ISL: Peter Reid blasts Mumbai City defence, calls loss against Delhi 'Black Friday'

It was Delhi Dynamos who did all the shopping on Black Friday as a beleaguered Mumbai City FC defence allowed them to bag four goals — two of which were simply given away due to defensive errors. Once touted as favourites going into the tournament, the 4-1 defeat against Delhi meant that Mumbai crashed to the bottom of the table. Peter Read described the day as ‘Black Friday’ for Mumbai City FC. “It’s not a great day to tell the truth, in America that’s called Black Friday because they are all going shopping. It’s my Black Friday and it’s Mumbai City’s Black Friday,” a visibly upset Reid said at the post-match conference. [caption id=“attachment_1827433” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Peter Reid blasted his defence after the 1-4 loss. ISL[/caption] For the second time in a row, the Mumbai City defense put up a disappointing performance and they were thrashed by a rampaging Delhi Dynamos side. Mumbai have now conceded seven goals in two games and it all seems to be going back to where it began — they conceded 10 goals in the first four games and then produced five consecutive cleansheets before going down 3-0 to Chennaiyin FC and then being hammered by the Dynamos. “Basically, we got what we deserved. We were second best all over the pitch and Delhi were worthy winners. We didn’t defend as a team. The first goal was particularly poor from our point of view and we (also) didn’t pass the ball well enough. It was a disappointing evening.” Both the coaches had asserted importance of not conceding the first goal in the pre-match conference and especially with Mumbai finding it difficult to hit the back of the net it would have been more difficult for the visitors to chase the game compared to Delhi. It was a defensive error that led to conceding the first goal for Mumbai. Manuel Freidrich’s poor clearance fell to Delhi captain Hans Mulder inside the box and the in-form midfielder wasn’t going to miss it from the close range. That was the moment when it all started going wrong for Mumbai and Reid accepted the fact that the players’ heads dropped after that first goal. Even in the third goal, the dangerous Gustavo Dos Santos was left unmarked inside the box and he scored off a free header. “Particularly the first goal, the midfield runners got off us and the clearance which should be easily dealt with, we didn’t. I thought in this game the first goal was going to be crucial. To be frank If I sat here and said we deserved something from the game then I wouldn’t be telling the truth. We were poor at the back, we didn’t pick up runners in the middle of the park, we didn’t stop crosses and it was just too easy for the Delhi side.” “I think the way we have been scoring goals, some heads did drop which was disappointing. When you are playing in the game, you want your players to go there and keep on going. For me I thought we got beaten too easily. Whether it’s psychological because Dynamos got the first and my team don’t think they can score is a question the answer of which I have to find out.” Reid also questioned his team’s spirit: “We didn’t turn up after the first goal went in, the heads went down and there wasn’t any fight or character in the team,” he said. Delhi Dynamos coach Harm van Veldhoven also stressed on the importance of the first goal: “The first goal was a very important goal psychologically. It killed Mumbai a little bit more and the second goal after half time killed them totally.” Mumbai are in a big mess now and it has left the coach in a quandary. They are not finding any route for scoring goals and their defense has been found wanting in the last two matches. Reid reckons they will now again focus on not conceding the goals. “You have to work on the training ground. We conceded a few goals early in the tournament and then we had five cleansheets and we now need the cleansheets,” he said. Mumbai sit at the bottom of the table with 12 points and every match is a must-win for them. Their problems are compounded by the fact that two of their last three games are away and they haven’t won a single game on the road so far.