ISL 2023-24: The players tried their best – Mumbai City FC’s Petr Kratky after loss against Mohun Bagan Super Giant

Mumbai City FC head coach Petr Kratky said his players tried their best after losing the last league stage match against Mohun Bagan Super Giant by 2-1 in the 22nd match week of the ongoing Indian Super League at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Stadium, Kolkata on Monday.

With this loss, Mumbai City FC could not defend their League Shield title. Liston Colaco scored the opening goal for the home team in the 28th minute. Subsequently, Jason Cummings scored in the 80th minute to his team a 2-0 lead.

Chhangte scored a late goal in the 89th minute but it was not enough in the end for the Islanders as Mariners won their maiden ISL League Shield. Mumbai City FC dominated the possession with 55.4% and took a total of six shots on target.

Kratky was not happy with his team’s first-half performance.

“I think the start of our first half was very slow. We didn’t put the pressure on the ball as much as we would like to. We took things very slowly. That approach, from the start, I’ve been a little bit disappointed. We want to play football. We want to, we want to go for it. Yes, we knew we needed one point, that’s fine. But our processes, and our mentality need to be all the time. I know it’s hard, but we need to stick to our way how we want to play,” he said in the post-match press conference, reflecting on the first half.

“The first 15-20 minutes, we were a little bit lacking that intensity on the ball and we gave Mohun Bagan SG a little bit of space to come up higher and they are a very good team around the box. As we can see the wingers cutting inside and shooting from outside the box and we got the goal like that. It was a great goal. We knew how they can hurt us and they did. They are a good team,” he added.

Speaking on his message to his players at the half-time break when they were trailing by 1-0.

“It was disappointing losing 1-0 but I told them at half-time we will score a goal. In most of our games, we have scored goals. And I told all the players to keep going, we will score a goal. We did. Unfortunately, it was 2-0 when we tried to push (for the equaliser) and they caught us on a counter attack,” he further said.

Mumbai City FC will be in action on 24th April.