I-League 2018-19: 3 reasons why East Bengal lost to Chennai City

#2 East Bengal defence falters yet again

East Bengal defenders were left dumbfounded in the 2nd half

East Bengal have been successful in keeping the Chennai City trio – Nestor Gordillo, Sandro Rodriguez and Pedro Manzi – quiet in the first half. Even though an inexperienced Samad Ali Mullick was given the responsibility to block Gordillo, he did the job well.

Central defenders Johnny Acosta and Borja Gomez had one job to do - never allow Manzi an inch of space to play and block him from getting the passes from Gordillo. In the first half, Manzi was invisible in the field.

It was defensive lapse by Borja, which allowed Manzi to score. While blocking Romario’s shot, Borja forgot to mark Manzi and the Spanish striker calmly took the opportunity to score. Samad was behind him but failed to do anything.

The second goal of Chennai came through a schoolboy mistake from left-back Manoj Mohammed. While clearing a ball, Manoj missed the trajectory completely. Raju quickly got the control of the ball and squared it to Romario.

Romario’s shot was weak but it was enough to beat Rakshit Dagar, who could’ve tried to keep it away and instead of haplessly looking at the ball.