"We’ve made too many individual mistakes individually" - Mumbai City FC head coach Des Buckingham
Defending champions Mumbai City FC steamrolled opposition teams for fun in the initial phase of the Indian Super League (ISL) 2021-22 season. But they have recently suffered a slump in form and are winless in their last three games. This has also seen them lose their position at the top of the ISL table to Hyderabad FC, albeit on goal difference.
Head coach Des Buckingham has cited excessive individual errors as the primary reason for their poor run of form.
Addressing the media ahead of their clash against bottom-placed SC East Bengal on Friday, the Mumbai City FC boss opened up about the side's defensive struggles.
"We’ve made too many mistakes collectively, as a team. We’ve made too many mistakes individually, more so in the last game. We’ve obviously gone back through the games and reviewed them. If there's consistency to those mistakes then that's something we can really focus and work on. That's something which we did in the lead up to the last game," Des Buckingham said.
The Mumbai City FC boss further added:
"But with individual mistakes, they do happen, and you hope that when they happen, they don’t happen as often as they did in the last game in particular. So, across the context of nine games, we’ve had a lot of changes, and I think we’ve played some extremely good football. Now, it’s just about finding that balance and making sure that the collective or individual mistakes don’t end up in the back of our goal."
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Mumbai City FC yesterday acquired the services of Indian midfielder Vinit Rai on loan from Odisha FC for the rest of the season. Asked what Vinit would bring to the table for the Mumbai club, Buckingham said:
"I think he [Vinit Rai] has a wonderful skillset. Since I arrived here, I've spoken about having the best Indian players at this club and he certainly fits that profile. What he also does is, he contributes to an already good midfield. Gives us different options whether it's to start or to change the game up should we need at any point."
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"The focus this week has been to work on ourselves" - Mumbai City FC boss ahead of SC East Bengal clash
SC East Bengal have been glued to the last spot in the ISL points table for some time now. However, under the interim coach Renedy Singh, the Red & Gold Brigade have shown some signs of recovery in the last game. Now they'll square off against one of the best ISL teams in the league in Mumbai City FC.
| Des Buckingham spoke about the need for consistency, areas of improvement and about new signing Vinit Rai to the media ahead of #SCEBMCFC 🗣️
📹 | Des Buckingham spoke about the need for consistency, areas of improvement and about new signing Vinit Rai to the media ahead of #SCEBMCFC 🗣️
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"Whenever you play a team that's just had a change of coach, I think anywhere around the world, sometimes you see an uplift, not just in the performance, but in the results too. So it's something that we're very aware of. I don’t think in this league the position of teams in the points table is always truly reflected in the outcome of some of the games," Mumbai City FC coach Des Buckingham opined.
SC East Bengal have resorted to a low-block, defensively conservative system in their last few games. In response to a Sportskeeda query on how Mumbai City FC plans to counter the defensive setup, the 36-year-old coach said:
"Yeah, with a change of coach, they might have also had a change of approach. We can only speculate and guess what they can do tomorrow. But if they do opt to sit deep, then we need to be very smart in how we move the ball. But I'll say again, the focus this week has been to work on ourselves and make sure we can add to our game style."
Finally, Mumbai City FC gaffer Des Buckingham added:
"I am very happy with how we played out from the back and in midfield. It's important that we refine our creativity and finish in the final third. That's not just going to be important in this game but in every game as the season progresses."