Antonio Habas’ team selection dilemma persists ahead of ATK Mohun Bagan’s play-offs clash

In ATK Mohun Bagan’s last league stage match against Mumbai City, coach Antonio Habas was forced to change the defensive combination three times.

The Spanish coach initially fielded his team in a 3-4-3 formation with Sandesh Jhingan, Carl McHugh and Tiri at the back. In the absence of left-back Subhasish Bose, who was suspended for the game, defensive midfielder McHugh was slotted in as a central defender and Pritam Kotal was deployed as a left wing-back, a position which he is not accustomed to. 

Unfortunately, this make-shift combination in the backline lasted for only 19 minutes as Jhingan had to leave the field with an injury. After Jhingan’s departure, Pritam went back to being a right centre-back as full-back Prabir Das was introduced at left wing-back. 

Then again at the beginning of the season half, in a bid to strengthen the attack, Habas fielded Edu Garcia, replacing Tiri, and to fill in the Spanish defender’s place he introduced Salam Ranjan Singh for the first time this season.

Habas’ selection dilemma in the backline has been an issue since the beginning of the season. In their very first match against Kerala Blasters, left wing-back Michael Soosairaj got injured and Bose replaced him in that position. And now Jhingan’s injury seems serious and he is doubtful to feature in the club’s all-important first-leg of the play-offs clash against NorthEast United.

Prabir Das also has not hit the heights of last season and has struggled to nail down a first-team spot. The full-back, who had provided five assists last season and was an automatic first-team player, has managed to provide just one assist this season and has started in 10 out of the 18 matches he has played. With Jhingan virtually out of the play-offs clash, the Mariners boss might be tempted to field Sumit Rathi as a central defender alongside Tiri with Pritam Kotal shifting back to his natural right-back’s role.

The selection dilemma also persisted in the midfield for Habas this year as star midfielder Edu Garcia had to miss as many as seven matches in the middle of the season due to an injury. It was only before their final clash against Mumbai, Garcia returned to action. Australian David Williams too had to miss quite a few matches in the beginning due to injury.

Several injuries and suspensions to key players have impacted coach Habas’ team selection and tactics this season and has forced him to change his system multiple times and the issues still persists for the Spaniard.

The veteran tactician needs to chalk the best possible team with the players he has if he wants to shrug off the league stage blues and add one more Indian Super League (ISL) title to his trophy cabinet.