ISL: Reid happy with Mumbai City's performance but finishing still a concern

Disappointed with his team’s third successive goalless draw in the ongoing Hero Indian Super League, Mumbai City FC coach Peter Reid has said that his wards need to work on their finishing and capitalise on the chances that came their way. Mumbai City FC and FC Goa played out an action-packed goalless draw after both the teams failed to score on many occasions at the D Y Patil Stadium here last night. [caption id=“attachment_1808131” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Andre Moritz of Mumbai City FC takes a shot at the goal against FC Goa. Sportzpics[/caption] Even though Reid is pleased with his team’s overall performance, he was not happy with the finishing of his strikers. “I am delighted with our performance. Defensively, we were good again. I am delighted we created chances, good chances. But if you cannot take them you are not going to win. Unfortunately, we had good chances but we did not take them,” he said in the post match conference. “There was one penalty appeal which went against us but overall delighted with the effort they put in. Just one thing I was disappointed with was our finishing.” The Ranbir Kapoor co-owned side hasn’t been among goals in their last three games and Reid said they have to work hard on converting their chances and start scoring again. “In training we do a lot of work, crossing and finishing because it’s not about physical but quality work. You won’t believe this but in training the finishing is fantastic. But the pressure of the game is where we need it. At this moment we aren’t delivering. I don’t have a magic wand. There is no wizard who can come and get us goals. But we have got to work on training ground and hopefully on a match day we will stick it in the back of the net,” the former Manachester City manager said. Reid felt Indian forward Subash Singh got into good positions yesterday but didn’t work hard enough to test the Goan custodian. “I wouldn’t say disappointment as he (Subash) worked hard. Dika (Lalrindika Ralte) had his chance and he made through, he made the keeper work. We had chances and the keeper made saves you can hold your hands up. I think Subash didn’t make the keeper work and that’s disappointing from my point of view and I am sure from Subash’s point of view as well. When you have got through in those positions you have got to work the keeper,” he said. The Mumbai franchise has maintained a clean sheet in the last five games and Reid said one of the positive was that they remained unbeaten in these games. “I would rather prefer clean sheets all the time. If you were conceding two or three goals again, then you would have a problem. At this moment, we are undefeated. I know we haven’t won games. The hardest thing in football is to score goals. This is a physically demanding tournament. At this moment of time we are the hardest team to beat so I will take that as a plus. It is not all dull and gloom,” he said. Reid hoped that they would score in the next games. “I am frustrated so are the players but we just have to keep going. If you play that amount of games and if you get one side of the equation where you are defensively solid, it’s fine. I would be distraught if we did not create chances and it was a dour 0-0, I wouldn’t know where to turn. But we created chances and if we keep on creating, I can promise you that we will stick it in at the back of the net,” he said. FC Goa head coach Zico too rued the missed opportunities but credited both the goalkeepers for maintaining a clean slate. “I would have liked to see some goals and the game could have drawn 2-2 or 3-3. It shows that both the teams played to win. I think the goalkeepers played really well. They stopped many goals. As both teams had very good forwards, so the defenders had to play well. It is not easy marking Robert Pires, Andre Santos or Nicolas Anelka,” he said. The Brazilian added that his side would have to work hard in their next three home ties to make up for the lost points. “We still have hope because we have three matches at home. We have to work really very hard to recover these points which we lost today. The important thing is that the team is showing reaction power and I hope that we will be able to show the same in the next match,” he said. With hardly much difference between all the teams in the points table, Zico felt 18 points would be enough to see a side through to the semi-finals. “The way the tournament is going one can get 18 points to be in the top four,” he said. PTI