Jose Molina reflects on reason for Mohun Bagan dropping comfortable lead in Mumbai City FC draw

Jose Molina’s Mohun Bagan have already won the ISL 2024-25 shield.

Jose Molina’s Mohun Bagan witnessed their five-match winning run in the Indian Super League (ISL) come to an end with their 2-2 draw against Mumbai City on Saturday (1 March, 2025).

Despite taking a 2-0 lead through Jamie Maclaren and Dimitrios Petratos’ goals, the Mariners conceded twice in the second half and failed to get the win over the 10-men Islanders as Viktam Partap Singh was sent off in the 58th minute.

On rotating the squad:

After the game, Jose Molina complained about his players ‘trying a different playing style’ in them being unable to get a win. He stated: “For me, we had a great first 45 minutes. The second performance was not so good, but good enough. Having a player advantage on the pitch, we did not play like Mohun Bagan. We did create something during the season, but we tried doing different things with one extra player. Not the things we did, which helped us win the ISL shield.

“If we start doing different things, you can see what happens. For me, it’s simple – you have to play in the way we work every day, the way we play every match and not try to do different things. Even with a player sent off, Mumbai City are a good team with good qualities and organization. We were not under pressure, they scored from two set-pieces and didn’t have many chances to score. We were strong in set-pieces, but we conceded twice from set-pieces today. You have to be stronger than we have been in the last matches and play or way. If we play in a different way, this is the result,” he also added.

When asked if he feels that his side’s performance levels dropped because of him making too many changes to the team that defeated Odisha FC last weekend, the gaffer replied: “Maybe yes, but maybe no. Who knows? What we know is what happened. We don’t know what would’ve happened if we played our winning combination. I prepared the lineup in trying to put the best XI as possible and try to think that we are going to play two matches, this one and the FC Goa one before the knockouts.

“I want to avoid suspensions for the first leg of the semi-final. Thinking about this and the next match, the options we have – I tried to put the best XI as possible. The only experiment I did was play Saurabh Bhanwala as the right-back, as he’s worked really hard in training this season. He had two chances to play as a substitute, but I wanted to see him play from the beginning. To know the real level of the players, you need to see them play in games – training is not enough.

“I wanted to know exactly the level of Saurabh to play in the ISL, because three-minute cameos don’t work. I’m happy because he did a good job and proved that he is ready. This is one match, not enough, but at least is something,” he finished with.

Mohun Bagan are going to play the final match of the 2024-25 ISL league phase against FC Goa on 8 March, after which they’ll also be handed the ISL league shield championship at the Salt Lake Stadium.

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