ISL 2021-22: Players showed great skill and motivation to beat a champion team: Kerala Blasters FC’s Ivan Vukomanovic

Kerala Blasters FC was able to stun reigning champions Mumbai City FC by 3-0 in the ongoing Hero Indian Super League at the PJN Stadium on Sunday. Blasters head coach Ivan Vukomanovic was delighted with the performance of his team and stated the players showed great skill and motivation to beat a champion team.

Sahal Abdul Samad, Alvaro Vazquez, and Pereyra Diaz scored in the 27th, 47th, and 51st minute of the game respectively to help Kerala Blasters earn three crucial points and move to the fifth spot in the points table.

It was a dominating performance from Kerala Blasters as they took a total of six shots on target while the defending champions took a total of three shots.

In fact, Mumbai City FC has been in sublime form and they have scored a total of 17 goals in the ongoing season. However, Kerala Blasters were able to keep a clean sheet against them and they deserve all the credit.

Ivan Vukomanovic said in the post-match presentation, “First of all it’s down to the huge amount of work these boys have been doing. Also, it’s down to the change in mindset where the players are committing everything to get a win, being strong, and not conceding goals. These are the details that are very important in a football match. It’s been four months since we are working on certain things, playing in a certain different style. We want to develop different styles of play depending on our opponent. I think tonight the boys showed great skill and motivation to face a champion and a team that is now sitting at the top of the table”.

He added, “So we came out tonight with motivation. We wanted to press them high, we wanted to neutralize their key players, key points and allow some other players of Mumbai City FC to build up from behind. These are the things that you prepare during the week on the training ground and with the help of video analysis. I’m happy that the boys understood the game plan and they showed it on the pitch. I feel so proud of them”.

On the other hand, Mumbai City FC was on the back foot as they were reduced to 10-man after Mourtada Fall was given his second Yellow card of the match in the 50th minute. However, Vukomanovic feels his players should have been more patient with the ball in the second half.

He continued, “When you have a mindset from the past that you don’t believe certain things will happen when you find it hard sometimes to kill the game. At that moment you must be patient and calm in decision-making. In the second half, I was not happy with that part of the game because we should have been calmer on the ball, more patient, and more decisive with the last pass. Probably with all these things we could have scored even more goals. But in the end, we should be very happy with this victory, especially for the fans. I’m so proud and happy for them”.

Kerala Blasters FC will next face Chennaiyin FC at the Tilak Maidan Stadium on Wednesday.