ISL: Chennaiyin FC 5-1 Mumbai City FC - 5 talking points

#2 Marco Materazzi\'s masterstroke

Materazzi’s decision to put himself in worked wonders

World Cup winner and Player/Coach of Chennaiyin FC, Marco Materazzi, made a fantastic tactical move that paid off handsomely for his team. He introduced himself into the starting line-up, not as a central defender, but as a defensive midfielder. He played the role of destroyer magnificently for Chennai as he got stuck in and helped disrupt Mumbai’s passing game and Andre Moritz’s influence.

He was marking runners, putting in tackles whenever necessary and winning headers for his team in that defensive midfield role and it wasn’t until his withdrawal that Mumbai actually found it a little easier to get moves going. Of course, the game was done and dusted by then, and Materazzi had had a huge role to play in that.

He also dropped back to form a five-man defence in phases where his team was defending deep and was a towering presence on set pieces. Mumbai, despite having eight corners, had no joy until Syed Rahim Nabi’s late consolation. It was also a much better defensive showing for the team after they let four goals in against Delhi.