How Mohun Bagan can help Jamie Maclaren improve his form in away games

Jamie Maclaren has failed to show his form in the away games for the Mariners.

Mohun Bagan received a rude awakening in their 2024-25 Indian Super League (ISL) title charge with a bitter 2-1 loss to FC Goa. The Mariners went toe-to-toe with the Gaurs, but their lack of spark in the final third earned them their second loss of the campaign after 12 games.

It turned out to be a particularly frustrating outing for forward Jamie Maclaren, who saw his issues continue in away travels for the Mariners. The Australian striker has not been able to score in a single match outside Kolkata in the ISL this season, with all his four games (in 11 matches) coming at the Salt Lake Stadium itself.

This is starting to be an issue and holding back Mohun Bagan from unleashing their best in challenging away games. Jose Molina will look for ways to help unlock Maclaren’s best abilities in tricky away games to get him firing on all cylinders irrespective of the venue.

3. Increase his output inside the box

Maclaren is often being made to do the thankless art of pressing down the opposition defenders and acting as the ‘link’ to help those around him. While he has to learn to be a team player, Mohun Bagan also need to give a bit more indulgence to their No 9 against tricky teams. That includes increasing the amount of chances that manage to find their way to his pathway in the opposition box.

Molina probably needs to urge his full-backs to be a bit more proactive in making overlapping runs into the final third and improve their crossing ability to get better balls for Maclaren to pounce on. Even the wingers and midfielders have to nail their final passes properly for Maclaren to get more opportunities to shoot at the opposition goal. He’s only had six shots on target so far in the ISL, a number that needs to exponentially improve for him to be a prominent goal-scoring threat.

2. Discourage him from consistently dropping deep

The Australian forward tries to get deeply involved in constructing attacking moves for his side and that sees him often drop deep in an effort to destabilize defensive shapes and help create space for teammates. He has this knack of dropping deep quite often in the away matches, which forces him to be quite far away from the opposition goal for the majority of the occasions.

Molina probably needs to urge Maclaren to be more of a box striker rather than often dropping deep to try and link up attacking moves. As long as he stays closer to the opposition goal and finds empty spaces in the box, Maclaren can also give his teammates more chances to deliver passes to him in key areas and help improve his goal-scoring record.

1. Motivate him to convert chances even better

To his credit, Maclaren has maintained an admirable goal-conversion record in his first season with the Mariners. He has scored four goals from having just six shots on target, but for the Australian to compete for the top goal honors in the ISL, there is a need for him to be even more lethal in front of goal. Molina has to push the Australian forward harder and make him obsessed with getting to the end of opportunities and showing more hunger to score goals than he has already.

This has to be executed particularly for the away games, as Mohun Bagan needs a ruthless finisher to put away whatever chances are created to give them that added edge away from home.

If Maclaren can work that bit harder to get at the end of his side’s attacking moves and finish off chances clinically, he could help Mohun Bagan lodge an even stronger push for the ISL league shield title in the second half of the 2024-25 season.

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