ISL: Mumbai City FC's resurgence the Peter Reid way

There has been a dramatic turnaround in Mumbai City FC’s fortunes after a difficult start to the season and the credit goes to the coach Peter Reid whose change in philosophy akin to Louis van Gaal has worked wonders. Van Gaal employed the philosophy of keeping it tight at the back and hitting the teams on the counter which worked well in the FIFA World Cup 2014. Reid is following similar pattern after the poor start and the results are there to be seen as they have garnered seven points in their last three matches. [caption id=“attachment_1799383” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File picture of Mumbai City FC coach Peter Reid (L) and Nicolas Anelka. Sportzpics[/caption] Mumbai City FC had a difficult start to the ISL, they lost three out of their first four matches and ended up conceding 10 goals. They lost 0-3 to Atletico de Kolkata in the opener, then bounced back to win 5-0 against FC Pune City at home but the inconsistencies surfaced and they lost 0-2 to NorthEast United FC and were hammered 1-5 by a rampant Chennaiyin FC. But then there was a dramatic turnaround. Mumbai won the next two games, against Kerala Blasters and Delhi Dynamos, without conceding a goal and followed up with a goalless draw with FC Goa. The philosophy changed. Mumbai started to control the midfield, they played the patient game and hit the opposition on the counter attack. They injected a strong pressing style in midfield and a devastating counter-attack, a method employed by Gaal in the World Cup too. Van Gaal had a disciplined defense and hit the teams on the counter using the pace of Arjen Robben and Robin Van Persie. Reid used the similar tactics by using the pace of Andre Moritz and Subhash Singh, it hasn’t come out 100% right but he said that they are improving on it and they will only get better. Mumbai have had over 50% possession in five of their seven matches but Reid wants more discipline. Just before the game against Kerala Blasters, Reid asserted this fact. “I would rather concede corners than goals. In certain games we’ve been giving away the ball cheaply and that is something we’ve been working on. To quote Louis Van Gaal – that is our philosophy – ‘We want to keep the ball’.” The 1-5 mauling was perhaps the wake up call. After the loss, Tariq Engineer had given a scathing analysis of how the Mumbai team had no defense. It was shambles, coach Reid too admitted it, “Against Chennai, we were so poor. If you defend like that as a team, you cannot win a game.” But if you mention the word ‘cleansheet’ to Reid now, he will be absolutely delighted. He will love it. Reid studied the reasons for his defensive failures and came up with solutions. After the 1-0 win against the Blasters he said, “I am absolutely delighted with the way my boys played. We had taken part in a lot of video sessions and concentrated on getting our defensive tactics in order. Our priority was to keep it tight at the back. We were too open in the last game and paid the penalty. Once we got the goal, I knew that Kerala would come at us, but we defended superbly. My boys performed their roles beautifully and I cannot be happier for them.” Changes were made as well. The absence of Czech defender Pavel Cmovs was felt dearly in the game against Chennaiyin as he was suspended after being booked twice in the previous match against NorthEast United. He got back into the starting line-up straightaway. Raju Gaekwad who had a terrible outing against Chennayin was dropped altogether and in came Deepak Mandal. Cmovs and Manuel Friedrich were the centre-halves, Deepak played right back with Syed Nabi was the other full back. Later, Nabi got injured and was replaced in their last match with Peter Costa against FC Goa. The Cmovs-Manuel Friedrich pair has been rock solid forming the heart of the defense. They have used their height to good advantage and have been impressive with their clearances and last ditch tackles. Czech midfielder Jan Stohanzl has been working his socks off with his box-to-box duties and has been a key figure in this line-up. Even if in rare cases, Mumbai’s defense is breached, there is another rock in front of goal - goalkeeper Subrata Paul - who has been excellent so far. He has the most number of cleansheets so far - four. Subrata praised the coach’s and the players’ efforts for the turnaround, especially Friedrich. “We are organised right now, boys are very disciplined, everybody follows the coach’s instructions and everyone knows their job. We are playing very compact. This helps us and we train well and try to follow coach’s instructions. Freidrich has taken the lead in the defense as he is a senior player which is good, " Subrata told Firstpost. It’s not that Mumbai have been just sitting back and defending. They are creating chances, they have the third-highest number of shots on target - 51, just three behind toppers FC Goa. It’s just that the finishing needs to improve. But the likes of Anelka are changing that. He can win them the match single-handedly as we saw against the Kerala Blasters in Mumbai and this is what makes Reid’s side very dangerous and one of the top contenders to win the trophy in the ISL.