People come and go and we try work in the same direction, says Mumbai City coach Petr Kratky on ISL 2024-25 Media Day

Petr Kratky also mentioned about his learnings from last season.

Indian Super League (ISL) season 11 is set to kickstart from September 13 and defending ISL winners Mumbai City FC are raring to go. The City Football Group (CFG) owned outfit invested heavily in the summer after having missed the ISL Shield trophy last season. 

The likes of Jon Toral and Jeremy Monzorro are valuable additions for the Islanders.  The club has also made a superstar signing in likes of Brandon Fernandes. Apart from that, Mumbai have signed exciting young talents from the I-League in Noufal PN and Hardik Bhatt among others.

The ISL media day was organized in the capital city of Kerala and Petr Kratky joined in along with vice captain Phurba Lachenpa, former Arsenal midfielder Jon Toral and youngster Ayush Chhikara.

In this article, we will provide you the best bits of conversation of Mumbai City FC  from the ISL media day in Kochi

On the ISL Final last season

The Czech coach started by shedding light on the final of the last season where the Islanders came from behind to win the trophy at Kolkata. He shared his feelings by stating, “ It was a good game. We were 1-0 down. I still remember that. We felt we had a little bit more of the game under control. We had some chances to score goals. We played good football. I just told the boys to keep going.  

Furthermore, he went on and added, “We kept going with those goals because we score every single game. As soon as they come, we just believe. Yes, it happens. As soon as we score one, the beliefs come back more and more and then we score second and then yes, we came over the line and win the final.”

#TheIslanders under the spotlight at the #ISLMediaDay! 🤩🩵#MumbaiCity #AamchiCity 🔵 pic.twitter.com/4Wf9eUULwY

— Mumbai City FC (@MumbaiCityFC) September 5, 2024

Learnings from first season

Petr Kratky joined the ISL side in the mid-season of the last campaign as the then-head coach Des Buckingham had moved to Oxford United in his home country. When quizzed about his learnings from the first season in India he answered, “I am learning a new country, new people. I have a new staff and new players.

“So, you know, we started a new chapter, which I’m very excited about. Again, India is a very good place for me to bring the things that I want and with the staff and players, we have to bring it to life. So we’re working very hard behind the scenes on the training pitch to achieve our goals. But, you know, it’s continuous.”

He continued explaining, “We are implementing processes to make sure it is sustainable for the future as well. We just don’t want to be average, we want to be on the top all the time.”

Thoughts on his new staff

Mumbai City made changes in their coaching staff over the summer and have signed Clifford Miranda and David Preece as the two assistants to Kratky along with Adrian Dias who joins as a technical staff. Kratky spoke about the changes and mentioned, “Yeah, look, there is a change. For the first time in India, half of the season, there were changes straight away. You have to deal with that and after the season, the game changes. It’s part of the football. It’s a life we are living. 

“People come and go but we try to always put them together and work in the same direction. Overall, I’m very happy with what’s happening and how we are going. Only we will see in Round 1 how we go,” Petr Kratky added.

Thoughts on Hyderabad FC’s situation and lack of level playing field

Petr Kratky was asked a rather unusual question on the Hyderabad FC situation and the chances of not having an equal level playing field. However, he refused to speak on specifics but commented, “So far what I see around what’s happening, the league is getting stronger. Every team has good signings, a couple of our players move to clubs as well, they are very good players.”

He went on and added, “I think it will be a more interesting season than one before, to be honest. We are fully aware of that and I think we’ll be excited for the fans and for the media to come and have a look because it will be not that easy.

“I don’t think there will be only one or two or three teams who will dominate the whole season. I think there are around eight teams in contention this season, which is fantastic for us and we are excited about it because this is something where sometimes we have to wait for the end what will happen. 

“So looking forward to seeing the new signings, new people, also the young players who are coming through now through the ranks and excited about to see what will happen in Indian football and ISL this season. But as I said I think we will be closer and closer to each other, even the teams were having problems at the start but they are getting on the board now, people coming and investing fantastic money and I think we will be just better as we go forward.”

Jon Toral’s remarks

As stated before, the Islanders made a significant signing by acquiring a Spanish attacking midfielder. The 29-year-old shed light on his time with the team and said, “I’ve enjoyed it a lot. I think it’s been a very good pre-season. First in Thailand, now here back home in Mumbai. So yeah, enjoyed it a lot and can’t wait to get started.”

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