Kolkata : Home venue of Kolkata’s iconic Salt Lake Stadium – Mohun Bagan SG, in front of Maroon supporters – a sight that could scare any opposition, and such was the dominance of Mohun Bagan in recent past in ISL. But the game against 11th placed Chennaiyin FC displayed some other Mohun Bagan that fans rarely witness. A performance that made Mohun Bagan SG head coach Panagiotis Dilmperis criticize and state that he wants to forget this night.
On October 26, Bagan took on Chennaiyin FC who were winless till now. The team haven’t defeated Bagan since 2024 and everyone had high stakes with the Mariners. But the home side struggled in most of the match.
Chennaiyin FC began attacking early, created multiple chances. They toyed with Bagan midfield, individual battles, and taking over 52℅ Ball possession. Chennai recorded as many as 25 shorts against Mohun Bagan – 6 on target, 17 off target and 3 blocked shorts. Brison Fernandes, Irfan kept the defense and goal keeper Vishal Kaith busy. Kaith kept flying throughout the game saving all. Probably many opposition in recent decade didn’t show such a valiant effort against a side like Mohun Bagan.
Chennaiyin came agonizingly close when Nikola Stojanovic smashed a bullet fire short that struck the bar. Despite a goal in 85th minute and 1-0 win somehow against an out of touch opposition, Panos had nothing but disappointment and words of criticism on the performance.
Panos openly stated in post match conference that it was not a good performance and Bagan will like to forget this as quickly as possible and solve their problems. He also focused on superior Ball possession of Chennaiyin FC that made Mohun Bagan struggle.
He said, “It was not good performance today, we started the game well in first half but couldn’t control the possession of the opponent especially in the center of the field”.
Panos experimented with various changes and formations in the game. Even Bagan players like Samir Zeljkovic, Dejan Drazic, Alberto Rodriguez, Manvir Singh came near creating numerous chances but couldn’t succeed. Throughout the game, Bagan players lost the Ball to Chennaiyin which broke their momentum repeatedly, and Panos focused on this unforced error repeatedly.
“They (Chennaiyin) created lot of situations, and we tried some things to support the team (Mohun Bagan SG) like change of formations. It helped a little, but still there was a huge problem – they (Chennaiyin) had huge possession. I believe that when in second half Sahal came inside, we brought a little balance to the game, but still we had an issue of unforced mistakes, we’ve the Ball to our feet and suddenly we’re losing Ball for no reason, we also had our chances, there are 4-5 players in this”, stated Panos.
After the struggles of Mohun Bagan where Chennaiyin proved superior in numerous occasions, Panos stated that Bagan would need to forget the game quickly and focus on next one. He also repented once again losing last minute points against NorthEast United FC.
“In the end of the day, we have to forget this game really quick, get focus on next one and maybe the points that we didn’t take unfairly at NorthEast, we took them today”, Panos concluded.
Mohun Bagan will next face Punjab FC on Saturday – 31st October, 2026, the side Panos was previously head coach of. Bagan after the game are sitting at number 5 in points table.
