Josep Gombau: Mauricio's performance will give us confidence

Odisha FC's winless run continues with three defeats and one draw in their last four games.

Odisha FC lost a home fixture for the first time this season as Mumbai City took their winning streak to seven, levelling Jamshedpur's record for the most number of consecutive wins from last season. While the first 65 minutes looked equal, the last 25 minutes were utterly dominated by Mumbai to register a 4-2 win. After the game, Odisha FC head coach Josep Gombau attended the post-match press conference.

Edited excerpts from the conference are as follows.

Overall reaction to the game

Gombau expressed his thoughts on the game in the press conference. He stated that the game was equal for the most part until Mumbai took control in the last 25 minutes.

"I think we had a decent game against a very strong opposition. The loss that we suffered today was because they played very well and not because we did very badly. I do not see any big mistakes. Of course, I need to analyse the game. We competed with them well (for a major part) and we had our moments to try and win the game. But at the very end, the opposition team showed a lot of quality. In the last 25 minutes, they were better and they scored more goals."

On Diego Mauricio's splendid brace

On a bleak day for Odisha, Diego Mauricio was a bright spot. He scored twice, both of which were of utmost quality. Josep Gombau expressed his thoughts on the Brazilian's performance.

"Every player is important to us. Diego scored two goals today. This will give him a lot of power for the next game. We need him. We need his goals. I am happy with his performance. I am also happy with the performance of the team, honestly."

The head coach added, "His (Diego Mauricio) performance was very good. This is what we expect from him. I am happy, as I believe this will give him some extra motivation and give all of us some confidence. We will just try to forget today's game and start preparing for the next one."

Absence of first-team foreigners cause of outcome?

While Gombau admitted that absentees depleted their bench, he stated that that was no excuse for today's loss.

"We missed some players, but I don't want to use the reason as an excuse. We play eleven against eleven and the important players for me are the players who played the game today. It is true that because of missing some key players we do not have that much depth in our bench that can bring the extra power at the last minute. Now, it is important for us to recover the players for the next game and go strong in the next game."

On hosting East Bengal in the next fixture

Josep Gombau stated his feelings about hosting East Bengal. He emphasised the fact that they need to win to stay among the top six. He said:

"Tomorrow we will recover and analyse today's game. From here, we will start to prepare for the next game against East Bengal. It is an important one. If we want to be in the top six, we need to win games. We need to win the next game, playing at home."

The tactician further said, "A few of the players will be coming in. I expect Saul (Crespo) to be back. Pedro (Martin) is also not at his 100 percent physically, because of which he played just for a while. I think Pedro can be in. I can't say about Osama (Malik). But for sure, we need to get as many players back as possible."