Three things Mohun Bagan SG must do in the midfield to seal the ISL 2025-26 title

Mohun Bagan SG are currently the table toppers

Mohun Bagan SG jumped right back into the Indian Super League (ISL) 2025-26 title race by picking up two consecutive wins in the last two matches against Punjab FC and NorthEast United FC. However, the final scorelines doesn’t really justify what actually happened on the pitch.

The Mariners were given a tough fight by the Shers and the Highlanders in both the matches, who outwitted them in many departments of the game. The biggest issue that happened for Mohun Bagan SG, who were without Lalengmawia Ralte in both the matches, is that they failed to control the midfield battle.

The Mariners’ players often gave away possession easily, allowing Punjab FC to hurt them on the transitions. And even in the case of the match against NorthEast, the midfield eventually was opening up very often.

Even Sergio Lobera was left bemused with his player’s performances after the Punjab FC game. He insisted that a lot of things need to improve for Mohun Bagan SG to be able to push for the ISL title.

Well, the biggest concern that they currently need to look to improve is how they hold their own in the midfield area.

Lobera needs his players to be more proactive and show more urgency in winning battles in the midfield for them to avoid the scares that the oppositions posed them.

Here are a few ways that can help Mohun Bagan SG solve their midfield control troubles in the ISL 2025-26 title push.

Close the gap between the lines

Mohun Bagan SG have actually averaged the highest possession percentage per game in the 2025-26 ISL so far. The Mariners have boasted 65.8% possession every game, which is mostly because of how Sergio Lobera loves his players to keep a hold of the ball more often to frustrate their opponents.

However, they struggled to control the possession as well against the energetic Punjab FC side. The Mariners players were guilty of giving away the ball too cheaply under the slightest of pressure, which only encouraged their opponents to keep closing in on them to win the key duels.

There is, however, a solution to this problem if Lobera can get all his players to work together.

Mohun Bagan SG just need to tighten up their shape and ensure that their defensive line is well synchronized with the midfielders.

Moreover, the forwards also need to drop deep to keep things choppy and tight, which would help them press the opponents players and restrict the flow of space for them to control things in the midfield.

Being able to retain a more compact shape would help Mohun Bagan SG keep control of the midfield battle and also dominate games without the constant threat of counterattacks looming over them.

Patience in the build-up play

Things can often go wrong in a midfield battle if teams are obsessed with being too quick in getting the ball forward to help create major chances. For a team like Lobera’s, which is obsessed with hogging onto the majority of the possession, patience can be the greatest virtue in frustrating the opposition players.

Mohun Bagan SG’s desperation was there to see in both the matches against against Punjab FC and NorthEast United FC, where they were too obsessed with scoring goals and moving the ball forward.

As a result, they were forced into excessive passing, with many of their attempts going astray. The opposition quickly picked up on their patterns, allowing them to intercept play and win the ball back with ease.

Lobera needs his players to be much calmer when in possession of the ball, be it moving the ball out from the back or trying to create chances inside the opposition half.

He needs them to be snappy with their passing, but try to drain out opponents with a string of passes before moving the ball into the final third and looking to create major chances.

Introduce a third midfielder

The interesting thing about Mohun Bagan SG’s shape under Sergio Lobera is that they’ve been forced to experiment a little bit with their no.10 role. Dimitri Petratos started off playing in that position, even though he’s naturally more of a no. 9 option.

As of late, Robson Robinho has often played as their attacking midfielder even though he best operates as a left-winger.

Mohun Bagan SG’s decision to play forwards or wingers in the attacking midfield role is causing them to be a bit overwhelmed in the midfield battle at times.

A possible solution to this would to be to potentially add a more of a natural midfielder in that no.10 role in which Mohun Bagan SG feel that they’d be overwhelmed in the midfield.

Sahal Abdul Samad, who scored a wonder goal in the win over Punjab FC, is arguably the best option to do so. He has many years of experience of playing in the no.10 role and is also proactive enough to execute an ideal press on the opposition.

Sahal is capable of scoring or creating goals with rather ease in the no.10 position, and he can also drop deep to help his fellow midfielders in winning the ball back in key positions.

Giving the India international more minutes in that no.10 role can not only do wonders for Sahal’s confidence, but also bring more stability to help Mohun Bagan SG dominate things in the midfield.

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