ISL 2022-23: Happy with the team’s performance in the second half – Mumbai’s head coach Des Buckingham

Mumbai City FC head coach Des Buckingham was delighted with the team’s performance after they defeated Chennaiyin FC by 6-2 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai on Saturday. It was a dominating performance from the Islanders as they found the back of the net on six occasions, with four goals coming in the second half.

It was a thrilling first half as the home team took a 2-0 lead after Sliskovic and El Khayati scored in the first half-hour. However, the visitors bounced back Pereyra Diaz and Greg Stewart scored to equalize the scoreline.

Mumbai City FC was able to continue the momentum as Vinit R, Vignesh D, Noguera, and Bipin Singh all scored in the second half. The visitors dominated the possession with 58% and took a total of 11 shots on target.

Sharing his thoughts on the team’s convincing win after coming from 0-2 down, “I’m actually very happy to come to a tough place here tonight. Another away game to pick up three points is very important for what we have to achieve this season, but I was very frustrated with the first half because I thought Chennaiyin FC started the game better than we did. I don’t think we started very well, they were actually better than us for the first 20 minutes and it took us some time to get going which was very different from the last two games that we played. What was pleasing is we stuck to what we wanted to do, we weathered the rain and got ourselves back in the game, 2-2 at halftime. Then, I’m really happy with the response from the team in the second half and I thought the second half was extremely strong.”

Speaking on his team’s message, Buckingham was delighted that the players were able to make the most of the chances they created throughout the game.

Buckingham went on add, “It’s two things. I spoke after the ATK Mohun Bagan game around the number of chances that we created and needed to make sure that we convert a lot more of those chances, and I think we’ve done that tonight. We have created a lot more chances than we have scored but the conversion rate is what we kind of need to make sure we come away from this game in a much more comfortable position.”

He added, “The other point is that we started pretty much the same team for the last three games because the players had performed well and then we’ve got a very good squad of players that haven’t taken to the field or started. They have been very patient and worked extremely hard in the background.
When you talk about the team, those players have certainly come on in the second half, they have waited, been patient, and had an impact that they did (in the game) showing their quality of them as people. (It) also shows how important they are going to be going forward in the rest of the season.”

Mumbai City FC will next take on Bengaluru FC at the Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai on Thursday.