ISL: Drab draw in marquee clash

By: Shahid Judge
Mumbai

Synopsis: Visitors Pune City holds Mumbai City to a goalless draw at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai.

Marquee clash

The tie between Mumbai City and Pune City was one of the few occasions where both marquee players – Nicolas Anelka and Adrian Mutu respectively – played the entire game. And despite the fact that both played as attackers for their individual team, the former Chelsea players embarked on a physical battle of their own. Often Mutu would charge back into his own half to tackle the ball off Anelka. The Frenchman too would return the favour, yet it was the Romanian’s involvement, both on the offensive and defensive fronts, which proved to be more impactful.

Standing as the lone striker for the visitors, the 36-year-old played his role industriously, working the Mumbai defenders through his timed runs around the box. He even set himself a few chances, testing Subrata Paul with a powerful long range effort that the Indian custodian barely managed to tip over the bar.

Defensively too he worked well, harrying the Mumbai attackers – Anelka in particular.

Mumbai tactical confusion

The absence of Sony Norde and Frantz Bertin, who are away on international duty for Haiti’s World Cup qualifying campaign, and with India skipper Sunil Chhetri being relegated to the bench since he played a full match for the national team just a day ago, Anelka started the game along with Brandon Fernandes and Selim Benachour.

Anelka and Fernandes were meant to be a like-for-like swap with Chhetri and Norde respectively, yet in the first half the forward line shuffled amongst themselves rapidly to the point that there was not much cohesion in attack. Although Anelka asserted the move worked in practice, striker Frederic Piquionne’s position in midfield was found wanting. Subhash Singh, originally played by the club as a right-winger didn’t work too well in the diminutive attacker’s performance against Pune’s towering centre-backs.

Pune’s changed backline

Pune City’s skipper Didier Zakora, normally the root behind their midfield dominance was made to play as centre-back along with the impressive Roger Johnson. The move was brought about as injuries to regular defenders Gaurimangi Singh and Dharmaraj Ravanan. The change however, did work well for the visitors as Zakora’s midfield anchor role was well balanced between James Bailey and Sushanth Mathew. The Ivorian also proved equally instrumental in defence, serving as a deep-lying playmaker who connected well with the midfielders in front.

A few lapses too were in the offering as well, as Subhash Singh managed to steal the ball off goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharja, only to blaze his shot wide. The keeper though proved to be the hero 78th minute when an unmarked Sampathkumar Kuttymani’s point-blank shot found the custodian well placed to make the save.

India vs Guam impact

Barely 24 hours before kickoff, select Indian players toiled hard to protect their 1-0 lead against Guam, that too with just 10 men on the field. As a result, Chhetri for the Mumbai franchise and Eugeneson Lyngdoh for Pune City were on the bench. “We didn’t want to risk any injuries at this stage of the tournament,” said Anelka after the match.