ISL 2022-23: "We don't focus on the runs of other teams" - Mumbai City coach Des Buckingham on facing Kerala Blasters
Mumbai City FC will play their fourth match of the 2022-23 Indian Super League (ISL) season against Kerala Blasters at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium in Kochi on Friday (October 28).
Mumbai City have won one and drawn two of their three matches in the ISL this season to sit fourth in the table. They will look to maintain their unbeaten run when they lock horns with Kerala Blasters on Friday.
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Addressing the media ahead of the match, Mumbai City head coach Des Buckingham provided his thoughts on his team's start to the season:
"Our start to the season, we've played last year's champions in Hyderabad, and we played last year's league winners in Jamshedpur and came away from what's been three games unbeaten."
"We came away with a clean sheet in the the game against Odisha, which we won. To put ourselves in a good position to start with, I'm happy with. Obviously, we want more and we will do everything we can to try and continue pushing for more."
Kerala Blasters go into the match on the back of a two-game losing run, having succumbed to defeats to ATK Mohun Bagan and Odisha FC. Buckingham, though, insisted that he is not concerned about his opponents' form:
"We don't focus on the runs of other teams. The most important thing, when you only have 20 games in a season, is making sure that every game is as important as each other."
"For me, it doesn't matter. We know the qualities that Kerala Blasters have. We're going to need to be on top of our game to stop that."
The Englishman added:
"We also need to continue showing and playing the football that we have done, not just in the last three games, but throughout the Durand Cup and going as far back as the Champions League as well."
"So if we can do that, we will be as prepared as we can, and we're expecting a very good game tomorrow."
Buckingham has a former Kerala Blasters player at his disposal in the form of Jorge Pereyra Diaz. Responding to a question posed by Sportskeeda, the Mumbai City boss had this to say about the Argentine:
"He's a wonderful player, you saw that for Kerala Blasters last year. He's fitted in extremely well with the other five foreign players that we have. We started him in the first game against Hyderabad."
"He picked up an injury during the Durand Cup which unfortunately kept him out for the knockout stages of that competition. We've managed to start him [against Hyderabad]."
Buckingham went on to explain why Diaz did not start in Mumbai City's last two matches:
"We went with a team in the second game against Odisha because of the impact that the players had when they came on and we won that game. So, we kept the same team for the third game."
"Diaz is fit and he's ready to play, the same as everyone else that we've brought and traveled with us. In terms of how he's fitted in with us, it's been very seamless and that's been aided by the type of person he is, a very good person as well as a good player."
"The amount of game time I got last term will help me earn more action this season" - Mumbai City player Vikram Partap Singh
Buckingham was accompanied by Mumbai City's 20-year-old winger Vikram Partap Singh for the pre-match press conference. The winger played 16 ISL matches for the Islanders last term and is hungry for more this season. He said:
"I learned so much from last year. Now, I know what I have to do this year. The amount of game time I got last term will help me earn more action this season."
It is now only a matter of time before we find out if Mumbai City can take their unbeaten run in the ISL to four games when they face Kerala Blasters.