How Jose Molina can help Ashique Kuruniyan get back to his best after injury nightmare?

The Indian winger has recently returned from an ACL injury

Mohun Bagan are flying high under the guidance of Jose Molina and were able to climb up to the top of the Indian Super League (ISL) table after their recent 3-0 win over Jamshedpur FC. The Spanish gaffer is having a positive impact on many of the Mariners’ players, be it the quality foreign talents or the hard-working domestic individuals.

However, one Mohun Bagan player who has been slightly left behind at the party is vibrant winger Ashique Kuruniyan. The 26-year-old was forced to miss almost the entirety of the 2023-24 season for the Mariners after sustaining an awful knee injury while on national duty for India.

Kuruniyan has had a long and hard road back into recovery, facing some complications in regaining full match sharpness. He now appears to be back to his fittest and ready to play matches consistently but faces severe competition in the different positions at Mohun Bagan.

Molina will treat the winger carefully because of his injury history, but realizes Ashique’s quality and how he can bring something different to his team. The Spaniard will try his best to get the 26-year-old back to his best form, knowing that he can be a major goal-scoring or creation factor from the wide areas. Here are ways for the Mohun Bagan gaffer to get the best out of Kuruniyan.

Give him more playing time as a substitute

Ashique has made five appearances for the Mariners so far in the 2024-25 season, with all of them coming as a substitute. That is acceptable considering that he needs to earn a starting role after missing such a long period of time. But Kuruniyan needs to be given a bit more playing time even as a substitute to have enough of a platform to actually deliver. Giving him less than 10 minutes as a late sub when matches are more or less already decided won’t help the 26-year-old make much of an impact.

Molina has shown a knack for making very late substitutions in his tenure, but maybe he should change that with Ashique. He could have him replace one of his wingers earlier, knowing how Kuruniyan’s speed and ability to move forward with the ball can hurt exhausted defenders.

The winger needs to be given more time to prove he’s still got that flair in possession and can torment opposition players with his pacy runs. Doing so will also allow Ashique to potentially create big goal-scoring chances in the second half and also enhance his own goal-scoring capabilities.

Rotate him smartly with Liston Colaco on left-wing

Ashique Kuruniyan’s best position is as a left-winger because of his ability to burst past through the flank and then either smash in crosses from the byline or invert onto the goal. That means he is an ideal alternative or replacement for Liston Colaco, who recently scored his first goal of the ISL campaign against Jamshedpur. Liston can be quite frustrating when things aren’t going in his favor, and Molina probably needs to be a bit more cutthroat in taking off his underperforming players earlier on in matches to send the right message to the squad.

He can look to rotate Ashique with Liston when Colaco is undergoing a bad bit of form, mostly to revitalize his attack and add something fresh to the frontline. Kuruniyan might not be able to cut in as easily as Liston or score that many long-rangers, but he can really benefit someone like Jamie Maclaren. Kuruniyan’s knack for finding pinpoint crosses can definitely help the centre-forward get more chances inside the box, which plays to his strengths.

Trial him as an attacking left-back in losing positions

If Molina does not see Kuruniyan as an ideal rotational option for COlaco, he could potentially play the 26-year-old in a deeper position in his team. The Mariners have faced certain issues in away matches so far this season, losing in poor fashion to Bengaluru FC and only being able to draw against Odisha FC.

A major reason for their shaky away form is because they find it difficult to break down low defensive blocks and when having to chase the game after going behind. To bypass that issue, the Spanish gaffer could use Ashique Kuruniyan as an attacking wing-back.

When Mohun Bagan are really in need of goals in matches, Kuruniyan could come in for Subhasish Bose in left-back to add more energy and penetrativeness through the left. Ashique has decent defensive qualities, and he excels at making overlapping runs through the wide areas into empty space and then flinging creative balls into the box.

Kuruniyan can potentially help break down opposition defensive lines better and improve their creative delivery from the wide areas too. So when losing or drawing matches, using Ashique in a left-back role can not only help him get more playing time but also give him enough of a platform to get back to his sharpest.

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