What's going wrong with ATK Mohun Bagan this season

In their last two seasons, ATK Mohun Bagan has failed to fulfill the expectations of their fans. In the 2020-21 season, the club finished second in the ISL under Antonio Habas. They lost the final to Mumbai City FC.

In the 2021-22 season, they finished third and failed to reach the final. This season, they are not performing as per their potential.

Despite having a stable squad, they made an early exit from the Durand Cup, bowing out in the group stage. They also lost in the AFC Cup inter-zonal semi-finals against a much weaker opponent.

The Kolkata brigade failed to convert their chances throughout the Durand Cup group stage. Manvir Singh, Ashique Kuruniyan, Liston Colaco, and Kiyan Nassiri missed easy chances upfront, which was one of the main reasons for their loss against Rajasthan.

The possession-based football of Juan Ferrando is somewhat failing to bring the desired result to the club. Let's dive deeper and analyze five big issues plaguing the team right now.

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#1 Lack of proper striker in the squad

ATK Mohun Bagan at the start of the season decided not to renew the contracts of Roy Krishna and David Williams. That their absence from the squad is being felt can easily be seen in the performances of their last few matches.

Manvir, Liston, Ashique, and Kiyan are basically wingers. They recently roped in Dimitros Petratos from Al Wehda FC. But he is also not a perfect No. 9.

He has scored just 54 goals in 281 matches. They only have Fardin Ali who can play as a proper striker. But he is too young to take on such a huge responsibility. The lack of proper strikers is the reason behind their poor conversion rate in front of goal.

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#2 Poor form of Florentine Pogba and Brendan Hamil causing loopholes in defense

Florentine Pogba has failed to live up to the expectations of the supporters. He made a lot of mispasses in front of his own D box. He is also quite slow, which is creating problems in the ATK Mohun Bagan defense.

Brendan Hamil also looks totally unfit. His marking and positioning on the field is not up to the mark. With both of their foreign defenders out of form, ATKMB may also face a lot of problems in the future.

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#3 Lack of experience in Indian defenders

Since the departure of Sandesh Jhingan, ATK Mohun Bagan have faced a lot of problems regarding the center-back position. They don't have enough Indian options apart from Pritam Kotal there.

Sumit Rathi and Deepak Tangri have failed to impress in the last few matches. Due to the lack of experienced Indian defenders, Ferrando is facing a lot of problems regarding team selection. It's one of the major causes contributing to the team's drop in performance in recent times.

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#4 Hugo Boumous not at his best for ATK Mohun Bagan

Last season, Hugo Boumous played an important part in the team's attacking movement. But this season, Boumous is not in the best of form.

In the Durand Cup, he played 200 minutes of football. His rough tackles and short-tempered behavior created a lot of problems on the field. For ATK Mohun Bagan to succeed in the upcoming ISL, the return of Boumous to top form is an absolute necessity.

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#5 Lack of co-ordination among players

ATK Mohun Bagan have roped in a huge number of new players this season. New recruits like Ashique Kuruniyan, Ashish Rai, Vishal Kaith and others are yet to settle in the team.

The lack of co-ordination among the players in the midfield was clear in the match against Kuala Lampur. The team needs to have a solid pre-season training in order to sort out this problem.

They should also play a few friendlies in front of their supporters. But it's a minor problem and is most likely to be solved with the progress of the season.