12 Kolkata: Mohun Bagan SG’s start to the season may be a little bumpy. A loss to NorthEast United in the Durand Cup final to allowing Mumbai City FC to snatch a 2-2 draw in the Indian Super League opener is anything but confidence-boosting. More worryingly, the team failed to protect a 2-0 lead on both occasions.
If all this has put Jose Molina under the scanner early on, Mohun Bagan’s Spanish coach is not in the mood to press the panic button.In his football philosophy, a team’s playing style is sacrosanct and it is all about turning it into a winning formula with lessons learnt from past mistakes.
However, Molina’s setting-the-house-in-order job faces another intriguing test as Mohun Bagan begin their newly-formatted AFC Champions League 2 journey with a home match against Tajikistan’s FC Ravshan at the Salt Lake Stadium on Wednesday.
“We are trying to play our best, to play according to our style and score as many goals as possible and concede as little as possible. Sometimes you achieve that, sometimes you don’t. But it’s always in our mind to play with good intensity, try to dominate, score goals and win the matches. We have to try and suffer as little as possible in every match,” Molina told reporters on Tuesday.
In Molina’s preferred 3-5-2 formation, Bagan’s buildup play, the focus is on stretching the pitch on both sides and making full use of the space thus created in the centre of the pitch. While players are still to fully understand their positions especially in transition, the team looks vulnerable to quick counter-attacks.
As their British defender Tom Aldred said: “We need clean sheets to win games. But it’s a new season and a new coach and we continue growing as a team.”
Although a team can field six foreigners at a time, Molina’s options are limited here as well, with Portuguese defender Nuno Reis yet to join the side and Spanish centre-back Alberto Rodriguez and Australian forward Jamie Maclaren carrying injuries.
“It doesn’t matter if all foreigners are starting or not, I’ll try to put the best squad possible for winning the match,” Molina emphasized with conviction.
A two-time Tajik league champions, Ravshan, however, have all seven foreigners available, although their coach Mami Nazarzadeh Masud made it a point that for a developing football nation like his, relying on domestic players should be a prerogative.
“I have gathered information about Mohun Bagan from my friends. They have played only one game (in ISL). They are fresh, while we are in the middle of our league and we are a bit more tired than them,” Masud said.
The Salt Lake Stadium has not been kind to the home team so far this season. The onus is thus on Molina’s men to get the season going.