Mumbai City did not deserve the win, says Kibu Vicuna

The Yellow Army failed to hold on to their lead for the second game in a row as they lost to the Islanders.

On Wednesday, Kerala Blasters suffered their seventh defeat of the ongoing Indian Super League (ISL) 2020-21 season as Mumbai City beat them 2-1. Kibu Vicuna and his boys showed a lot of promise early in the match, having taken the lead through Vicente Gomez. But, the fate of the game changed in the second half when the Islanders struck twice to take home the three points.

Needless to say, Vicuna was disappointed with the result. While speaking to the media after the final whistle, the 48-year-old stressed that his team were as good as the table-toppers throughout the 90 minutes.

Performance & Result

"I think we played well and created plenty of chances. We played face-to-face against the best team in the competition," Vicuna said. He added that the match was even and that they were unlucky not to win points.

"We were just not lucky. I think that the match was very even. Apart from that, Costa (Nhamoinesu) has also been telling me that Adam Le Fondre's penalty was an unfair decision. It has been the same story in the last two games, with us taking the lead and then ending up with unfavourable results. We deserve more points than what we currently have.

"I think that there were many small mistakes that took the game away from us. If you look at our performances in the last two matches - the one against ATK Mohun Bagan and tonight's clash, we performed well and played face-to-face against the opposition," he further added. "Sometimes, in football, we have to observe other things as well and look beyond the result. We were competing well and we have improved a lot in recent matches."

Mumbai City's equalizer

https://youtu.be/83ibohFtcNw

The Islanders caught the Yellow Army by surprise seconds after kickoff in the second half, with Bipin Singh finding the back of the net at the end of what was a very rapid attack by his team. When asked about the goal, Kibu Vicuna admitted that the Blasters made some mistakes.

"Yes, there were mistakes on our end. Costa did not attack the ball when he could have and there were a few lapses in concentration. Before the second half, we were talking about starting strongly. However, it was they who scored and still did not seem to matter much, as we reacted well. We also had a lot of possibilities to score (again). I think they did not deserve to win tonight, but the result is the result and we respect it."

Scoring from set-pieces

Although Kerala Blasters had plenty of set-piece opportunities, they were able to convert only one of them. Despite this, the tactician did not agree when told that his team may have wasted other chances.

"We scored from one set-piece (Sahal Abdul Samad's corner that was nodded home by Vicente). It is very difficult to score from chances like that and we did so once," he said.

Rahul KP's performance

Kibu Vicuna also shared his thoughts on Rahul KP, who seemed to have been allowed more freedom on the pitch than usual. "Rahul can play in multiple positions. He can play as a striker and a winger and was given the same freedom tonight as he was in other matches. We are very happy with his improvement and we are glad to have him on the side," he said.

The former Mohun Bagan coach wrapped up the short interaction by stressing that there was no intention of 'saving' the game, rather, the aim was always to win.

"We have always wanted to win, not just in this game but also in every other match that we played so far. We never think of drawing. Overall, I am proud of my team. This is football and football is not mathematics. Sometimes, you get favourable results, sometimes you do not," he signed off.