It has been a decent start to the new Indian Super League season for Mumbai City FC as they have managed to stay unbeaten in the first three fixtures and have picked up a win against Odisha FC and draws against Hyderabad FC and Jamshedpur FC, both lifted trophies last season. So overall Des Buckingham’s men are working in tandem as they want to make a mark against Kerala Blasters who are struggling for form.
Speaking about the start to the season the Englishman explains why he is happy with the start as they have faced three top teams and two of which won silverware last season and yet they have managed to stay undefeated speaks volumes about the team. It is true that they want to do much better but for now Buckingham is happy.
“We played last year’s champions in Hyderabad and we played last year’s league winners in Jamshedpur. In the game against Odisha FC which we won 2-0, we put ourselves in a good position to start with. I’m happy because obviously we want more, we will do everything we can to try and continue pushing for more. But in terms of a start to the season, it’s been what I’m happy with,” stated the Mumbai City FC boss ahead of the Kerala Blasters game.
The Blasters did a league double over the Islanders last season but Buckingham is not much concerned about it. He knew last season everything happened in a hurry and he did not have that time to learn more about the league. This time things are different and hopefully for the Englishman the result will also be different.
“We don’t focus on the runs of other teams. The most important thing is when you only have 20 games in any season, it’s making sure that every game is important to each other. For me, it doesn’t matter. We know the qualities Kerala Blasters have and we’re going to need to be on top of our game to stop that, but we also need to continue showing the plan, the football, that we have done not just in the last three games, but throughout the Durand Cup,”Buckingham highlighted how he wants his team to be at the top.
Lastly when he was asked about the expectation from the Blasters he only had good things to say about Ivan Vukomanovic who also likes to take the attack to the opposition. He shared how things were different previously but now they are lot clearer as he demands consistency from his players in every game even beyond the Kerala clash.
“The way Ivan (Vukomanovic) has them playing, they showed last season how well they can perform if given the opportunity to do that. But so are we. We played some good football, we recruited very well. And we’re obviously 12 months into my tenure here. Plus, I’m a lot clearer on how we want to play and what we want to do. So, hopefully the consistency of that we’ve already started to show. And that’s going to be so important going in not just against Kerala, but for the 16 games afterwards,” Buckingham concluded.
