Khalid Jamil’s valiant warriors bow down to an experienced ATK Mohun Bagan side

NorthEast United and their head coach Khalid Jamil can be immensely proud of the performance they produced in the Indian Super League (ISL) this season despite not making it to the final in their second attempt in seven seasons.

It was the most memorable campaign in the history of the club as Khalid Jamil’s side matched the big boys of the league toe-to-toe and came very close to have a fairytale end to their beautiful journey.

Alas! the journey had to come to an end in a cruel fashion as they went down 1-2 in the second leg of their play-offs tie against ATK Mohun Bagan. This was also their first defeat in 12 matches this season.

NorthEast United headed into the tie with great confidence thanks to Idrissa Sylla’s last-minute equaliser in the first leg which allowed them to hold the Mariners to a 1-1 draw. The Guinean forward got rewarded for his equalising goal as he found himself in the starting lineup in the second leg tie.

In order to strengthen his attack, Jamil took the gamble of dropping Belgian defender Benjamin Lambot, who has been a star performer for the Highlanders this season, to fit in Sylla. Mashoor Shereef was fielded alongside Dylan Fox in central defence.

The former Chennai City man, who had an impressive debut season in the ISL this time, felt the pressure of a big game as he failed to keep a check on ATK Mohun Bagan’s attacking duo of David Williams and Roy Krishna. He struggled to deal with the movement of Krishna, who was in his element and produced one of the best performances this season despite not being on the score-sheet.

After a disappointing draw in the first leg, Antonio Habas took a no-nonsense approach and went all guns blazing right from the off. Sandesh Jhingan and Tiri returned to the starting lineup as the Spanish coach went back to his preferred 3-5-2 formation.

When the Green and Maroons go all out in attack and take the game to the opposition, it has been observed that they have usually been successful given the individual quality at their disposal. Be it against Bengaluru FC in the first phase, or Odisha FC in the second half of the campaign or even in the last Kolkata derby, Bagan kicked-off the proceedings with an attacking approach.

The Kolkata giants could or rather should have taken a bigger lead in the first 45 minutes had Javier Hernandez not squandered the easiest of chances. He also had one of his shots strike the NorthEast United goal-post.

24 – @atkmohunbaganfc attempted a total of 24 shots in the second semi-final against @NEUtdFC, it was the most in a match in this season of the @IndSuperLeague. Attacking. #ATKMBNEU #IndianFootball #LetsFootball #HeroISL pic.twitter.com/H1vOL66kdk

— OptaJeev (@OptaJeev) March 9, 2021

NorthEast United were, to an extent, taken aback by the Bagan’s firebrand approach and it took them nearly 20 minutes to settle into the game. With a goal down at half-time, coach Khalid Jamil changed his tactics and they went all guns blazing from the beginning of the season half.

The Highlanders missed Deshorn Brown’s presence upfront all through the play-offs. The Jamaican did take the field in the second half of the second leg but he had too less time to make an impact. Several players in their team couldn’t rise up to the challenge and contain the ATK Mohun Bagan attack. From the chances that they did create, V.P.Suhair was guilty of being wasteful upfront despite scoring a goal in the 74th minute.

In the end, the experience of the ATK Mohun Bagan players came to the fore as Habas has guided yet another team into the ISL final for the third time in his career. For Jamil, he can bow out of the competition with his head held high.