Kerala Blasters coach Ivan Vukomanovic rues poor first half in defeat to Mumbai City

The Blasters have now lost three back-to-back games in ISL 2022-23.

Kerala Blasters once again failed to keep hopes after being defeated by Mumbai City FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium in Kochi. The Islanders started well and went ahead in the twenty-first minute of the game as Mehtab Singh hit past KBFC goalkeeper Prabhsukhan Gill. MCFC doubled the lead via Jorge Pereyra Diaz’s in the thirty-first minute of the match. Kerala Blasters coach Ivan Vukomanovic discussed his side’s performance at the post-match press conference.

Here’s what the Kerala Blasters’ head coach said:

Thoughts on the game

The KBFC boss said that the result has made him unhappy. He also said that he was very frustrated during the match. He mentioned that his side were not good in the first half but showed improvements in the second half. However, he admitted that his side didn’t deserve to win the game for their poor performance in the first half.

“As a coach, it makes me unhappy because of the loss. It makes me frustrated. Because as a coach you use your energy repeating these kinds of things everyday. Those things have to be there. The difference between the first and second half, makes you wonder and ask yourself why can’t we start like that. On one side I was angry, and frustrated watching the first half we were not good, and then in the second half, we saw the way we wanted to play.

"It makes me happy. Because I saw a couple of good moments. I think that today seeing the first half we didn't deserve to win. We have to work on that. Because these kinds of things three losses back-to-back it makes you doubt but we as a team work even harder and prepare for the next game.”

Individually there were a lot of brilliant moments, but your team failed as a unit. Do you agree with that?

Ivan Vukomanovic said that they have to be more careful when they are playing against a strong team like Mumbai City FC. He also said that the midfield was not in a good position as they lost many balls in the first half. However, he feels happy with some individual performances in the match. He mentioned that KP Rahul was good on the pitch despite making his first start this season.

“When you play against a strong opponent like Mumbai City FC you have to know that you have to deal with all those things like being aggressive. When you have players having individual qualities, they make a difference. You want to use them in certain positions. Today we know exactly why we wanted Rahul on the right side. He was good. I'm very happy. The fact is that this is his first game that he started since the start of ISL.

"He was good in possession, in pressing, in individual action. He was defending, he was dangerous. Our midfield was stretched away in the first half and we were losing many balls. In the second half, we were much better in ball possession. We were making difference and that is the way we want to do it. We have many things to work on.”

Positive takeaways after three consecutive losses

The coach said that the one thing he wanted to say to the players was to forget what has happened so far. Ivan Vukomanovic also said that he wants his players to know that the way they played in the first half should not happen again. He also said that the players should take the second half as a reference when they are preparing for the upcoming games. 

“First of all to forget and always tell the players that the first-half must never repeat. Because that is the way that we don’t want to play. Then the second half makes me happy. That’s the way we as a team are capable of reacting to situations.

"I would be more worried if we played the second half crawling down and lost the game and that's the big issue. The players must have a positive mindset to say that we can do it.”