Just another game for pre-season campaign, Juan Ferrando after beating Mumbai City

Mohun Bagan will face FC Goa in the semi-final

Mohun Bagan Super Giant picked up a huge 3-1 win over Indian Super League (ISL) rivals Mumbai City FC in the quarter-finals of the 2023 Durand Cup on Sunday, August 27. Jason Cummings, Manvir Singh and Anwar Ali were all on the scoresheet for the Mariners, who took a step closer to achieving their dream of winning the Durand Cup with the win.

Impressions on the win

Juan Ferrando was pleased with the win, but doesn’t believe that it changes the impression on how ready they are to compete for top honours. He said: “The impression remains the same for us even after the match, is that we are still in pre-season. We have to play matches and we need to work hard in training. It’s difficult for us as we have two crucial matches every week, be it the AFC Cup, or the Derby so it’s difficult to prepare for pre-season.

“This is just another game for the pre-season campaign, the team needs to improve a lot. The important thing now is to recover strongly, because we have our next match on Thursday. We don’t have a lot of time, so the most important thing is to recover strongly today and then prepare for the next match. In this club, every day is crucial,” he also added.

Praise for goal contributors

The gaffer had special praise for some of his players, including Hugo Boumous and Manvir Singh and said: “For us, it’s important that we have a lot of good players with a lot of quality. The key is to work like a team, and for everyone to do the maximum effort for all their teammates. We need to think about ourselves and do our best. I’m so happy because the performance of Asish Rai and Liston Colaco was perfect a few days ago was perfect and today Manvir and Ashique it was the same. Hugo has been working hard for the last few games. I like how he and the other foreigners, like Jason Cummings keep improving every day. It’s not necessary to talk so much about this performance, because this is just one match.”

His message to players before the match and Anwar Ali verdict

When asked about what he told his players about this game before it, Ferrando explained: “Obviously, the most important thing for us is that we’re in the AFC Cup group stages. We are happy for that. The Durand Cup is important for us, we try to do our best in the tournament. I told them to keep playing in our way. I know the Mumbai City game is difficult because everyone knows they are a difficult opponent. They have quality players and play so well. It’s good to win against these teams. But we can’t consider ourselves a ‘very good team’ because of this win. No No. We still need to improve aspects of our game, in transitions we made mistakes and we need to keep these in mind and work on them in the next few days.”

The Spaniard also had a lot of praise for Anwar Ali, who scored a goal again and said: “It’s normal in set pieces for him to find the spaces. He is a good player, be it in build-up or with his positional sense. He knows how to attack the spaces really well in set pieces. He is playing all the matches with a lot of passion because everyone knows his difficulties a few years ago. He loves playing football, but he’s not gotten some opportunities due to his health, so it’s normal for him to think how great an opportunity he has right now. He plays with passion and talent. But he needs to keep improving in certain details, because his level is good, but he can improve to reach the ‘excellent’ level.”

3-5-2 Formation here to stay?

The Mariners appeared to be playing in a 3-5-2 formation against Mumbai. When finally asked about this and if fans can expect to see it more often, he explained: “For me, I must say that every match is different so we must prepare the team for different situations with different plans.

“In the last match against Dhaka Abahani, it was necessary to change attacking details. For example, Jason and Armando played together centrally but they attacked the spaces differently than the last match. So it’s necessary to work together in training. For example, Kiyan was perfect in the no.10 role today in the last 10 minutes or so. It’s important for the team to keep improving in the attacking details and improve the variety of our style on a day-by-day basis,” he finished with.

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