Cesar Ferrando delighted with Sumeet Passi, Jorge Costa not happy with display

Mumbai found it difficult to make any real forays into the Jamshedpur box and the visitors deservedly won the game.

Mumbai City faced a defeat in the season-opening game in spite of clearly being the better of the two teams. The coach looked visibly distraught at the result and the performance of the referee.

Speaking on the game and the result Jorge Costa said, “First half was not so good, I think that the players were not confident with the ball. We had a good second half, as we got chances to score. I did not like it in the last five minutes because we conceded the second goal. We cannot play like this.”

Watch: Mumbai City 0-2 Jamshedpur

He then went on to add, “In the first half, both teams did not get many chances. In the second half, we attacked more and we took some risks. Another good thing is that we worked hard in the second half and we created two goals. In two days, we play again."

Elaborating on the question about having only 48 hours to prepare for the next game Costa added, “These are the rules. I do not have any solution. You will not hear me complain. I don’t know, if you are waiting for it. Sometimes it is true that some things can affect whether three points or zero. But, life is like this and we play for three points.”

When asked about the referees Jorge responded, “We have three teams on the field. One I can control; other two I cannot. So, I must only talk about what Mumbai City can do or not in the field.”

Cesar Ferrando then entered the press room jubilant at the victory and lauded his team’s performance as he spoke proudly of his team and discounted the weather conditions saying, “Weather is different in Mumbai. Yesterday I talked about that. I don’t want an excuse. Mumbai played well. I think we played one half in a good way. We tried to keep our lines together because we knew we could have another chance. We are very happy with the result.”

On being asked whether the team was sitting back a lot he retorted, “Some people think Jamshedpur dropped back. I think Mumbai pushed a lot and we had to fall back and defend.”

When asked about his keeper Subhashish Roy Choudhary as well as the performance of his back four Cesar said, “My keeper performed very well. He is another player on the team. He did his work and he worked very well and I am very happy for him. He made good saves. We have to defend better.”

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He was then asked about his captain Tiri and his performance about which he said, “Tiri and Cahill both (are) our captains and he did his defending well. He pushed a lot and he tried to complete his movement very well.”

He then spoke about the gameplay as he said, “Difference between the two halves is that some Jamshedpur players (were) very tired. When we make the change I keep thinking we throw back a lot because Mumbai pushed. Any team in the world; Barca, Madrid, best teams in the world, you cannot attack a lot or you cannot defend a lot. Most important for me is that you defend better or you attack better.”

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Sumeet Passi and Raju Gaikwad have faced criticism from all quarters of the media and when Khel Now raised this point the Spaniard promptly defended the duo saying, “They played very well for me. But, I think I have the best players in the world. They are my team and I have the best players in the world. When we lose and when we win, this is my team. This is my team and I will defend my team and they are the best players in the world.”

The tactician then went on to call Passi the Man of the Match and defended his player ferociously, as he was asked about Cahill who also plays in the same position, saying, “Cahill is a player, who is very important for us. I hope he can play the next match. I am very happy with Passi. He works for the team, not for himself. He works for the team, he runs a lot, he fights a lot. For me (Passi is) the Man of the Match.”