ISL: After 5-1 loss against Chennaiyin, Mumbai City have no defense

This was a shambles. Head coach Peter Reid wanted Mumbai City FC to tighten up at the back. Instead, his defense went missing for the first 45 minutes against Chennaiyin FC and Elano Blumer and John Stiven Mendoza Valencia punished Mumbai ruthlessly and efficiently at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai. All eyes were on Nicolas Anelka to start the game. The former French international was making his Indian Super League debut and the anticipation in the stadium was palpable. But even Lionel Messi wouldn’t have been able to rescue Mumbai on this night as the visitor’s back line proved to be as sturdy as a strip of silk in a summer breeze. There was little communication between Syed Nabi, Manuel Friedrich and the rest and no awareness of where Jeje Lalpekhlua or Mendoza Valencia were lurking. [caption id=“attachment_1777543” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Jeje Lalpekhlua of Chennaiyin FC celebrates a goal during match 15 of the Hero Indian Super League between Chennaiyin FC and Mumbai City FC. HISL[/caption] The day before the game, Reid had warned his team about conceding silly fouls in dangerous areas and putting themselves under pressure. Yet when Mendoza burst into the penalty box from the right in the seventh minute, Friedrich took an almighty swipe at the ball, missed completely, and caught Mendoza on his follow-through. Elano dispatched the resulting penalty with ease and the stadium erupted in a cacophony of noise. The penalty should have served as a warning to Mumbai. It turned out to be the herald of things to come. Mendoza in particular was a constant menace, using his pace to torment Mumbai’s leaden-footed back four. A goal kick in the 22nd minute caught Mumbai unawares and left Mendoza one-on-one with Subrata Pal, who did well to come off his line and smother the shot as Mendoza had trouble bringing the bouncing ball under control. Still Mumbai’s defense refused to learn its lesson. This was not a case of once bitten, twice shy. Mumbai was bitten over and over and over again. Forced to play a high line after conceding the early goal, the defense continued to act as if they were strangers meeting for the first time. Four minutes after Pal’s save, Chennaiyin led 2-0 when Elano lobbed a perfectly weighted ball over Mumbai’s static defense and Lalpekhtua slotted it in to the left hand corner. Elano’s every touch sent a charge coursing through the crowd and the attacks now began to come in waves. Raju Gaekwad was robbed of the ball and it took a brilliant one-handed save from Pal to prevent Chennaiyin scoring a third. Gaekwad then played Elano onside and once again Chennaiyin was behind the Mumbai defence. Fortunately for Mumbai, Freidrich was able to recover in time and Jeje could not control Elano’s pass and lost possession. A few minutes later Syed Nabi let a goal kick slide under his foot and out of play and Reid turned away in disgust on the touchline. He didn’t know then but his night was about to get much worse. Mumbai conceded a free kick 30 yards from goal but Elano appeared not to strike it with his customary venom. Pal had the ball covered and it should have been a routine save. Somehow, the ball spilled from his arms and Mendoza was on hand to pounce and toe it over the line. There wasn’t a defender in the same zip code when he did. The Chennaiyin forward had made his run completely unattended. Mumbai’s players looked at one another with perplexed expressions as the crowd went wild in celebration. With the template working so well, all Chennaiyin had to do was rinse and repeat. Another ball over the top, this time from Harmanjot Khabra, led to another Mendoza goal. The striker deftly knocked the ball over a scrambling Pal and practically walked it into the net. On the big screen, Chennaiyin co-owner Abhishek Bachchan could be seen beating his chest in celebration. On the Mumbai bench, Reid looked like he had just walked out of a morgue. Elano would add a second goal, Chennaiyin’s fifth, from a free kick in the second half but by then the home team had eased off the pedal. “Not to take anything away from Chennaiyin but it was straight balls down the middle,” Reid said after the game. “Our goalkeeper had too many one-on-ones. It was very poor defending on our part. Too easy, too often. Do that and you are not going to win football matches.” “It was a bad day for many of the players. We need to improve” Reid refused to single out any particular player for criticism, saying Mumbai needing to attack and defend as a team. The only solution was to go back to the training ground and work even harder. But it might be a case of too little, too late. Mumbai began the season as one of the pre-tournament favourites. Like their defense, those title aspirations now appear to be in tatters.