Mumbai City FC eye fresh start against in-form FC Goa

by Siddharth Yadav November 24, 2017

24th November, Mumbai: Mumbai City FC coach Alexandre Guimaraes believes his team is in much better shape to take on the might of FC Goa in their second-round Hero Indian Super League (ISL) clash at the Mumbai Football Arena on Saturday.

Mumbai City FC lost their opening match to Bengaluru FC 0-2. However, the coach is now certain that they will be a different side on Saturday.

“We are glad to be home where we did fantastic work last season. We have a tough game against Goa. We have to improve our performance. Everyone has their own struggles in the beginning and now we are much complete in our squad, compared to the first game. We are prepared,” said Guimaraes.

Mumbai City was not at their attacking best in the previous game, managing few attempts on goal. That, too, should change in the next game with better team conditions.

“We had too many situations which prevented us from being strong in some areas. Some key players like Balwant were injured, Leo Costa had to be replaced after 12 minutes. I am not very concerned about the last game. Sometimes you don’t have a good game,” said the coach, who will continue to miss influential Brazilian midfielder, Leo Costa.

FC Goa will miss Adrian Colunga but coach Sergio Lobera did well against Chennaiyin FC in the opening game without the Spanish attacker. FC Goa won 3-2, despite conceding two goals in the second session and the Spanish coach made it clear that he will continue to be faithful to his attacking philosophy.

“When a team has to perform, they have to stick to their own ideology. if they try and do something different, the performance will not be as good. When we come to play, we will stick to the idea and philosophy,” said Lobera.

Lobera’s philosophy means FC Goa will start attacking right from the word go and will not sit back even if they have a decent lead, like the three-goal advantage against Chennaiyin FC.

“We had a good start. In football, living in the past will not get you anywhere. We have to focus on the next game. We don’t focus on past results,” said Lobera.