Sergio Lobera: If you want to win the league, you need a very good squad

The Spaniard spoke on the back of his side's dominant victory against SC East Bengal on Tuesday.

Mumbai City FC secured a convincing 3-0 victory over SC East Bengal, which included a brace from Adam le Fondre. However, it was Hugo Boumous who stole the show on the night, as he notched two assists and won the spot-kick that Le Fondre converted for his second goal. After a couple of underwhelming outings, the attacking midfielder was back to performing at his very best yet again.

Reflecting on the turnaround in Boumous’ form, head coach Sergio Lobera said, “I think I don’t like to speak about individuals. I think the most important thing is to work as a team and when you are working well as a team, the individuals, it is possible to shine. Obviously, Boumous is a very good player, but I have a very good squad. This is the most important thing for me.”

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The coach brought on the likes of Bartholomew Ogbeche, Cy Goddard and Farukh Choudhary as substitutes in this game. The Islanders boast commendable bench strength, something that will hold them in good stead in the later stages of the cmpetition. Addressing this issue, Lobera mentioned, “If you want to win games, you can have a very good first XI. But, if you want to win the league, you need a very good squad and I have a very good squad. I am happy to have players with a lot of positive things playing in the first XI or coming in from the bench. I think this is an amazing problem as a coach. To have very good players and to try to decide the best first XI in every game is not easy.”

The head coach further explained, “When I have very good players, it’s amazing problem to try to decide if you want to play with Ogbeche, with Cy, with Boumous or with other players. I have a very good squad and I think it’s a problem that all coaches want to have.”

Further, Mandar Rao Dessai made his 100th appearance in the Indian Super League in the match. The 28-year-old led Lobera’s side during their time at FC Goa and is one of the key members of his squad at Mumbai too. Speaking on his former skipper’s remarkable feat, the tactician quipped, “It’s a big pleasure to work with players like Mandar. I am very happy with him. He deserves all good things to happen (to him). Hopefully, we can work together for long time and I am very happy. I want to tell him congratulations and continue working in the same way.”

Sergio Lobera made a few changes to his XI for the encounter against the Red and Gold. The likes of Bipin Singh and Vignesh Dakshinamurthy were introduced into the starting XI. More importantly, the duo of Mourtada Fall and Hernan Santana were slotted as centre-backs for a major chunk of the game. Both seemed to add greater stability to the lineup, as the Islanders looked much more in control while playing the ball out from the back.

Speaking about this decision, the 43-year-old expressed, “Yes, to have balance for us is very important. We are playing attacking football, but we need to have balance between attack and defence. It’s not only about defending better with these players, it is about to build better, try to start playing from the back. I am very happy with the result. I am very happy with the three points, but I am not happy with the way we have played. I think we need to improve a lot of things, this is my job. I need to continue working and always it’s better to improve (while) winning.”