A lot of this is due to the team having a shortage of striking options. After Asamoah Gyan got injured, The Highlanders didn't have a single natural striker in their squad until Andy Keogh arrived. The only striker present was in the reserves side. Gyan has been the highest goal scorer for NorthEast United this season and with him out for the season, they don't have someone who can replicate what the Ghanian did.

After Gyan and Maxi got injured, NorthEast United signed Andy Keogh and Simon Lundevall to replace them. It was Keogh's third game and Lundevall's second, but both of them have been far from impressive.

NorthEast United did create a few chances during the game, but the lack of finishing from the strikers hurt them. If NorthEast United are to have any hopes of moving up in the points table, then their strikers must start scoring goals.

#2 Lack of defensive cohesion in the NorthEast United defence

The NEUFC wingbacks committed a lot of mistakes today (Image Courtesy: ISL)

Kai Heerings has been the most dependable defender for NorthEast United FC this season. Dropping someone like him for a crucial tie like today's game was a decision that didn't make much sense.

Regan Singh, Wayne Vaz, Mislav Komorski and Provat Lakhra made up the back four NorthEast United FC today. It was a backline that was playing their first game together as a unit, and their lack of understanding showed right from the word go. There were considerable gaps in the defence which was exploited brilliantly by the Mumbai attackers. The wing-backs were often dragged out of position by the Mumbai City wingers, and the central defenders couldn't do much to cover up for their wing-backs.

There was also a significant lack of communication between the defenders and the goalkeeper of NorthEast United FC.

Subhasish Roy Choudhury didn't have the best of games today, and the goal NorthEast United conceded should have been saved had he put in a little bit of more effort.

The defensive part also looked low in morale, and maybe the team management needs to do something about the confidence of the defenders first before getting into the tactics.

#1 Robert Jarni's tactics being called out

Robert Jarni's tactics have been questioned this season (Image Courtesy: ISL)

NorthEast United FC had a brilliant start to the Indian Super League remaining unbeaten in the first five games of the season. It was the best start NorthEast United ever had to an ISL campaign. But, as time went by, Jarni tactics started failing. If one analyses the first few games of NorthEast United FC then one can see that they used the age-old technique of "Chip the ball to the Strikers and we take it from there" policy.

With Gyan leading the striking line, the plan worked as the Ghanian made use of the limited chances he got. Even during the initial days if one listened carefully, then one could hear rumblings of how poorly the team has been playing.

The fans especially have been vocal about Jarni's tactics so much that the official fan group has written an open letter to the owners asking them to sack the Croatian.

NorthEast United have been having a lacklustre season on the pitch. It is so bad that there is not even one right move that The Highlanders have made this season.

The players also look to be confused in the pitch with their roles and more often than not, committed vital errors during the game.

Jarni has also not been able to utilise his resources properly. The likes of Kai, Leudo, Gallego and Chaves haven't been appropriately used this season. Dropping someone like Redeem for crucial games is also something that cannot be answered logically.

Today, Mumbai City FC played with makeshift wing-backs, but Jarni failed to utilise that. Both the wing-backs of Mumbai City FC was shown the yellow card early on in the first half, and yet Jarni couldn't make the best use of the situation. He also failed to use the weakness of the makeshift wing-backs and utilise the speed of his wingers properly.

Robert Jarni as a player is one of the finest players that ever played the game, but as a coach, his tactics have been falling short of the mark.