"The best football I've seen us play" - Des Buckingham expresses delight at Mumbai City's 4-0 victory over Kerala Blasters in ISL 2022-23

Mumbai City FC earned a 4-0 victory over Kerala Blasters in the 2022-23 Indian Super League (ISL) at the Mumbai Football Arena today, Sunday, January 8.

There was talk of Kerala Blasters possibly handing Mumbai City their first ISL defeat of the season ahead of the match. The Islanders, though, cruised past the Kochi outfit with a comfortable 4-0 win in the end.

Jorge Pereyra Diaz opened and closed the scoring for Mumbai City in the fourth and 22nd minutes of the game, respectively. Meanwhile, Greg Stewart and Bipin Singh scored a goal each past Prabhsukhan Singh Gill.

The victory saw the Islanders reclaim their place at the top of the table and strengthen their chances of winning the shield. Mumbai City head coach Des Buckingham, though, stressed the need for his players to keep their feet on the ground. He said:

"The feeling in the dressing room is one of focus and professionalism. We've got seven more games we need to play. We have a very important game next week against ATK Mohun Bagan away.

"We know that we need to come away with more performances... if we can come away with more performances as I've just seen, certainly in the first half tonight, that was a pleasure to watch, the first 30 minutes of the game, for us, that was some really good football, I thought we played extremely well."

He added:

"But, the mood in the group is, as always, regardless of the result, making sure we stay consistent in our behavior and try and stay as consistent as we can with our performances."

Mumbai City are yet to taste defeat in the ISL this season, having remained unbeaten in their 13 matches so far. Asked if finishing the campaign unbeaten was a target for the team, Buckingham replied:

"It's not something that has been spoken about, it's not a goal of mine, it's not a goal of the team. Our goal turns to ATK Mohun Bagan. Every team comes with a different game plan and makes it difficult for us to try and stop us, they want to beat us the same way we do when we go there.

"So, we don't want to lose sight of that. We just need to make sure we get good rest, recover, and make sure we prepare as well as we can for what will be another thought game."

Buckingham also expressed his delight at how Mumbai City managed the second half even though they did not add to their tally further. He explained:

"I think the first 30 minutes were some of the best football I've seen us play. There are two things - it's very difficult, you come out and score four goals in that space of time... the game, football never continues in that fashion.

"And the second is about now managing the game. That was what we spoke about at half-time. We had a different challenge last week when the scoreline was 1-1 [at half-time]. Now, it was about how consistent we could be to speak about our behaviors and our standards, how long we could continue now to manage this game."

He continued:

"That is what I was pleased with in the second half. Not only did the team manage the game, we still created opportunities and we also managed to a lot of minutes into our younger players."

The English tactician waxed lyrical about Diaz, who grabbed a brace against his former club on Sunday, saying:

"Jorge has been very good for us so far, but he's surrounded by some wonderful players as well - Bipin, [Lallianzuala] Chhangte, Greg, and Vikram [Partap Singh] to name a few. The good thing is that in the Durand Cup, we had the opportunity to experiment with him, without him, and that's going to be important for us moving forward.

"I'm extremely pleased with his contributions. Tonight, especially, the goals that he scored. And the other thing I don't think people see on TV necessarily is the work rate that he offers us, not just when we have the ball, but also certainly when we don't have the ball. He sets the tone very much for how we want to do without the ball."

Kerala Blasters won both their matches against Mumbai City last season, but the Islanders have returned the favor this time. Buckingham, though, is only concerned about his team and their performances. He said:

"The last season is done and dusted as everything has changed from last year. This year, we obviously went around making sure that we had more time with these players to try and play a certain way, we're starting to now see more consistent performances because of that and different ways of playing, which I'm very pleased with."

The Mumbai City boss also expressed his admiration for Kerala Blasters, saying:

"They're a good team, I've said it before. They're an extremely good team, they've got a wonderful coach in Ivan, and they'll still challenge at the end of the season, I've no doubt about that.

"So, to come and get a result against them not once, but twice is a credit to the playing group. But, again, we must now make sure that we continue."

Stewart was notably forced off the pitch before the half-time break after he picked up a knock. Buckingham eased concerns about the Mumbai City attacker by disclosing that he was subbed off as a precaution. He revealed:

"Greg is fine. He just took a kick to his foot, but he's fine. He took a little kick on it yesterday in training, so it's just a little bit sore. When you're obviously 4-0 up, we don't want to put him at risk. So, it was a case of managing him.

"We could have waited till half-time, but he's a player that'll attract some kicks and if he had picked up another one, we'd have lost him for next week. That was the reason we got him off as quickly as we did.

"One to manage him and two to make sure he'll be available for next week. He'll be fine."

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Buckingham pleased with Mumbai City's growth in defense

Mumbai City have notably kept clean sheets in five of their 13 ISL 2022-23 matches so far. Asked how pleased he has been with his team's defense this term, Buckingham replied:

"That was an area in our team last year where we conceded a lot of goals. When you look at the league and the teams that have won over the last three or four seasons, you concede too many goals, you're not going to win too many games, let alone finish towards the top of the table, we conceded too many last year."

He went on to heap praise on the likes of Phurba Lachenpa and Mehtab Singh for improving Mumbai City's defense. He explained:

"The impressive thing is when you look at our backline now we've got Phurba [Lachenpa] who's a young goalkeeper making his first breakout season and he's doing okay, doing well.

"Obviously, Mehtab [Singh] has come through, he's a young Indian centre-back that has come through to that backline. Vignesh [Dakshinamurthy], who has played the last two games at left-back, is another young left-back."

He added:

"But, there are some elders with Mourtada Fall, Rostyn Griffiths, and Rahul Bheke, who has moved into that right-back spot this year. The consistency of playing together, the time they've spent training together, the work they have done on the training field, and then, going out and performing the way they have done on the field, that's been pleasing to see.

"Because it gives us the springboard to go on and get results sometimes. To give you an example, the one that springs to my mind is the save that Phurba made at 0-0 last week, which I don't think gets talked about because we go on to win the game, but if he doesn't make that save at that time, that's so important to allow us to go on."

He concluded:

"The defense allows us to go on and get results, and then we've got some exciting players in the final third that are great at scoring."

Mumbai City will look to take their unbeaten run to 14 matches when they visit ATK Mohun Bagan on Saturday, January 14.