Chennaiyin FC continued their resurgence on Friday with a 2-0 win away at Mumbai City’s home, the DY Patil Stadium. A total of 21,321 people packed into the noisy cauldron to see the Super Machans register their second straight away win and in the process, climb up to 3rd spot in the table.
Mumbai City on the other hand, remained on a solitary point after three matches and remained seventh, only pointless NorthEast United below them. On the basis of this showing, they do not look like improving on their seventh place finish from last season, where again, only NorthEast finished below them.
Even if Mumbai had somehow sneaked a point from this match, it would have been totally undeserved as Chennaiyin dominated the match from the start and only some poor finishing in the first half from the visitors saved Mumbai from a heavier defeat.
Chennaiyin have now scored six consecutive goals without reply and look like they have regained their form from the last season where they finished top of the table.
Wasteful first half
Chennaiyin FC, who lined up in a 4-3-3 formation came into the match on the back of a strong showing in Goa. Their two star performers from that match, Brazilian Elano, who had pulled the strings in midfield in that win with two assists and hat-trick hero Stiven Mendoza, were always going to be the main threats to the home team’s chances.
Mumbai, who opted for a 4-4-2 formation, were banking on their winger, Haitian Sony Norde, to be their main man and he certainly had his moments tonight, but it was not enough to fetch his team a goal. The home crowd also gave Sunil Chettri a huge welcome, pinning their hopes on the Indian national team's star striker.
The away team got off to an inauspicious start as midfielder Thoi Singh crashed into opposition full back Fanai in the second minute, and was promptly awarded a yellow card. Chettri got into the action as his shot was blocked in the fourth minute, but he was anonymous for large spells of the game as he dropped deep to try and set up his team’s attacking play.
Mendoza then had the first meaningful shot of the match as he ran full steam at the defence, struck it fiercely only for custodian Subrata Paul to palm it away as Chennaiyin began to grow into the match. Paul incidentally, was the third keeper to be used by Mumbai during this campaign.
The resulting corner from Elano came out to Harmanjot Khabra, who lashed a shot at goal, getting a touch from Jayesh Rane on the way, just missing the left post by a couple of inches.
That set the tone for a cagey midfield battle for the next ten minutes, as neither side was willing to give possession away but could not find the killer pass to unlock each other’s defences. Lalchhuanmawia Fanai, in particular, was responsible for keeping Mendoza and Co out, putting in some superb tackles at the back. Elano, in particular, was proving to be wasteful with his wayward passing.
Although the home team were trying to string some passes together, Chennaiyin stole the ball in the 26th minute and launched a counter up the pitch. Raphael Augusto cut inside Pratesh Shirodkar, before unleashing a shot which Paul could only tip onto the post.
The home team were on the rails as Elano launched a glorious ball from the deep directed towards Mendoza, who ran free of the defence and to his surprise, had acres of space. But the Colombian’s poor first touch let him down and added to the disappointment with an equally abject finish.
Mumbai almost grabbed one against the run of play as Selim Benachour won the ball with an excellent tackle, then passed it to Fanai on the left. Fanai swung in a low ball towards Frederic Piquionne, who latched onto the ball only to strike it just wide off goal.
Sony Norde was proving to be a real livewire with his direct running and he was through in the 41st minute only for Mehrajuddin Wadoo to put in an excellent last-ditch tackle after Norde had hesitated to shoot. The resulting corner from Norde created all sorts of problems for Apoula Edel, who was off his line and just managed to tip it over his bar.
The half ended with Paul just tipping over Elano’s free kick as Chennaiyin had wasted a number of chances to take the lead.
Chennai grab two
The second half started slowly as Norde was proving to be a handful on the wing and linked neatly with Chettri on a couple of occasions but without any meaningful end product.
The breakthrough finally came in the 61st minute through a calamitous mix-up in the Mumbai defence. Pratesh passed it short towards Pavel Cmovs, only for Elano to ghost in and steal the ball on the edge of the box. Paul had to come out and challenge Elano, who merely rolled the ball into Mendoza’s path to slot it into an empty net.
Cmovs’s frustration showed as he was shown a yellow for a barge on Mendoza shortly after. Mumbai’s manager Nicolas Anelka responded to the goal by bringing on Gabriel Fernandes for Pratesh.
However, it was Chennaiyin who scored again in the 66th minute as the ball sat up nicely for Jayesh, who struck it sweetly to beat Paul’s despairing dive, only for the ball to bounce off the crossbar. Mendoza, who was first to the rebound with Mumbai’s defence asleep, merely had to head it into another empty net, for his fifth goal of the campaign.
Gabriel tries to wake Mumbai up
Meanwhile, substitute Gabriel was causing all sorts of problems on Chennaiyin’s left wing as he tried to drag his team back into the match. Although he could only earn corners on a couple of occasions, Mumbai’s play showed significant signs of improvement and their tempo had also gone up.
In the 81st minute, the winger set off on one of his numerous runs and crossed it early into the Chennaiyin box, only to find the big Czech centre-back Cmovs who scuffed the finish high, in what was one of Mumbai’s best moves of the match.
Chennaiyin took Mendoza and Raphael off, bringing on Fikru Teferra and Manuele Blasi, as Materazzi looked to see the match out. In the 90th minute, Mailson Alves taunted Norde after a good piece of defence from the Brazilian, which the Haitian laughed off with a smile.
Norde broke through one final time in the 93rd minute, only to shoot straight at Edel. It was the end of a poor evening for Mumbai City, who were hounded by their defensive shambles. Anelka does have a lot of problems to sort out, but the performances of Gabriel, Fanai and Paul would have given him something to think about.
Mumbai City on the other hand, remained on a solitary point after three matches and remained seventh, only pointless NorthEast United below them. On the basis of this showing, they do not look like improving on their seventh place finish from last season, where again, only NorthEast finished below them.
Even if Mumbai had somehow sneaked a point from this match, it would have been totally undeserved as Chennaiyin dominated the match from the start and only some poor finishing in the first half from the visitors saved Mumbai from a heavier defeat.
Chennaiyin have now scored six consecutive goals without reply and look like they have regained their form from the last season where they finished top of the table.
Wasteful first half
Chennaiyin FC, who lined up in a 4-3-3 formation came into the match on the back of a strong showing in Goa. Their two star performers from that match, Brazilian Elano, who had pulled the strings in midfield in that win with two assists and hat-trick hero Stiven Mendoza, were always going to be the main threats to the home team’s chances.
Mumbai, who opted for a 4-4-2 formation, were banking on their winger, Haitian Sony Norde, to be their main man and he certainly had his moments tonight, but it was not enough to fetch his team a goal. The home crowd also gave Sunil Chettri a huge welcome, pinning their hopes on the Indian national team's star striker.
The away team got off to an inauspicious start as midfielder Thoi Singh crashed into opposition full back Fanai in the second minute, and was promptly awarded a yellow card. Chettri got into the action as his shot was blocked in the fourth minute, but he was anonymous for large spells of the game as he dropped deep to try and set up his team’s attacking play.
Mendoza then had the first meaningful shot of the match as he ran full steam at the defence, struck it fiercely only for custodian Subrata Paul to palm it away as Chennaiyin began to grow into the match. Paul incidentally, was the third keeper to be used by Mumbai during this campaign.
The resulting corner from Elano came out to Harmanjot Khabra, who lashed a shot at goal, getting a touch from Jayesh Rane on the way, just missing the left post by a couple of inches.
That set the tone for a cagey midfield battle for the next ten minutes, as neither side was willing to give possession away but could not find the killer pass to unlock each other’s defences. Lalchhuanmawia Fanai, in particular, was responsible for keeping Mendoza and Co out, putting in some superb tackles at the back. Elano, in particular, was proving to be wasteful with his wayward passing.
Although the home team were trying to string some passes together, Chennaiyin stole the ball in the 26th minute and launched a counter up the pitch. Raphael Augusto cut inside Pratesh Shirodkar, before unleashing a shot which Paul could only tip onto the post.
The home team were on the rails as Elano launched a glorious ball from the deep directed towards Mendoza, who ran free of the defence and to his surprise, had acres of space. But the Colombian’s poor first touch let him down and added to the disappointment with an equally abject finish.
Mumbai almost grabbed one against the run of play as Selim Benachour won the ball with an excellent tackle, then passed it to Fanai on the left. Fanai swung in a low ball towards Frederic Piquionne, who latched onto the ball only to strike it just wide off goal.
Sony Norde was proving to be a real livewire with his direct running and he was through in the 41st minute only for Mehrajuddin Wadoo to put in an excellent last-ditch tackle after Norde had hesitated to shoot. The resulting corner from Norde created all sorts of problems for Apoula Edel, who was off his line and just managed to tip it over his bar.
The half ended with Paul just tipping over Elano’s free kick as Chennaiyin had wasted a number of chances to take the lead.
Chennai grab two
The second half started slowly as Norde was proving to be a handful on the wing and linked neatly with Chettri on a couple of occasions but without any meaningful end product.
The breakthrough finally came in the 61st minute through a calamitous mix-up in the Mumbai defence. Pratesh passed it short towards Pavel Cmovs, only for Elano to ghost in and steal the ball on the edge of the box. Paul had to come out and challenge Elano, who merely rolled the ball into Mendoza’s path to slot it into an empty net.
Cmovs’s frustration showed as he was shown a yellow for a barge on Mendoza shortly after. Mumbai’s manager Nicolas Anelka responded to the goal by bringing on Gabriel Fernandes for Pratesh.
However, it was Chennaiyin who scored again in the 66th minute as the ball sat up nicely for Jayesh, who struck it sweetly to beat Paul’s despairing dive, only for the ball to bounce off the crossbar. Mendoza, who was first to the rebound with Mumbai’s defence asleep, merely had to head it into another empty net, for his fifth goal of the campaign.
Gabriel tries to wake Mumbai up
Meanwhile, substitute Gabriel was causing all sorts of problems on Chennaiyin’s left wing as he tried to drag his team back into the match. Although he could only earn corners on a couple of occasions, Mumbai’s play showed significant signs of improvement and their tempo had also gone up.
In the 81st minute, the winger set off on one of his numerous runs and crossed it early into the Chennaiyin box, only to find the big Czech centre-back Cmovs who scuffed the finish high, in what was one of Mumbai’s best moves of the match.
Chennaiyin took Mendoza and Raphael off, bringing on Fikru Teferra and Manuele Blasi, as Materazzi looked to see the match out. In the 90th minute, Mailson Alves taunted Norde after a good piece of defence from the Brazilian, which the Haitian laughed off with a smile.
Norde broke through one final time in the 93rd minute, only to shoot straight at Edel. It was the end of a poor evening for Mumbai City, who were hounded by their defensive shambles. Anelka does have a lot of problems to sort out, but the performances of Gabriel, Fanai and Paul would have given him something to think about.
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