Mumbai City FC eyeing a win and ISL top spot
Mumbai: Mumbai City FC will look to find their scoring touch and three full points when they take on FC Goa in the Hero Indian Super League encounter at the D.Y. Patil Stadium on Monday evening.
The team, co-owned by Bollywood star Ranbir Kapoor and Chartered Accountant Bimal Parekh, have maintained a clean slate in their last four games though having also failed to score in their last two away encounters.
One of those encounters were against the visitors, where both teams fought for midfield superiority and failed to break the opposition defence.
However, the home support and conditions could play a big factor on Monday as the hosts aim to win all remaining hom points available with an eye on a semi-final berth.
Mumbai City FC have 11 points from eight outings so far and have three more home games, including the one on Monday, to play as the battle for the top four slots hots-up.
As things stand now, all the eight teams have a chance to reach the semi-finals and only two points separate Mumbai City FC from table toppers Atletico de Kolkata. A victory on Monday could see the host take pole position in the overall standings for the first time in the tournament.
But for that to happen, coach Peter Reid knows that the forward line has to fire again and it would be interesting to see if the Englishman makes any changes to his starting XI, after having tweaked his formation only due to injuries in the last few games.
At the Pre- Match press conference Mumbai City FC’s Assistant Coach Steve Darby commented “Players don’t like being beaten and it just doesn’t help morale, so it is important to stop getting beaten. We have done that and we have had four clean sheets in a row. I think there’s been a lot of nil-nil draws going on in the League, so it’s a sign of a mature League”
“I can categorically say that Freddie is not playing. The others are all in contention. Everyone else, 26 players are all fit but Freddie is not ready yet. We go for a win every game, honestly. Our view is we don’t give anything away. We have people like Anelka, possibly Moritz who can score. That’s the realistic… We are told there will be a good crowd, a lot of tickets sold. It does help, the crowd, honestly.
Tiago Ribeiro at the pre-match press conference commented “We have ensured that the gaps we have had earlier in the League, we have closed them. We are communicating better on the field and we started working as a unit. That’s changed over the last few matches”
