Kolkata: Nineteen of the 36 goals scored by Indian Super League (ISL) runaway leaders Mohun Bagan Super Giant have come from set-piece movements. Mohun Bagan have equalled FC Goa’s record of most goals from restart moves set in the entirety of 2019-20 with five rounds of the league remaining.
Eleven of those goals have come from corner-kicks, the most by any team in a single season, according to data provided by ISL. That explains why Mohun Bagan left-back and skipper Subhasish Bose leads their goalscoring charts along with attacking players Jamie Maclaren and Manvir Singh. After 19 rounds, all of them have scored six goals each.
Bose’s tally is the most by a defender in any ISL season. His teammates in defence Alberto Rodriguez (4), Tom Aldred (2) and Dippendu Biswas (1) have also scored. Most teams have struggled to deal with the physical presence of Mohun Bagan’s tall and strong players in the penalty area.
Against Mohammedan Sporting in last Saturday’s reverse fixture, three of Mohun Bagan’s goals in the 4-0 win were following either a corner-kick or a free kick. Bose scored the first finishing a string of five passes in the penalty area, the move set going by Liston Colaco’s corner-kick. “They can conjure goals out of nothing,” said former Bengaluru FC midfielder Eric Paartalu on commentary. Manvir Singh made it 2-0 heading in Jason Cummings’s corner-kick at the near post and Bose was at it again, stabbing home a Maclaren flick following a free-kick from Cummings.
It was with a 3-0 win against Mohammedan Sporting in October that Mohun Bagan overcame a poor start and then too, they had scored the first following a corner-kick (Maclaren) and the second from a free kick (Bose).
Strength in depth and the never-say-die mentality are among the reasons why Mohun Bagan have logged 43 points, nine more than second-placed Jamshedpur FC who have a match in hand. Only one team, NorthEast United, have scored more (37) but having leaked 25 goals, they are fourth in the standings on 29 points having lost 17 points from winning positions.
Mohun Bagan have conceded 14 and are the only team to have shipped less than 20 goals. Only five of them have been from set-pieces. Along with Odisha FC, Mohun Bagan have the joint-best defensive record in the league from restart moves. With 15 goals following either a corner-kick, free kick or from a penalty, Odisha are the second most efficient team in ISL11 from set-piece situations.
Nearly every elite team has a set-piece coach. Having turned Arsenal into a formidable outfit from set-pieces, Nicolas Jover, and not manager Mikel Arteta, is seen issuing directions before restart moves.
At Mohun Bagan, it is more of a collective effort from the technical staff, said head coach Jose Molina. “Everybody helps. I have a good staff,” he said. “The player who delivers the corner-kick or the free kick is key. Then, of course, we have tall guys wo are powerful and can win aerial duels. If the delivery is good, they can score,” said the Spaniard here on Tuesday.
Goals from set-plays have dominated 2024-25 with 120 of them being scored in 119 matches ahead of Mohun Bagan’s home match against Punjab FC on Wednesday. It is already 12 more than what was scored from restart moves in 2023-24.
Punjab FC are aware of Mohun Bagan using set-plays as a potent scoring weapon. They were leading 1-0 in Delhi before losing Pulga Vidal to a red card and going down 1-3. Rodriguez had made it 1-1 from Cummings’s corner-kick and had scored again from an Anirudh Thapa delivery that followed a corner-kick. In between, Maclaren scored from a penalty. What could increase the difficulty quotient for Punjab FC is that they have conceded nine goals from corner-kicks and scored only five.
“We will change something,” said Punjab FC coach Panagiotis Dilmperis. “What we need to be aware of is that most of the times Mohun Bagan do not score direct from a set-piece but they have such belief about scoring from the second ball, or from a rebound.”
