Three things Mohun Bagan must work on to improve goal scoring threat under Panagiotis Dilmperis

NorthEast beat the Mariners in their first ISL clash

Mohun Bagan are determined to reclaim their Indian Super League (ISL) title, as the Kolkata outfit has already played their first league game, in which they suffered a defeat against NorthEast United FC, while the Highlanders got their redemption in the Durand Cup 2026. After the loss against Pedro Benali’s side, several major concerns needed to be addressed.

The Mariners headed into the competition on the back of an impressive IFA Shield 2026 title win, even defeating their arch-rivals East Bengal to win the historic tournament.

The Mariners had already won two tournaments (IFA Shield and Calcutta Football League) before the ISL season and seemed to be finding their feet under the system of Panagiotis Dilmperis.

The Greek boss has definitely had a positive influence on Mohun Bagan’s defensive sturdiness under him, as they only conceded one goal in the IFA Shield and kept a pretty good defensive record in the Durand Cup before the final loss to East Bengal, too.

However, one rather concerning early trouble for Mohun Bagan under Panagiotis is their goal-scoring acumen. The Mariners might have scored 17 goals in the Durand Cup, but out of that, 14 were against the likes of CISF Protecters and South United. In seven matches against ISL teams in the last two cup competitions, they only scored five goals.

They’ve already been held to multiple 0-0 stalemates against fellow ISL sides in cup competitions, needing Vishal Kaith’s heroics to win those matches in penalty shootouts.

It’s quite clear that the Mohun Bagan attack is still a work in progress under Dilmperis, whose Punjab FC side became famous for its attacking threat under him last season. Mohun Bagan’s attacking style still needs significant improvement, with both players having to work harder and the gaffer needing to tweak his tactics.

Here, we look at the three things Mohun Bagan should work on to improve their overall goal-scoring threat under Panagiotis Dilmperis.

3. More attacking intent from the full-backs

Because of the competitiveness in the ISL, Mohun Bagan can’t expect only their front four or front five in their attacking half to produce the goods for them all the time. The Mariners need to be braver in pushing their defensive line higher up when they have control of the ball, and that also includes urging their full-backs to be more proactive in the opposition half.

Indeed, the Mohun Bagan full-backs need to look to make more overlapping runs into the final third and stretch the opposition backline with their presence in the attack.

Not only would that allow Mohun Bagan to create more chances through the wide areas using their full-backs’ crossing qualities, but it would also allow more flexibility for their wingers. The Mariners’ wingers can then look to drift into more central areas and look to get at the end of more chances to raise Mohun Bagan’s goal-scoring threat in the final third.

While the energetic Mohun Bagan full-backs definitely must prioritise their defensive work, they also need to go the extra mile to influence the team’s attacking threat to make the Mariners more unpredictable.

2. Influence of midfielders in final third

Mohun Bagan’s winning goal in their recent IFA Shield final victory over East Bengal was particularly soothing to watch because it came from a player no one expected the goal from! Indeed, it was Samir Zeljkovic who surprised many East Bengal players by roaming forward and combining with Sahal Abdul Samad to score a slick goal.

That itself proves that this Mohun Bagan side has enough quality in their midfielders to be able to get amongst the goals with quite regularity. The likes of Sahal, Zeljkovic, Anirudh Thapa and Miguel Figueira are all capable of getting into dangerous positions in the final third to score goals.

Rather than keeping the midfielders in deeper positions to just play sideways or on occasion make forward passes, Dilmperis must keep giving them freedom to sneak into the penalty areas to score goals. Of course, a lot of creative responsibilities will also be on these midfielders as they’ll be urged to carve out opportunities for the forwards – but the attacking intent from midfielders will also decide how unpredictable Mohun Bagan are on the attack.

If they’re able to get more goal-scoring options, they’ll be able to create goal-scoring chances in more unpredictable ways to keep opponents on their toes.

1. Raising the counter-attacking threat

Mohun Bagan have showcased decent capability of scoring a variety of goals under Dilmperis’ reign so far, but they haven’t exactly looked as sharp as they should in the counter-attacks. The Mariners have enough quality in their attacking players to be a nightmare for opponents in transition, and it’s just about working hard to actually finish off the counter-attacks well.

Considering that the Mariners play a possession-dominating style under the Greek coach, it’s not like they’ll get a plethora of counter-attacking chances every game.

However, if they are able to take the lead in the game, the Kolkata giants can definitely start getting more such opportunities in transition, and they need to be at their clinical best in converting them to add more goals to their product.

Dilmperis has to work on his side’s counter-attacking style in training, ensuring that the players can be quick and smart in their build-up when in transition. Once they’re able to tap into their ruthless best in the form of finishing off counter-attacks, Mohun Bagan can definitely score more goals on a regular basis to dominate their way to victories.

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