Des Buckingham: Disappointed with result, not performance

Mumbai City FC boss Des Buckingham sounded optimistic even after facing a loss.

Mumbai City suffered a disappointing 2-0 loss to FC Nassaji Mazandaran in their opening match of the 2023/24 AFC Champions League group stages on Monday, September 18. The visitors capitalized on defensive errors to score goals in either half, through Ehsan Hosseini (34’) and Mohammad Reza Azadi (62’).

Des Buckingham reflects on the loss

Despite the loss, Des Buckingham was actually quite pleased with his side’s performance. He said after the game: “This is the first game of our season. I think performance-wise we were very good, but we just weren’t able to convert our chances. I think their first goal came, pretty much against the run of play with the deflection running behind Rahul (Bheke) and it was a good finish."

He added, "That was the only chance they had, and that shows the quality of this level, you give an opponent one chance and they’ll score it. In the second half, we gave it a good go after coming out but the second goal killed us a little bit. Disappointed with the result, but not disappointed with the performance, knowing that it was our first game of the campaign.”

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Why Buckingham remains optimistic despite the result

The mentor is a little disappointed to have this game as the Islanders’ season opener, but is optimistic that similar performances can help them excel. He said: “They’ve (Nassaji) played four or five league games before the September break, so we tried using the Durand Cup but we haven’t played a competitive game since against Mohun Bagan Super Giant last season. But that’s the reality of it.

"We knew that this would be a challenging opening game, but we prepared for it as well as we could. We’ll get better with more games we play. Looking up to the ISL when we play against NorthEast away. If we can play the way we did in the first half and just convert the chances, that will be the key for us now,” he added.

Thoughts on fan turnout and Nasser El Khayati absence

When asked if he would’ve preferred to see more fans turn up to root for his side, Buckingham said: “I think we had good control for the majority of the game but sometimes that isn’t enough to give you results. But of course, we would like more fans to attend matches. But for the fans to make the effort to travel to Pune, I think the 1500–1600 of our fans that got here from Mumbai were loud and we heard them. If we could get more here, we would love it. We want to grow our fanbase and we saw a big increase in the same. Hopefully, we can see more for our ISL games.”

The Mumbai City head coach also revealed why Nasser El Khayati didn’t feature in the game. He explained: “There’s always a temptation (to play him). El Khayati arrived today at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. He hasn’t played competitive football since the end of last season. Obviously, when it was 1-0, you always want to bring those players on, but there was no point in taking that risk. He’ll be very important to us going forward.

“We need to ensure to get the work into him to allow him to perform at the levels we know he can, and do that consistently. It’s about long-term for us, throughout the season. I decided not to use him because I didn’t see a reason to risk it. He’ll now travel with the squad, get to know his new teammates and we’ll work very hard to integrate him into the way we do things as we move forward,” he added.

Why the boss isn’t concerned by this loss

Finally, Des Buckingham explained why he isn’t that worried about this loss or its effect on his side. He claimed: “They’re a new team, so that’s not the one from last year. It’s not the one who finished 12th last season. They have a new coach and a lot of new players. With good players, come good experiences and they set themselves up extremely well – being away from home especially. If we hadn’t created anything, I’d be far more concerned. I really don’t know how we didn’t score a goal in the first half.

“It was frustrating to go into half-time being 1-0 down and when they got their second goal in the second half, they went back to a back five and made it more difficult. But even after that, we got opportunities and ways through. Diaz had a great opportunity at the end, and Chhangte could’ve scored one if he was a few inches taller. I don’t care about the teams set up against us. We know we can create through different ways and it’s about finishing those moves,” he added.