Mumbai City FC have had a good begin to the Indian Super League season, with three wins and two attracts of their first 5 video games. In the AFC Champions League, although, it’s been a troublesome highway. They are on the backside of Group D with defeats in all three video games to this point.
On Monday, on the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, they are going to be up in opposition to Al-Hilal within the return fixture of the group stage. They had begun with a 2-0 loss to Nassaji Mazandaran in Pune, earlier than taking place 3-0 away at Navbahor. A few weeks in the past in opposition to Al-Hilal, they suffered a 6-0 defeat.
Des Buckingham’s facet had fought exhausting in that match at Riyadh. They trailed by only one purpose until the 66th minute earlier than the hosts pulled away in emphatic style, slamming 5 extra objectives.
“They played very well in our last game,” mentioned Buckingham in a press convention on Monday.
“We’re at different stages of our seasons – they’re at the back end of theirs and we are towards the start of ours. The reason I’m saying this is because for the first 70 minutes in our last match, you could see the difference in fitness, sharpness and quality. We know we can compete and have shown that. What we need to do now is try to replicate what we did in those 70 minutes the last time. We should play a style of football that we can be proud of. The players and staff have done as much as we can.”
Since that drubbing in Riyadh, Mumbai have gained confidence by selecting up 4 factors within the ISL from two hard-fought dwelling video games. They performed virtually all the match in opposition to Hyderabad FC with 10 males however managed to attract 1-1 earlier than launching a late fightback in opposition to Punjab FC to win 2-1.
However, in opposition to Al-Hilal, a crew Buckingham reckons might compete with the most effective in England, Mumbai might want to dig deeper.
“There’s no doubt we’re going into this game knowing we won’t have as much ball possession and will have far fewer opportunities compared to how many we have in the ISL,” mentioned the 38-year-old. “But we had our moments in the last game and I’m sure we’ll get them tomorrow as well. At this level, it’s just about making sure we grab those opportunities. For us, it’s about making sure that rather than sticking to a set system like we do in ISL, we be a bit smarter in terms of the areas we occupy on the pitch and maybe try and take away some of the creativity that they have.”
When the AFC draw was introduced, there was a buzz in Mumbai on the prospect of seeing Neymar in motion. The Brazil star will miss Monday’s match because of a knee harm he picked up throughout a World Cup qualifier final month.
“Neymar is very much an idol here in India,” mentioned Buckingham. “Yes, it’s a shame that he picked up an injury and we wish him well with his recovery. But we know Al-Hilal’s quality won’t drop with his absence. It just poses a difference challenge rather than a lesser one.”
Mumbai’s possibilities of advancing within the AFC Champions League look slim at this stage, however Buckingham desires to make sure the membership maintains a sure normal and grabs each alternative to study and enhance.
“When you’re a club like Mumbai, you don’t want to be successful just one year, you want to keep building,” he mentioned. “With that come certain pressures and expectations. But we’ve never spoken about that in the two-and-a-half years that I’ve been here. It’s all about preparing and planning. Of course, the level of this competition offers a very different challenge than the one we’re used to domestically. So, it’s all about taking the good out of every experience and building on it.”
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Source web site: www.hindustantimes.com
