When Mumbai scored first goal, practically game was over, says FC Goa coach Manolo Marquez

Manolo Marquez spoke highly of Mumbai City FC winger Lallianzuala Chhangte.

FC Goa‘s journey in the 2023-24 Indian Super League (ISL) was brought to an end by Mumbai City FC with an aggregate scoreline of 5-2. Jorge Pereyra Diaz and Lallianzuala Chhangte scored one goal each to put their side into the final.

The Gaurs tried their very best, but ended up as the second best team on the night. After the game, Manolo Marquez addressed the media and shared his thoughts. Excerpts are below:

Thoughts on the game

The head coach opened up about his thoughts on the game and said that nothing happened in the first half, but the game was over in the second when the home side scored the first goal.

“Ball possession is maybe one of the biggest lies in football. We started the game okay, good with the ball, but after 15-20 minutes my feeling from the bench is that nothing happened during the first half practically, – no chances. In the second half we tried to change this but when they scored the first goal practically the game was over.”

“I think that today when Mumbai scored the first goal, the team was completely down. We tried till the end, we fought till the end.”

He also blamed himself for putting in a wrong line-up in the game and congratulated Mumbai City FC for making it to the finals.

“Maybe I was wrong with the line-up too. You can analyze everything, because finally we changed three players one day, the team played a good game and we were winning 2-0. And today it’s true that one player (Mohammad Yasir) was injured. We needed some fresh legs, but it was a bad day for us. Congratulations to Mumbai and let’s see what happens again between the two biggest teams in India,” he asserted.

Thoughts on Chhangte 

Sharing his thoughts on Lallianzuala Chhangte, Manolo Marquez said, “When he’s in good shape, he’s a player who is the difference in a game. The other day it was like this. Today he played a good game too. And it’s difficult for the full-backs. Only Akash Mishra and Subhasish Bose can stop this kind of player. The other left-backs are not able to cope with this change of pace. He is a left-footer, but he can go for the right side too. It’s very difficult to stop this player. I think with Chhangte, Bipin (Singh) and Vikram (Partap) on the flanks, Mumbai are very, very dangerous.”

Areas of improvement

The Spaniard also highlighted the areas of improvement for his side and said that his side lost the ISL Shield because of their mentality.

“The mentality. We lost the shield because of the mentality. I told you the other day when we lost at home, we were unbeaten in the first leg. But we lost the game. Of course, it took 20-22 games. Of course, there are good, normal, bad, and regular games, everything.

“But we were not consistent. We conceded four goals in Kerala, we conceded three in Punjab in only 45 minutes. We conceded three late goals the other day against Mumbai. In the Super Cup, we were out because we conceded three goals in 15 minutes in Odisha, against Odisha,” he quipped.

Positives from the season

Manolo Marquez also spoke about the positives from the season gone by and stated that the club made it to the playoffs after two seasons. 

“A lot of positive things because a lot of players played very well. We played the playoffs and we finished third after remaining out of the playoffs for two seasons. This is a positive. But maybe it’s still not enough if you want to fight against these kinds of things.”

He added, “Don’t forget that we finished with the same points as Mumbai. The problem is that Mumbai had two more points because of the mistake of Jamshedpur FC. Now we need to be more ambitious.”

Difference between the two teams

The 55-year-old also highlighted the differences between the two teams and said that his side was better in the first leg.

“I think we were better in the first game but Mumbai had more possession. I think that the problem is that… Mumbai scored the first goal, then this game has to finish 2-1. That’s all. You cannot concede two more goals because you are angry because you concede one goal because you were thinking, okay, 2-0 is a good score. Now, like a small kid, no, no, now 2-1, I am angry. And we stopped to play.”

He also added that it wasn’t a good game of football from both teams.

“And then when this happened in front of players with the quality of Mumbai, unfortunately for us, it didn’t happen. Mumbai are happy because they qualified but my feeling is that the game was really bad. For the spectators, it was a very good game because their team will play the final but in terms of how the both teams played, I think that the game was not very good. This is my opinion,” he concluded.

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