We weren't where we needed to be today, concedes Des Buckingham after loss against Mohun Bagan

The Islanders fell prey to their own medicine against the Mariners.

Mumbai City FC were beaten 3-1 by Mohun Bagan Super Giants in the Durand Cup quarter-finals at the Salt Lake Stadium on Sunday. The Islanders were taken aback by a Juan Ferrando masterclass as he had instructed his players to prey on the gaps in Mumbai’s formation. Despite having 61% possession and creating good chances, Mumbai lacked that laser-guided precision in the final third. Be it Greg Stewarts’ near miss in the 62nd minute or Vikram Pratap Singh’s wayward header in the later stages; for some reason, the ISL 2022-23 League winners’ shield-holders seemed to lack firepower upfront. The Mariners scored first courtesy of a Phurba Lachenpa error and a Jason Cummings penalty. Diaz managed to level the proceedings with a goal that can be attributed to sheer fortune. Manvir Singh didn’t let the stalemate remain much longer as he towered above the diminutive Chhangte following a cross and headed it home. 

After the break, it was the same story as Mumbai boasted swathes of possession but no genuine chances in comparison to Mohun Bagan Super Giants who had cutthroat chances. Anwar Ali put the final nail in the coffin off an Ashique Kuruniyan cross from some great corner play. Despite the match having a whopping total of 17 minutes of added time, Des Buckingham couldn’t find a way to change the scoreline. Mumbai were eventually knocked out of the Durand Cup after a form-defying showcase as the referee blew the whistle. The manager sat down with the press during the post-match conference and answered their queries.

On Bipin Singh and Lallianzuala Chhangte not being in form 

Both of the Islanders’ wing wizards, Chhangte and Bipin blanked in the fixture as neither were effective. However, the head coach shifted focus to the team as he confessed:

“Firstly, I would like to congratulate Mohun Bagan Super Giants on the win. Good luck in the semi-finals and for the rest of the tournament. It has to be said. We weren’t where we needed to be today. We didn’t play what we wanted to and the way we had to if we’re going to compete for things. So it’s a learning for us. But we’ll be humble when we win and we’ll be humble when we lose. We’ll make sure that when we come back to play again the players, the players will be prepared and ready to go. ”

On losing to Mohun Bagan for the first time in nine games

In their recent history, Mumbai City has contested nine games against Mohun Bagan and only lost this once. Mumbai have come out winners on six occasions with two draws and one loss. The mentor said he favors such a ratio over a side as good as them as he added: 

“Yeah, it’s my third season and the fifth maybe sixth time that we played, you know? I’ll take that ratio of one loss in six any day of the week against what is a very good side. Well, you see that they’re fresh off an AFC Campaign whereas we’ve had an 11-day break between games after another 10-day break. I don’t think there’s too much in it. We aren’t stressing too much over the result. But what it does show is what’s to come this season which is two very good teams that will try very hard to compete, not only with each other but for success, in general.” 

On what went wrong

Des Buckingham pinpointed the problem to be a more defensive one. With 12 goals in the group stages and one more today, he pointed out that the problem was organising the team properly. The Englishman elaborated:

“I don’t think the problem was scoring goals. We scored 54 goals in the Indian Super League last season and we scored 12 goals in three games in the group stages (of the Durand Cup). We don’t have an issue scoring goals. As I said, the issue for us tonight was that we had to do better individually to start with. Then we also need to ensure that from set-pieces we’re a lot better. Two corners, in particular, cost us two goals at important times. One just before half-time on the drinks break and then another one that made it 3-1, making it easier for them to just sit back and defend.”

On not having luck on their side in terms of the possible penalty  

Mumbai City had a few decisions controversially overturned as one of Anwar Ali’s fouls in the box looked to be a spot-kick but was waived off. The Islanders’ manager, however, did not sit and lament the overturned penalty as he noted:

“I think there were a few decisions we may have been unlucky to get tonight. But when you get – I don’t know how many were in the crowd, 20,000-30,000 fans- behind you maybe that impacts and influences whether the decisions are given (in your favor) or not. It’s not saying we’re gonna sit here and complain about it. We know that some decisions will go our way. I haven’t watched them back but certainly from the sideline there were some decisions (chuckles) that, to me, should’ve looked slightly different than given. But again that’s not the reason we didn’t get the result this evening. We’ll look at what we did and I’ll make sure that we’re ready to go next time    ” the head coach added.

On preparing and playing against Neymar’s Al-Hilal

Fans burst with excitement during the AFC Champions League draw due to the mere prospect of facing either Neymar’s Al-Hilal or Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr and seeing them play in India. As the former was drawn in the same group as the Indian Super League Winners’ Shield-holders, Indian Football’s faithful bawled in rejoice. Talking about how exclusive an experience it will be toface the likes of Neymar, Ruben Neves, Milinkovic-Savic, Mendy and Koulibaly, Buckingham mentioned:

“Yeah, we’ve started already. I’ve been asked, in particular, about Neymar (smiles) quite some times since the draw was made. I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for people in India and our club, as well as around the country. Not just Neymar, but the players obviously in the team are not only some of Asia’s best but also some of the world’s best. That’s exciting in itself and allows the people to come and see them and I know how many fans he has in this country. So it’ll be a good show. But we’ve started to prepare as well as we can for that from the start of pre-season. We went to Thailand for two weeks and we wanted to use this tournament to help prepare us for the competitive games. We were hoping for two more after tonight. But of course, that’s not gonna be the case so we’re gonna have to do some work to make sure that we get those games now. When that game does come around in November, we’ll have played a lot more games and we’ll be in a much better position to face what will be a very tough challenge.”

On playing the AFC Champions League games in front of the fans

Mumbai City might have played their games at the Mumbai Football Arena(MFA) but for the AFC’s regulations which needs them to be played at Pune. Speaking about the same, the tactician hopefully exclaimed,

“It would’ve been great to play at the MFA. It’s a very special place for us but the AFC regulations don’t permit that. So the club has made a decision to move it to Pune and that has allowed us to keep it in the region. The club is doing as much as they possibly can to help as many of our fans that can come to the MFA to come to Pune. ”

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