The Delhi Dynamos’ renaissance continued as they overpowered Mumbai City at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi.
Alexandre Guimaraes’ men had no answer to Delhi’s attack in the last 20 minutes as the home side ran rampant, scoring four goals without reply in that period. As has become the norm with the Indian Super League, the game witnessed some inconsistent refereeing as hard fouls by both sides went unpunished.
After more of the same, the referee finally sent off Delhi Dynamos Pratik Chowdhary and Mumbai City’s Sahil Tavora for second cautions as both sides went down to 10 men. It was Miguel Angel Portugal’s men though, who turned on the style with both substitutes Kalu Uche and Lallianzuala Chhangte scoring after Matias Mirabje had broken the deadlock with a hammer strike from outside the box.
The talking points:
Guimaraes’ defensive tinkering leaves team confused
The Costa Rican started the game with a back three for his Mumbai City side, consisting of Lucian Goian, Marcio Rozario and Raju Gaikwad. Sahil Tavora and Sanju Pradhan started as the wide men in a formation that closely resembled a 3-4-2-1.
Gaikwad was always going to be the weak link in this backline with neither the required pace nor skill, as Seityasen Singh exploited Mumbai’s left flank and Manuel Arana and co. preferred putting in balls behind their opponent’s defence for the ex-Wahingdoh winger to chase down.
On one of these early forays, Mumbai City paid the price as Seitya received a ball from Nandakumar Sekar, and crossed it back into the path of the India Under-23 international to slid home.
The pattern continued several times as Arana and Seitya took turns on Gaikwad’s flank and Sekar could have had two goals to his name. The islanders finally pivoted to a back four with Gerson Vieira slotting in beside Goian.
Half-time would see further change, with Marcio Rozario taken off for Leo Costa as Mumbai’s defence took a three-man shape once again. Tavora and Gaikwad, in particular struggled against Delhi’s counter-attacking play. Matias Mirabje’s goal may have opened the floodgates but the cracks had started appearing from the very onset.
Refereeing comes into question again
Hardly a days goes by without the officials in yellow taking centre stage and Tuesday was no different.
Vinit Rai, injured during warm-up, was replaced by Pratik Chowdhary who was lucky to survive 77 minutes. Chowdhary made several terrible tackles, playing out of position in central midfield.
After his first on 29th minute, there were several occasions where he could and should have seen a second, especially after a hack on Everton Santos at the start of the second half. After another such tackle, he finally did receive his marching orders but not before Mirabje had put Delhi ahead.
You could see the frustration on Guimaraes’ face as Tavora got booked for a similar tackle with 59 minutes on the board. He gestured as the calls had been inconsistent, with the law not applied uniformly. Tavora would also see red later for hauling Arana down, resulting in a second bookable offence.
Finally it is infinitely easier to sit at home and discuss the small calls while watching a replay. But the referees, they are paid to get the decisive calls right. Was Kalu Uche offside for Delhi’s fourth?
Delhi’s form puzzles and entertains
Dyamos were down and out after nine games, with many suggesting that this would be the worst performance in a season in ISL history. The Dynamos were on four points, and had earned one point in between matchdays 2-9.
As Bengaluru FC visited, many feared the worst for Miguel Angel Portugal’s team but with Albert Roca’s side focused on an AFC Cup run and opting for several changes, Delhi beat them 2-0. They then lost two more games narrowly to Jamshedpur (3-2 after going 2-0 up within the first 20 minutes) and Kerala (2-1 after leading 1-0).
Since then, Delhi have won three and drawn two of their last five games, a run bettered only by league leaders Bengaluru FC. Only Bengaluru (33), Pune City (28) and Goa (34) have scored more goals than the capital outfit.
In Kalu Uche, they have a 11-goal striker who has been outscored only by FC Goa’s Coro (15) and Bengaluru’s Miku (13). There is no doubt that a lack of defensive sturdiness has let the team down as the Dynamos have let slip 10 points from winning positions this season. This is a team that has taken eight points off the top three, Bengaluru, Pune City and Chennaiyin.
Currently on 18 points, they surprisingly sit only five points behind Tuesday night’s opponents and their form augurs well for the Super Cup as the Dynamos warm up in style for the qualifiers, ending the season on a high.
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