ISL: FC Goa 0-0 Mumbai City FC - 5 talking points

It was a stalemate in the end at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda, Goa as the afternoon game between FC Goa and Mumbai City FC ended 0-0. The game was a gritty affair that saw attacking football in patches with both teams seemingly affected by the heat early on. Both teams struggled to create any clear cut goal scoring opportunities and whatever few chances came were largely due to defensive errors.In the end it was a point apiece to Goa and Mumbai from an encounter where these were the major talking points:

#1 Back and forth in the first half

Jan Stohanzl (right) was once again brilliant in midfield for Mumbai

The momentum in the first half swung every 15 minutes – Goa attacking for most of the first 15, then Mumbai for the next before the home side again made the running to finish the half strongly. Mumbai, conscious of their previous horror showings on the road, decidedly opted to play safety first initially, but made headway into the game with Andre Moritz building up play nicely with his forward trio of Subhash Singh, Nadong Bhutia and Nicolas Anelka.

Jan Stohanzl was once again the best player in a Mumbai shirt and his selection as Man of the Match was spot on. He was everywhere and shut Robert Pires out of the game and took on more attacking responsibilities after Moritz went off. Much of Goa’s attacks originated from crosses out wide, but they didn’t really create any clear cut chances. Mumbai grew stronger in the second half and looked the team more likely to score in that period though Goa managed a brief flourish in stoppage time.

#2 One right leg offside for Subhash

Attacks were few and far between and Anelka was kept largely quiet by Goa

Mumbai did get the ball in Goa’s goal after Moritz and Subhash took advantage of a bad defensive error, the Brazilian passing the ball across to Subhash who promptly tapped it into the open goal while in a 2-on-1 situation against the keeper. The goal though did not stand as Subhash was ruled offside and he was, one right foot offside to be precise.

That was the closest any team came to a goal and the Manipuri forward should have checked his run for it would have given his team a great foothold in the game. Such errors dotted Mumbai’s game today where plenty of good opportunities were wasted with the lack of a final ball and composure in the box very clear.

#3 Mumbai\'s injury woes grow

Andre Moritz had to go off with an injury

Injuries and Mumbai have had a deep-seated bond so far in this year’s ISL. Their captain, Syed Rahim Nabi, was forced off with injury 20 minutes into their opener and post his return managed to play two games before he was injured once again. Their marquee player, Freddie Ljungberg, went down with a torn hamstring minutes after coming on as a sub in their third game.

Moritz, who scored a hat-trick to power his team to a 5-0 win over Pune injured himself after falling in the bathroom before the game against NorthEast United. Today, the Brazilian came off with a minute to go for half-time with what looked like another hamstring problem. That’s another playmaker gone with injury. Reid and Mumbai will be hoping it isn’t too serious.

#4 Goa need to do something about their attack

Mumbai repelled everything Goa threw at them with relative ease

Goa have the worst goal difference amongst the 8 teams (-4) in large part due to the fact that they’d only scored five goals (joint lowest with Kerala Blasters) in their six matches before today; that’s less than a goal a game. They drew a blank today as well, making it five goals in seven games.

As mentioned earlier, their attack looks a bit one-dimensional at the moment and mainly involves getting crosses in from the wide men. They need to find a solution to this and find it fast if they are to move off the bottom of the table.

#5 Three clean sheets in a row for Mumbai

Mumbai coach Peter Reid will be mighty pleased with the defensive improvements his team have made

It would have been shocking after seeing how they went in their first few games, but since the 5-1 mauling at the hands of Chennaiyin FC, Mumbai have not conceded a goal in their three outings. They have paid more attention to defensive organization and coach Reid has been stressing about the importance of discipline all along.

It looks like that area of the pitch, which was a problem area for them early on, is in better shape now.