How Jose Molina is getting best out of Manvir Singh at Mohun Bagan?

Manvir Singh has performed brilliantly under Jose Molina and scored goals.

Manvir Singh has been a breath of fresh air for Jose Molina’s attacking line in Mohun Bagan in the 2024-25 Indian Super League (ISL) campaign.

He’s shown impressive resolve in playing a more prominent role in the Mariners’ frontline and has started to thrive under the Spanish gaffer’s system after having some teething problems early on.

The 29-year-old winger scored an amazing goal in Mohun Bagan’s recent win over NorthEast United, showing his impressive ball-striking ability and quality from long-range efforts. Jose Molina has tweaked certain bits of Manvir’s game to get him operating at an optimum level in the opposition final third and ensure that he gets more involved in the moves around their penalty areas.

The Mariners head coach is getting the best out of the 29-year-old with smart positional implementation and discreet tactical tweaks to get him firing on all cylinders.

Limiting defensive responsibilities

A major reason why Manvir is being a bigger threat for the Mariners in the opposition half is because he’s gotten the license to take risks under his system. In recent seasons, Singh has often been limited by roles demanding major defensive contributions, and he mostly played as a wingback under Antonio Habas last season.

Molina has switched him to be a full-fledged right winger whose priorities are to be on the front foot rather than be bothered about defensive responsibilities.

As Molina prefers to have his full-backs mostly stay near their own half, wingers like Manvir can be more advtenrous and braver in romping forward into the final third. This has allowed Singh to look to trouble defenders with his speedy runs and get as close to the opposition goal as possible.

He is contributing defensively, averaging three possession recoveries every game, but Manvir is now more interested in getting involved in goals than try to stop opposition attacking moves.

Getting him to key final third areas more often

The 29-year-old winger’s ability to play in a more advanced role under Molina’s system is also giving him the chance to be near the opposition final third more often.

He’s being able to make the darting runs into the opposition box more freely, and as a result, swinging in more decisive crosses as well as getting closer to scoring goals. Singh has three assists already in nine ISL appearances, those assists is because he’s being encouraged to take on defenders as well as make smarter off-the-ball movements past his marker.

Manvir’s confidence and self-belief levels under Molina have also soared high because the gaffer keeps on motivating him to keep pushing forward even if he makes mistakes or comes up short. This is allowing the 29-year-old to be more robust and proactive near his opponents box and add a new dimension to the Mariners’ attacking style.

Urging him to be more expressive

Manvir Singh has six goal contributions (three goals, three assists) in nine ISL appearances so far, just five short of his tally last season (11 in 23 games). He’s scored as many goals in nine games as he did in 20 league games in the last campaign.

A major reason for that is because of Molina giving the platform to try and express his skills in a more open manner. Even though Mohun Bagan might have shiny attacking players like Jamie Maclaren, Greg Stewart, Dimitrios Petratos and Jason Cummings, the gaffer continues to encourage his domestic players to create or score goals on their own than just feed their foreigner teammates.

As a result of that, Manvir is being able to show off his explosive, physical style much better and has used his physcailiy well to score two clever set-piece goals too. He’s added more firepower to his side’s attacking style with his never-say-die attitude and is thriving under the freedom, which is allowing him to take more shots on goal as well as look to create more chances without fearing potential major repercussions.

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