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Mumbai City FC had to settle for a point against Kerala Blasters after Antonio German’s late equalizer pegged back Mumbai City FC and all but ended their hopes of making it to the semi-finals of the Hero Indian Super League. It was a second time in the league when Mumbai City FC had conceded a late equalizer after Robin Singh had denied them all three points in Delhi.
Nicolas Anelka who decided against playing himself and focusing more on his managerial role cut a frustrated figure as he conceded that the season was up for his team.
“We may have a chance mathematically, but I don’t think we will qualify for the semi-finals. I should be thinking we will, but I don’t want to lie. We deserve where we are in the table and we haven’t been good enough to qualify,” admitted Nicolas Anelka as he spoke to the media after his side’s stalemate against the Kerala Blasters.
The Frenchman highlighted a lack of fighting spirit and a lack of desire to win among his team as the reason why they have failed to be in a position to qualify with two games still left to play.
“Today once again we conceded a late goal. We were leading at home and in a must win match we must keep this lead. But we haven’t been able to do so, just like it happened in Delhi. We have lacked fighting spirit and a desire to win and to qualify and that’s why we are where we are,” opined Nicolas Anelka.
We don’t have fighters in the team: Anelka
The former Chelsea and Arsenal striker said his team didn’t have fighters needed to drive home the team in tough situations and felt that, that’s what has cost Mumbai City FC dearly.
“We don’t have fighters in this team. Last year we didn’t have enough quality, but the players knew that and fought on the pitch. This year we had ten times more quality in our team, but we did not have fighters in this team and that is why we didn’t win the games against Delhi, Pune and today against Kerala. Had we won the game, we would have almost qualified. But it doesn’t work that way and that’s football.”
Nicolas Anelka tweaked his side for the game against Kerala Blasters and played Sony Norde upfront with Sunil Chhetri and that did seem to work in the first half, but Anelka felt his side were too defensive and scared in the second half and lost the control of the game.
“I think we had a good first half. It was a good feeling to come into the interval with the lead, but after that we just sat too deep and gave them space to play. I felt we were too defensive and eventually conceded in the last minute,” concluded the Frenchman as he analyzed what went wrong for his side today.
