ISL 7: Lobera all praise for Mumbai City after 3-0 win over East Bengal
Bambolim (Goa) [India], December 2 (ANI): Mumbai City FC head coach Sergio Lobera is all praise for the team after they made it two wins in a row in the Indian Super League (ISL) 2020-21 with a 3-0 triumph over SC East Bengal at the GMC Stadium in Bambolim on Tuesday.
Adam le Fondre bagged a brace and Hernan Santana scored Mumbai's third but Hugo Boumous was adjudged Hero of the Match after a superb performance that saw him involved in all three goals.
He provided two assists on the night and rose to the top ISL's all-time leaderboard for assists with 19. However, when pressed on his thoughts on Boumous' performance at the post-match press conference, Lobera opted to laud his squad instead.
"I don't like to speak about individuals, the most important thing is to work as a team. When you work well as a team, it's possible for individuals to shine. Obviously, Boumous is a very good player but I have a very good squad, and this is the most important thing for me," he said.
"If you want to win a game, you need a very good first XI. But if you want to win the league, you need a very good squad and I have a very good squad. I am very happy to have very positive players in the playing XI and the bench. It is an amazing problem for a coach to have when it's difficult to decide your first XI before every game," Lobera added.
One individual who Lobera was happy to speak about, though, was Mandar Rao Dessai, who became the first player to reach 100 ISL appearances on Tuesday night. "It's a big pleasure to work with players like Mandar, I am very happy for him. He deserves all the good things that happen and hopefully, we can work together for a long time. I want to congratulate him and expect him to continue working the same way," the Spaniard said.
The 43-year-old also highlighted the importance of balance while discussing the centre-back pairing of Santana and Mourtada Fall. "Balance is important for us. We need to balance between attack and defence. With these players, we can build better and try to start playing from the back. But I am very happy with the result and the three points... we need to continue improving, and that's my job, we need to continue improving," Lobera said. (ANI)
