Mumbai City FC (MCFC) rode on three goals from Sunil Chetri for a 5-1 mauling of North East United FC. The home win at the D. Y. Patil stadium focused attention on difficulties in away games faced by the visitors, with NEUFC coach Cesar Farias having many questions to answer.
Farias’ side is one step above bottom-placed Kerala Blasters FC in the eight-team league. The Kerala coach Peter Taylor got the boot after a narrow 3-2 loss to FC Pune City in an away tie which could have gone either way at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune.
Asked about his view of pressure on team managements, MCFC assistant coach Oscar Bruzon replied: “Pressure is beautiful. There are only two things you can do. Accept it or fight it. I believe in fighting back.”
Mumbai City started on a losing note this year and experienced difficult times before recovering the attacking flair expected from a team coached by Anelka. Bruzon’s focus is to keep his upbeat players’ feet on the ground after Wednesday’s celebrations. MCFC moved to second place behind FC Goa, its best placing so far.
Asked about the pressure to deliver on coaches, Bruzon explained: “In the early games, I felt the pressure. We fought back as a team and now it is the other extreme we have to look at… over-confidence. The team needs to understand that one loss can take us out of the top four.” He believes the ISL is different from other leagues due to the narrow gap separating teams, in contrast to other leagues where a couple of sides break away from the pack.
Bruzon pointed out: “Every team that reaches the bottom of the table starts climbing so it's completely opposite to a regular competition where the top teams start opening gaps. I haven't seen that last year or this season. So we need to understand that one loss can take us out of the top four. We are aware.”
Stressing on the need to be realistic, the MCFC assistant coach quipped: “I know that we are having a run of three wins, we are second, but focusing only on Atletico de Kolkata next. The main objective is to reach 20 points as soon as possible. It will not be easy. We need to win three more games and have only three more at home.”
Bruzon was on the MCFC coaching staff last season under Peter Reid, guiding a star-studded team. Mumbai City ended seventh and even Nicolas Anelka’s inspiring presence on and off the field did not help. “We have one of the best sets of players, but that isn't enough for the ISL,” the assistant coach said.
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