Losing is always hard, but it's part of sport, says Mumbai City head coach Petr Kratky

Petr Kratky also praised Mohun Bagan for their valiant efforts.

In a thrilling showdown, Mohun Bagan Super Giant secured the Indian Super League (ISL) Shield under Antonio Lopez Habas for the first time, triumphing over Mumbai City FC. Liston Colaco ignited the scoring with a stunning strike, followed by Jason Cummings adding another with his weaker foot in the second half. 

As the match neared its conclusion, Chhangte notched one for The Islanders, yet their efforts fell short as the Mariners seized the league Shield from the defending champions. Petr Kratky and his side experienced loss after more than two months.

Let’s take a look at what Petr Kratky said in the post-match press conference.

What went wrong

Mumbai City FC, this season’s strongest team, faltered against Mohun Bagan, succumbing to a defeat in an exciting fixture. When asked what went wrong, Petr Kratky explained, “If I go half by half, I think part of our first half was very slow. We didn’t put the pressure on the ball as much as we would like to. We took things very slowly, that approach I am a little bit disappointed about, especially from the start. We want to play football, we want to go for it. Yes, we needed one point, and that’s fine, but our mentality needs to be all the time. 

He added, “I know it’s hard, but we need to stick to playing how we want to play. In the first 15-20 minutes, we were lacking that intensity of the ball and gave Mohun Bagan a little bit of space to come higher and they very good team around the box. As we see, the wingers cutting in and shooting from outside the box. It was a great goal by Liston. We knew how they could hurt us and they did because they are a good team.”

“After the drinks break, we spoke to the players, that we needed a better approach and they did. Mohun Bagan’s little bit dropped which helped because they were one up and they changed their attitude as well. We tried to push, and we had goal-scoring opportunities, with Chhangte’s couple of shots on goal. It was disappointing we were losing one nil, but it was still positive because I told them in half time, we would score a goal because most of the games we scored a goal. I told the players to keep going and score a goal, and we did but unfortunately, it was already two nil,” Petr Kratky gave insights on his team talk during halftime.

Kratky also gave due credit to Mohun Bagan and asked his side to regroup for the other trophy. “We tried to push and they caught us on a counterattack. Jason Cummings is a good striker. You give him a little bit of space and time, he scored the goal. The players fought until the end, and they tried. That’s what I can ask. I know it hurts, but we just have to move forward and analyze what happened and why. But also give credit to Mohun Bagan, who are a good team, they have a great season, they changed the coach halfway and brought energy and have quality players. So credit to them, for how they managed the game and won. So, congratulations to Mohun Bagan, but for us it’s sad, but it’s not finished. We still have a job to do, the finals coming and we have to regroup and go for other trophy.”

Chhangte’s miss

Lallianzuala Chhangte had a brilliant opportunity to level the game and cancel out Liston’s thunderous strike just before halftime, but the winger failed to connect well with the ball. Kratky highlighted the importance of it and said, 

“Of course, always when you score the momentum changes a little bit. You get a player boost, you get a little bit more confident. But that’s what I told them in halftime, we had one chance we would have another one, and we did. He scored a goal, so sometimes it’s a hard place, but all as a coach I can ask is to work hard and stick to the process which we were lacking from the start of the game. That enthusiasm to go for it.”

On Tiri’s condition

Tiri suffered a concussion after clattering his head with that of Sadiku. When asked about the same, the tactician replied, “I don’t know exactly the details, but he is not in a very good state. We saw what happened, I understand the circumstances were a foul on Tiri or an advantage from the referee, but he was called out. I was asking what are the protocols for that and to protect the players a little bit better, that’s all I care about. Foul or advantage, but we have to protect the players. Yes, it’s an injury, so we have to just review it, how to protect a little bit the players, especially with the head injury and when you whistle it, he was out. Then he little bit collapse, so concussion protocols, we have to look at that because it’s a dangerous area.”

On the team’s morale

Losing is always hard, but is a part of the sport. Petr Kratky too acknowledged that and said, “Look it’s hard. Because now they are down. You have to be sad, because if you are not sad, then you are not a winner. But in football, it always comes to one game. Whether it’s the grand final or the last game of the season, we play all season, it was a very good season for us. We played very good matches, we got to the top of the table for a reason, because we are a good team and we played good football.

“But, the circumstances got in the way and we ended up for the last game, and Mohun Bagan was the better team today. We have to acknowledge that and move on. We have to learn from it and see that it doesn’t happen again. If we get in the same situation, we need to be better. So 48 hours, of talking to each other, picking up each other, also positive things, but unfortunately for us, we lost today and it’s sad for the club, for me, and for everyone, but we have to move on.”

The fans support

Petr also spoke about the fan’s support for Mohun Bagan. “Yeah of course. We play away, Mohun Bagan, the biggest game in the season for the title. You play away, 61000 people, which is fantastic for Indian football.  We would love to win but I am happy for the Indian football. This is what we want in every game. Not just for special occasions. Thanks to the fans, they come and help Mohun Bagan today. That’s what I always say the fans are very important for us. I am sorry for our fans, we couldn’t bring the shield home, but we will try our best to win the rest of the competition.”

Petr Kratky compounded, “It comes to individuals how they deal with the pressure and the fans around. For me, it’s motivating, because I am excited when the fans are there. That’s why we play. When the team has momentum you can feel the fans. We are a good team we can face every challenge. So, that’s why we have to get better. Today was advantage a little bit for Mohun Bagan, but also they deserved to win.”

Exposing the right side?

Mumbai City FC looked quite threatening from Chhangte’s right side and a bit lulled on the left. Kratky explained the same, “We try to expose both sides. We try to play dynamic football. Sometimes, there is more space on one side, looks like we want to go one way, but ideally, we would like to be dangerous everywhere. Today there was a little bit of time and space with Chhangte, which he took and scored a goal and made trouble on the right side.

“We go on the left side we expect the same things, but Bipin did very well, and Akash was working hard. We tried to do it today and got a couple goal goal-scoring opportunities. It’s tough to say it was tactics only on the right side, we don’t do that, we just tried to find spaces and expose the opponent where we can.”

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