How East Bengal can shape up with Madih Talal's addition in Durand Cup

Madih Talal will look to impress with his skills.

East Bengal will aim to kickoff their 2024-25 season positively by clinching the Durand Cup title. The Red and Gold succumbed to Mohun Bagan in the final last year, but aim to do one better this time.

Even though the Durand Cup will collide with their crucial AFC Champions League 2 playoff clash against Turkmenistan club Altyn Asyr, the Kolkata heavyweights will push to add more trophies to their cabinet. The Durand Cup will also serve as an ideal platform for Carles Cuadrat to unleash his new signings, especially influential midfielder Madih Talal.

The French midfielder has a lot of expectations on him after his heroics for Punjab FC last season. He is expected to be the creative force in East Bengal’s midfield and add that special spark that pushes them to silverware. Talal is poised to be a regular starter for the Red and Gold and should significantly improve the quality of their midfield.

East Bengal’s ideal midfield with Talal

Cuadrat is likely to test out what should be his go-to midfield in the upcoming Durand Cup matches. He might opt to tinker with a few different shapes to see in which exact role Talal is suited best in his system. In East Bengal’s regular 4-2-3-1 formation, the Frenchman should be the most advanced midfield player.

He is likely to be accompanied by Saul Crespo and Souvik Chakrabarti for the majority of games in the upcoming campaign. Souvik proved himself as a reliable outlet in terms of breaking opposition attacks and providing cover to the backline, while Crespo is the necessary controller for the Red and Gold Brigaders to dominate possession.

With the addition of Jeakson Singh, the East Bengal midfield looks more compact and Madih Talal will get more room to play upfront, where he can create chances and even score goals.

Talal is probably going to look to strike up a special partnership with the Spanish midfielder. Crespo excels at linking up with his teammates by using swift one-two passes and can do that frequently with the technically adept Talal. The duo need to be precise with their link-up play to help East Bengal control games and also cause trouble inside the opposition’s half.

Madih also needs to come to an understanding over the movement to the final third when it comes to the midfielders. If he and Saul both move into the opposition area often, that can leave East Bengal vulnerable to swift counter-attacks. They need to balance their movement right to maintain enough defensive cover while also giving optimum creative input to the Red and Gold Brigaders’ attack.

How Talal can inspire the East Bengal forward line

East Bengal have brought in Talal to help bring more control and efficiency to their midfield, especially when it comes to moving the ball forward. But, there are big expectations on him to make things happen in the final third and notch up similar stats as he did for Punjab FC last season.

Talal scored six goals and provided 10 assists in the Indian Super League (ISL) last season, getting more assists than any other player. He also created  57 goalscoring chances, the third-most for any player. East Bengal will hope he can reinvigorate their frontline with his creative brilliance in the final third.

Madih will be particularly looking to form a special partnership with new signing Dimitrios Diamantakos. He’ll aim to work closely with him in training to find out when and where exactly to feed him final passes during matches. If Talal can understand Dimantakos’ movement perfectly, then East Bengal fans can probably witness this duo being involved in a lot of goals.

Talal’s creative brilliance will also lower the burden on the likes of Naorem Mahesh Singh and Nandhakumar Sekar to look into creating chances. He can also unleash their utmost potential by feeding them into the empty spaces in the opposition area as well as indulging them to get into more goalscoring areas.

The French midfielder will, of course, look to be a goalscoring threat himself too. He possesses impressive finishing ability and his slick dribbling ability makes him a real unpredictable threat. Talal earned more fouls (77) than any other player in the ISL last season, showing how desperate opposition players can get to stop him from surging through onto their goal.

He can potentially use his clever movement and dribbling skills to attract multiple players to guard him, whilst opening up space for the forwards to cause havoc. Talal needs to polish up and nail his final third passes to light up the East Bengal frontline, something he can start working on during the Durand Cup campaign.

East Bengal’s defensive line should be similar to last season. New signing Provat Lakra will compete with Mohamed Rakip for the right-back role. Lalchungnunga and Hijazi Maher should occupy the central roles, while Nishu Kumar should take the left-back role.

Talal will be urged to track back and help win key duels inside his half to spark counter-attacks, but he shouldn’t be that worried about defending deep in his half – unless in a situation where East Bengal are defending a lead deep into matches.

The French midfielder’s priority objective will be to be that inspired playmaker that East Bengal missed last season. He will mostly be asked to create chances regularly and also look to pop up with the occasional goal when the forwards are too occupied.

Talal can start his East Bengal career with a bang in the Durand Cup and will look to produce some bright performances to gain the necessary momentum to take the ISL by storm once again.

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