Ratings: Lalengmawia stars as Mumbai City beat lifeless East Bengal

The Islanders are the only ISL team yet to lose a game this season.

Mumbai City FC extended their unbeaten run in the ongoing season of the Indian Super League (ISL) by defeating East Bengal 3-0 at the Salt Lake Stadium on Friday. Lalengmawia Ralte netted twice while Greg Stewart both provided and scored a goal each to cap off a near-perfect performance for the Islanders.

Des Buckingham’s men have thus consolidated their position at the top of the points table with 24 points after 10 games into the campaign. Here are the player ratings for both teams from this game.

East Bengal FC (By Souvari Paul)

Kamaljit Singh - 5.0

As we can see from the scoreline, the day was pretty bad for Kamaljit. However, he alone could not be blamed for the debacle as his team’s defence was quite bad tonight. He saved five shots of the eight faced on goal, but unfortunately conceded thrice.

Ankit Mukherjee - 6.5

Ankit, like the rest of his side’s defence, had a poor day. He was not effective in aiding East Bengal’s attacks. Despite him playing well defensively with three clearances, two successful interceptions, and one blocked shot, his team conceded thrice.

Lalchungnunga - 6.5

Lalchungnunga had only 28 touches throughout the game. His defensive effort with two successful tackles, three clearances, one successful interception, and one blocked shot was not enough to save his team.

Ivan Gonzalez - 5.5

Gonzalez had 40 touches throughout the game but looked poor in defence. Throughout, he was able to make one successful tackle, three clearances, three successful interceptions, and blocked two shots. However, he was not sharp enough to prevent Mumbai from scoring.

Jerry Lalrinzuala - 6.5

Jerry had a decent day for East Bengal tonight. He created one chance and floated in two crosses. He had 46 touches throughout and made three successful interceptions.

V. P. Suhair - 7.0

Suhair looked relatively better than his teammates in the game. He took one shot and whipped in three crosses, some of which looked threatening.

Alex Lima - 7.5

Lima had a decent day at the office. He took one shot and created two chances. He had 66 touches and made 31 passes throughout. Moreover, in defence, he made one successful tackle, one clearance, and four successful interceptions.

Charalombos Kyriakou - 4.5

Kyriakou did not look good in his comeback game. With 23 touches and 16 passes, he did not look much sharp in the attacking third. He was not able to make any meaningful defensive contribution as well. 

Naorem Mahesh Singh - 6.0

Naorem was another player who looked a little brighter than his teammates in the game. He took one shot, whipped in one ball, and created one chance. He was, however, subbed off post the hour mark.

Semboi Haokip - 4.0

Haokip, yet again, had a bad day. He played in the first half but was not able to make any meaningful contribution.

Cleiton Silva - 6.5

Cleiton tried his best to impact the game in his own way. He took two shots, created two chances, and floated in three crosses. However, a lack of support from his team meant that all his efforts went in vain.

Substitutes 

Aniket Jadhav - 5.5

Aniket came on in the second half but was not much impactful. He was able to create one chance though by taking one shot and whipping in two crosses. 

Eliandro - 4.0

As usual, Eliandro did not look threatening at all even though he played for the whole of the second half. He got a clear chance but his shot was blocked. 

Souvik Chakrabarti - 4.0

Souvik played the entire second half but was poor in all thirds of the game. He was not able to make any meaningful attacking contribution nor was he effective in defence.

Tuhin Das - 5.5

Tuhin came closest to scoring for East Bengal as his second-half effort was deflected off the bar. However, apart from that, he was invisible on the pitch.

Mumbai City FC (By Tarkesh Jha)

Phurba Lachenpa – 6

Phurba was barely tested throughout the game as he faced no shots on goal. He maintained an impeccable 94 per cent passing accuracy and distributed the ball well for the Islanders.

Rahul Bheke – 6

Bheke was industrious on the right flank, making 48 passes, two tackles, three clearances to round off a comprehensive defensive display.

Mourtada Fall – 6

Fall made good work of his second start of the season by maintaining an imposing figure in the back, making two clearances and blocks in addition to keeping an 85 per cent passing accuracy.

Mehtab Singh – 7

Mehtab was again the standout defender for Mumbai as he had a whopping 103 touches on the ball. He made four clearances, two interceptions and maintained an incredible 99 per cent accuracy with his passes.

Mandar Rao Dessai – 6

Mandar made several overlapping runs on the left flank and helped Mumbai push ahead with purpose from the wide areas. He tackled thrice and intercepted once as well.

Lalengmawia Ralte – 8

Apuia has been making decisive runs inside the box in recent games and this ploy reaped rich dividends as he bagged a brace against a hapless East Bengal side. He demonstrated innate composure in finishing off those goals – a trait that reflected highly in his overall work in the middle of the park too.

Ahmed Jahouh – 7.5

Jahouh dictated Mumbai’s attacking endeavours by creating four goal-scoring chances and also securing an assist to his name. He tackled seven times and was at his creative best from crucial positions in and around the 18-yard box.

Greg Stewart – 8

Stewart manoeuvred the East Bengal backline seamlessly with his quick feet and ability to carve out incisive passes in the final third. He got a goal and assist to his name and tackled five times to restore possession higher up on the field.

Lallianzuala Chhangte – 6

Chhangte took three shots, crossed twice and created one goal-scoring chance. However, the in-form winger will regret not contributing directly to a goal in an otherwise flawless outing for the Islanders.

Bipin Singh – 6

Much like Chhangte, even Bipin sent some probing deliveries inside the box but couldn’t bag either a goal or an assist as Mumbai’s central players dominated the proceedings this night.

Jorge Pereyra Diaz – 6.5

The Argentine notched an assist but missed a pretty goal-scoring chance off a cross by Bipin Singh in the second half. Overall, Diaz seems to have settled properly in his role upfront after a relatively quiet start to the season.

Substitutes

Alberto Noguera – 6

Noguera helped Mumbai keep the tempo of the game up after Jahouh’s withdrawal as the Spaniard created one goal-scoring chance and tackled four times in 27 minutes.

Vikram Pratap Singh – 5

The winger got into some compelling 1v1 duels and ensured that the Islanders continued to dominate the frontline in the last quarter of the game.

Vinit Rai – 5

Rai took one shot on target and circulated the ball accurately as Mumbai had already more or less secured a victory by the time of his introduction to the field.

Gurkirat Singh Gill – 4

The young forward missed a spot-kick and an easy opportunity to get his name on the score-sheet.

Rowllin Borges – N/A

Came on for the final few minutes and had no meaningful contributions apart from making two interceptions.