ISL: I prefer 5-4 win over 1-0 victory, says Mumbai City FC coach
Dec 16, 2021
Fatorda (Goa) [India], December 16 : Mumbai City FC head coach Des Buckingham said he always prefers to play attacking football and will go for a 5-4 game rather than 1-0 in a thrilling encounter.
Mumbai City FC rode on Rahul Bheke's second-half goal to consolidate their lead at the top of the table and end Chennaiyin FC's unbeaten run in an Indian Super League (ISL) game at the PJN Stadium in Fatorda on Wednesday.
Bheke scored the winner in the 86th minute, making the most of a Vishal Kaith error as the goalkeeper bottled up after Ahmed Jahouh set Bheke up from a free-kick.
"I always prefer a goal feast, I said all along, I want to play attacking football, I want to play football that excites me from the sideline. You know, I'd rather win a game 5-4 rather than 1-0," said Buckingham post-match press conference.
"But the most important thing is that we come away with the win. And tonight it was only the one. But it was a very important goal for us. You know, as I said, they serve very well.
"And they've played very well in the game. So they come away with the goal and the three points. I'm hugely proud of the players," he added.
The Mumbai City FC head coach wants to continue improving the team's game and has said to find different ways to register a victory in any ISL match.
"It was a different type of game for us, you know, they sat in and sat quite deep and made it very compact and very hard for us to create chances in the way that we have in the previous games," said Buckingham
"But what it did do is it gives us a lot of balls, I think we've come away with nearly 70% possession and nearly 500 passes. So that was good because it allowed us to test our structure and our style. And we still created chances within that.
"So we will come up against different teams who will try and stop the scoring. And it's important, as I said before the game that we continue to evolve our style, and try and find different ways to win games. And that's what we've done tonight (Wednesday)," he added.
Courtesy of the 1-0 result, Mumbai now have 15 points from six matches. Chennaiyin, meanwhile, dropped to fifth with eight points from five matches.
