Mohun Bagan look to keep up momentum against Newbie Chennai City FC

by FC Admin January 20, 2017

CHENNAI: The Mariners sail into Chennai looking for their fourth consecutive win and look to keep up the momentum in the ongoing Hero I-League season when Chennai City FC host them at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium on January 21, 2017.

Mohun Bagan will want to set the pace from the offset against a Chennai City side which is coming off two successive away defeats. The home side are yet to score a goal in the 3 games they have played so far and badly need to address this issue if they have any hopes of challenging the 2014-15 Hero I-League champions.

Chennai City head coach Robin Charles Raja acknowledged the lack of goals and asserted that they are looking to rectify it.

He said, “We are into our third match only. We are getting better with every match going by. The strikers arrived just three days before the first game. We have other options also but we should score a goal tomorrow.”

“Coordination between midfield and attack is a problem… I’ve been working with them. There is a bit of language problem but they are improving. We are putting more focus on midfielders and strikers,” he added.

Mohun Bagan head coach Sanjoy Sen, meanwhile, called for focus from his team, asserting that they will be given a tough time by the newcomers. He stated, “If we’re going to win, every match is important. We are not thinking about the last 3 matches. It is not going to be easy. We have to fight for every ball and we’re expecting nothing but a tight match tomorrow.”

There are not any injury concern for the Mariners and a strong starting eleven from them are expected to hit the pitch tomorrow while Chennai City are mulling several changes in order to rectify their problems in attack.

Importantly, they will welcome back Karanjit Singh in goal while Haroon Amiri’s participation for the home side is still doubtful.

Though the visitors come on the back of a 4-goal win against Minerva Punjab, Sanjoy Sen is not relaxing yet. He feels there are areas which could be further improved and claimed, “Every session we have to learn. There’s a lot of space to improve. Though we scored 4 goals in the last game, we’ve done things wrong and we will try and correct them.”

Chennai City are a mix of experienced Indian players and newcomers who are getting the first taste of I-League football and Robin Charles Raja feels his squad is improving well. He insisted, “My team has very experienced players and some local players. They are getting better and learning from their experiences.”

“Mohun Bagan have 9 points already but on the field, tomorrow, it’s going to be 11 vs 11. So we have to think like that,” he further added.

Robin Charles Raja added that his team should pump in motivations to stage an upset tomorrow against Mohun Bagan.

While that could prove to be a challenging proposition, considering the might of the Mariners, anything could happen in football.