Punjab FC's New Strike Force: Bakenga Steps In as Talal and Jordan Exit

Pic credits: Punjab FC Instagram 

By Naman Suri 

The new Indian Super League (ISL) season has started and all 13 clubs in the top flight of Indian football are raring to showcase their bolstered attacking prowess, immediately. One such, feast for the eyes moment for Indian football fans could be when they get a bit of Erling Haaland, Manchester City’s prolific striker, on display. Not that the Norwegian Terminator will be plying his trade in the Indian league but rather another Norwegian striker, Mushaga Bakenga, who Haaland looked up to during his teen days, will be on display. 

The 32-year-old from Trondheim, Norway was brought in by one of the fastest-rising clubs of Indian football, Punjab FC as part of their squad overhaul. 

The club, representing the North in the league, became the first team to be promoted into the much-fancied ISL, last season after winning the I-League in 2022-23. However, Punjab FC had a horrid time during its initial days in the league trying to gain its footing as it went winless for the first ten rounds. 

The team though ended up eighth in the table, three points adrift from a playoff spot as it recuperated in the second half of the season with new reinforcements coming in. The team under-then-coach, Staikos Vergetis, heavily emphasised an attacking style of football that depended hugely on its foreign recruits in Madih Talal, Wilmar Jordan Gill and Luka Majcen. 

But a season that ended with Punjab only acquiring seven points from its last five fixtures, eventually costing them a playoff spot, required a revamp for them to be considered a top-six team. So, its management, over the summer, completed this revamp of the squad along with a completely new backroom staff. 

The Shers, as they are known as, let go of eleven players including instrumental foreign players Talal, Juan Mera, Jordan and Dimitrios Chatziisaias. 

Attacking midfielder Talal was a force to be reckoned with last season having involvement in 16 of the team’s 28 goals - comprising six goals and 10 assists. Talal was pivotal in the team’s recuperation in the second half of the season, ending as the leading assist provider. In fact, he is the first after Greg Stewart in 2021-22 to rake in assists in double-digits, during a single season. 

However, the Frenchman will now carry out his business for East Bengal FC. Even Jordan, who was the club’s joint-top scorer (8) with Luka Majcen, left the club for Chennaiyin FC. 

Bakenga is a prolific and precocious talent brought in by Punjab and will be tasked to replace Jordan more than Talal after averaging 50 goals per season in his youth career. He made his senior debut at the age of 17 for Rosenberg BK. So, the Norwegian brings in a host of European football experience playing for clubs across several tier-five leagues along with small stints at Club Brugge in Belgium, Molde in Norway and Eintracht Braunschweig in German Bundesliga 2. 

While Punjab made its debut in the ISL last season, Bakenga was starring in his debut season for Apollon Limassol FC in the Cypriot First Division. The Norwegian played in 19 league games leading their attack whilst scoring eight goals with an xG of 6.7. 

xG stands for ‘expected goals’, a statistical measurement of the quality of the goal-scoring chances along with the likelihood of them being scored.

Bakenga, ranked very high in the attacking department, is an out-and-out striker with a fox-in-the-box playing style, however, the Norwegian can also operate on the flanks drifting and stretching the opposition defenders and opening up spaces for others to penetrate through. He also accumulated four assists for the Cypriot side. 

The Indian fans, however, will be more of a spectator to his bullish marksman abilities as he will link up with Luka Majcen up top to threaten the opposition's defence. And Bakenga’s goal contributions is what Punjab would be looking forward to. 

During the season-opener, the Durand Cup, playing from the bench, Bakenga scored two goals against the reserve team of Mumbai City FC while partnering with Luka. 

Talal, on the other side, is more of an attacking midfielder - whose relentless pressing, on & off ball work rate together with exceptional passing range helped him unlock the opposition's defences. A service provider, Talal created 57 chances last season, the third highest in the league while completing the most number of dribbles (42). 

In this sense, asking Bakenga to replace Talal will be an absurd ask, given the Norwegian is often found around the six-yard box. This strategic positioning of his helped him to cash in on significant goal-scoring opportunities last season.

So, where Talal excels in passing, speed, dribbling and chance creation, Bakenga excels in forward positioning, goal-scoring, creating space and operating on the flanks. In addition to this, Mushaga Bakenga made seven dangerous recoveries and 10 counterpressing recoveries helping Apollon make more chances upfront. 

Dangerous recoveries refer to recoveries that lead to a shot within 20 seconds of gaining possession while counterpressing recoveries refer to possession recovery within five seconds of losing the ball. 

Therefore, Bakenga, who fancies himself as a Halaand-esque striker is likely to be tasked with replacing Jordan more so than Talal, during the new season of the ISL. And so, he might take up the duties of scoring, but it will be Filip Mrzljak and Ezequiel Vidal who will take up the duties of supplying the targetmen and splitting open opponents’ defence like Talal did.