ATK Mohun Bagan 3 -1 SC East Bengal: 4 things we learned

ATK Mohun Bagan defeated SC East Bengal 3-1 in match no. 75 of Indian Super League on Saturday to get back into the top four of the league.

The match began with both sides looking confident and hunting for glory. The Red and Gold Brigade looked much more confident than other days and were a sight unthinkable after their loss against Hyderabad FC.

Mario Rivera's side breached the backline of Tiri and Pritam Kotal but were unfortunate when it came to conversions. Marcelo Ribeiro's miss seemed to be one of the talking points of the game.

However, it was ATK Mohun Bagan's Kiyan Nassiri who stole the show in the second half. The young boy grabbed a hat-trick that made the difference, with two stoppage time goals.

With the win today, ATK Mohun Bagan got themselves a seat amongst the league's big boys. Meanwhile SCEB remained at the bottom of the table.

On that note, let us take a look at the four things we learned from this edition of the Kolkata derby.

---

#4 ATK Mohun Bagan's midfield problems

Juan Ferrando chose to deploy Carl McHugh and Deepak Tangri as double-pivots in the center of midfield. However, this seemed to work against Juan's philosophy, especially in the build-up phase.

Carl has caught up with the change in ideologies binding the team. But for someone like Deepak, whose original position is at the center of defense, the midfield role hasn't suited him well. Deepak has not been effective in ball progression and neither has he been astute in defensive transitions.

Hence, the Mariners have had to show dependency on Carl. They even at times required Hugo Boumous to drop down and help in ball progression.

#3 ATK Mohun Bagan's Manvir Singh monotonous in approach

ATK Mohun Bagan coach believes in an attacking brand of football with positional play. If one looks at the left flank, it can be seen either the winger or the full-back crowd outside the box as an additional option.

Sometimes Liston drives inside to take a shot on his favored right foot and other times Subhasish Bose is seen inside while Liston hugs the touchline. But on the right flank, the case is different.

Manvir Singh, who is naturally a left-footed player, is seen hugging the touchline. He does not cut inside when the fullback is running along the lines overlapping him. The attacker is also having issues turning when his back is against goal. These are issues that need to be dealt with going forward.

#2 SC East Bengal needs to make more of the what they get

SC East Bengal have been able to solve one of the issues that haunted them in the initial phases of the competition, i.e. defending. But one of the problems lies in not making the most of the opportunities they were presented with in the final third.

The miss by Marcelo Ribeiro will surely be one of the talking points in the derby. The SC East Bengal forward was clean on goal and just had to get his shot past the goalkeeper but ended up wasting the opportunity. There were a few more close-range opportunities the SC East Bengal players missed that could have altered the story of the game.

#1 ATK Mohun Bagan need to look at alternatives

The Green and Maroon brigade concentrated on most of their attacks against SC East Bengal from the left flank. The dynamic Liston Colaco was threatening SC East Bengal right full-back Amarjit Kiyam (replacement of Ankit Mukherjee).

But the team looked to the left continuously and after a point of time, attacks were dependent on Liston. The player also took it upon himself to score rather than put the ball inside the box. This could fuel problems in the future for the side if opposing coaches understand the dependency lies on a particular set of players.