There's more to Mumbai City FC than just Anelka and Moritz: Reid

Chennai: It has been a tough beginning for Mumbai City FC in the Indian Super League. The team’s solitary win against FC Pune City has been sandwiched by two losses in which they failed to find the back of the net. The team is currently sitting in sixth in the points table, eight behind leaders NorthEast United. Though Mumbai has two games in hand, they can’t afford to fall further behind in what is a short season by football standards. The good news is Mumbai can finally call on the services of former French striker Nicolas Anelka, who missed the first three games because of a ban. “His training has been first class,” Mumbai coach Peter Reid said at the pre-match press conference. “Very professional. And he is really looking forward to the game. [caption id=“attachment_1775895” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  “Moritz still has a little bit of a cut on the back of his head but is in really good nick,” Reid said. ISL[/caption] “We know it is going to be a difficult game. Some quality players playing against us. Elano [Blumer] is a threat. I know him from when he was at Manchester City. Tremendous on dead balls. Tremendous at set pieces. But we got some good attacking players too. Andre Moritz got a hat-trick against Pune. Of course Nicolas. Lalrindika Ralte on the left side and Subash Singh have done well for us as well. “It is a game we are looking forward to and hopefully it will be a good football match.” For Reid, the team’s up and down start to the season has been frustrating but injuries and suspensions have kept Mumbai from fielding their best team so far in the tournament. “Freddie Ljungberg has played only half an hour out of all three games,” Reid said. “We haven’t seen Nicolas. Andre Mortiz after playing tremendously well against Pune had a problem – dehydration. He was brilliant for 45 minutes [against NorthEast United] but he could only last that much.” “Hopefully when all the players are fit, we will get the consistency.” Injuries aside, Reid said the team needed to be more controlled on the pitch or they would find themselves in trouble against Chennaiyin. “If I had to pick a worrying factor, we are giving too many free kicks away. Conceding silly fouls and putting ourselves under pressure. We need to be more disciplined. We lost a centre back to lack of discipline. Against Chennai, with the likes of Elano on the pitch, we will pay the penalty. “We have to stop giving free kicks in dangerous areas.” On the bright side, Reid said Mortiz and team captain Syed Rahim Nabi are fit. Nabi missed the last two games after picking up an ankle injury in the league’s opening game against Atletico de Kolkata. “Moritz still has a little bit of a cut on the back of his head but is in really good nick,” Reid said. “I have no qualms about his lasting 90 minutes. Asked if Mumbai had become too dependent on Moritz and whether his withdrawal after the first half against NorthEast United had cost Mumbai the game, Reid said Mumbai was not a one man team. “I think when you have a player like Andre, who has got quality on the ball, I think you do miss that. But sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition and I thought NorthEast played particularly well in the second half, even though we didn’t help ourselves. “But certainly there is more to us than Andre and Nicolas. We have to do it as a team. If you have conceded three goals, you need to score four to win the game. If you concede two, you need to score three. “To state the obvious, we need to tighten up at the back as a team.”