Des Buckingham calls for being "collectively better" after Odisha defeat

The Islanders faltered despite fielding a strong team as they went down to the Juggernauts.

Mumbai City FC came up short against Odisha FC as they were beaten 4-2 in the Indian Super League 2021/22 on Monday. Aridai Cabrera opened the scoring for the Juggernauts, before Igor Angulo and Ahmed Jahouh got Des Buckingham's side back on track. Jerry Mawihmingthanga scored twice to snatch the game away and Jonathas de Jesus got his name on the scoresheet to put the final nail in the coffin for Mumbai. 

Mumbai City’s coach Des Buckingham was frustrated to say the least, as he communicated his verdict on the defeat in the post-match conference: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLqbYqIKzB0

Whether this was Mumbai’s worst game

Mumbai City conceded more than three goals for the third time this season, as they failed to retain their first half lead. Coach Des Buckingham was not entirely critical of the team’s outing. However, the Englishman pointed out things could have been done better.

“(Chuckles) Uh, no I think first half we were exceptional. I think we played some extremely good football. To go in 2-1 up, I thought we should have been more (alert). We played some really good attacking football, how we wanted to play. We defended extremely well. That didn’t continue in the second half and that’s something that’s not disappointing just for me but for the team," said the Mumbai coach. "That's what we need to address to go into the next game against East Bengal."

Whether goals conceded were avoidable

Mumbai City conceded four times from open play against Odisha FC. While Jerry’s brilliant strike looked unstoppable, Aridai’s opener and Jonathas’ shot were a result of defensive lapses. The 36-year-old stressed all four goals could have been defended better and Mumbai have work to do. 

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“Yes, I think so. I think it was a different type of game. They’ve had four shots on target and they’ve scored all four goals," explained Des Buckingham. So, the last couple of games have been transitional moments, whereas tonight, for me, it was more mistakes where we’ve offered more opportunities on goal."

If better man-to-man marking is the way forward

Mumbai have succumbed to individual brilliance for the second consecutive time this season. Jerry Mawihmingthanga scored a brace in Monday’s match, while Deshorn Brown had netted a hat-trick against the Islanders in their previous fixture. Buckingham, however, was not appreciative of the need for a better marking system. He felt improvements were needed on both individual and collective levels.

“Man-to-man? No, I think we just need to be better individually and I think we need to be better as a collective. There’s a lot of things we need to do to prevent the ball from getting to where it does in the goal. So again, these are areas in the team we’re going to work on. Then we need to make sure that individually, we defend as well as we can,” Des Buckingham asserted.

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Whether conceding 10 goals in last three games is result of asking too much of players

Buckingham had previously commented that Mumbai’s philosophy is to outscore the opponent. However, they have now gone on to concede 10 times in their last three games. He replied calmly when asked whether this mentality was putting unwanted pressure on the players.

“No, I said it in jest you know. We want to score more than the other (chuckles) and we’d win games 1-0 if not 5-4. It’s important; the football we played first half that’s important. It’s important that we try and play that over a 90-minute period and not a 45-minute one. If we can start doing that and keep that throughout the season, I’ll be very pleased. But again, we need to make sure that we defend a lot better than we have this evening,” concluded the coach.

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