ISL: "I want our team to play attractive, quick football," claims Mumbai City FC coach Des Buckingham

Des Buckingham's Mumbai City FC dropped yet another stellar performance. They sank the high-spirited Jamshedpur FC 4-2 in the Indian Super League 2021-22

Starting on a high note, Mumbai went to get a three-goal lead in the first half itself through the likes of Cassio Gabriel, Igor Angulo, and Bipin Singh. Coming from the break Jamshedpur was a changed side. Komal Thatal and Eli Sabia scored two goals in ten minutes to bring them back into the game. However, a 70' minute strike from Ygor Catatau sealed the game in favour of the Islanders.

MCFC coach Des Buckingham was in a great mood as he spoke to the media, after his team's outstanding performance in the top-of-table clash.

On the team's overall performance

Going 3-0 up against a team with a standout defence like Jamshedpur FC is a huge deal in itself. Talking about the performance of his side, a very pleased Buckingham said, "We scored four goals. In the first half, we continued to show real attacking football, and to go 3-0 up against a very well-coached team by Owen Coyle was excellent. Full credit to them as well. They came out in the second half and gave it a go and nearly got themselves back in the game. I'm proud of how we stood up at 3-2 especially and went on to score the fourth goal and secure the game for us."

On Ygor Catatau's impact

Super substitute Ygor Catatau, has scored three crucial goals for Mumbai City FC coming off the bench. A striking feature of Des Buckingham's substitutions is how they continue the quality of the game. Speaking on the note and Catatau's importance the boss was seen saying, "We want impact from every player that comes off the bench and he(Ygor) continues to deliver in that respect and so do the others. The changes in the last few matches have played a big part in how we have gone on to finish the games."

"But we also need to take stock of the ones that are starting the game and see how well they have played. Ygor again scored this evening and it was an excellent goal through a very well-worked move. It's a good problem to have." he added.

On keeping clean sheets:

Although Mumbai City FC had put on a stellar show, yet again the defence failed to register the clean sheet. Until now they have only 1 clean sheet which came against FC Goa. Being asked on the topic, Buckingham didn't seem to be very worried about the cause. He stated, "I want our team to play attractive, quick football. I want to enjoy watching us from the sidelines. We will continue to do that. Yes, we would like clean sheets but if it detracts from the style of football and that means committing numbers forward we just need to be better at certain times in the game to make sure we don't give the ball away in dangerous areas."

On the pressure faced by him

An Oxford graduate himself, Des Buckingham was under a lot of pressure as he succeeded a very successful Sergio Lobera. With the performances that Mumbai City has been dropping, they have easily been upheld as the title contender. On being questioned if the top position has added more to the performance pressure he already had, Buckingham was quoted saying, "We don't tend to look at the table at this time of the year. We are only a quarter of our way to the season. It doesn't matter where you are in the league right now. It is where you finish. And that's going to be key that we focus on the next game that we play."