East Bengal midfield conundrum can cause trouble against Mumbai City FC

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East Bengal came back to the second half of the ISL 2023-24 after winning their first trophy in 12 years. They had hoped to do better in the Indian Super League and started well by drawing against arch-rivals Mohun Bagan.

However, they then lost against Northeast United who only had 2 wins to their name before they took on East Bengal. Looking at what went wrong, their chaotic midfield screams out in horror. There is a lot that needs improving in the engine room.

During the winter transfer window, they lost both Borja Herrera and Javier Siverio. They brought in forward Felicio Brown Forbes and midfielder Victor Vazquez. Both of them came off the bench against Northeast United and managed to impress the coach.

However, they lost another key midfielder to an injury during the Kolkata derby. The injury was quite serious and he was flown to Spain for recovery. The only good news is that there has been no news that he would miss the rest of the season.

As per AajTak Bangla's reports, he could recover and come back to Kolkata on the 16th or 17th of February. Even so, with the transfer window now closed, they can't bring anyone new to replace such a consistent player.

On top of everything, captain Cleiton Silva will be unavailable for the tough match against Mumbai due to card suspension. However, Souvik Chakraborty should come back into the mix after serving his suspensions against Mohun Bagan and Northeast United.

Without Souvik along with Crespo, too many stray passes could be noticed in East Bengal's midfield. Lalchungnunga was out of form for and the duo - Sayan Mukherjee and Mohammad Rakip could not handle the constant attacks from Jithin M. Subran.

Coach Carles Cuadrat later changed formation by bringing Sayan on the left and Naorem Mahesh Singh on the right which worked for a while. However, considering Mumbai are a formidable opponent, coach Cuadrat needs to think of a manageable solution quickly.