Mumbai City managed to scrape a win against East Bengal to extend their lead at the top of the Indian Super League (ISL) table on Friday.
Mourtada Fall gave the Islanders the lead in the first half itself and they managed to hold on to it to get the three points despite a poor show in the second half.
Coach Sergio Lobera, who loved to play possession-based attacking football, was understandably unhappy with his team's performance against East Bengal and he suggested that Mumbai City were lucky to get the positive result.
"When you see the stats, we lost the possession of the ball and it is difficult for us when we are playing this way. Obviously, we need to improve. We were lucky about the result in the second half because they played very well. We were playing against a team who were unbeaten in seven matches in a row. In the first half, we had chances to score the second goal.
"Sometimes it is not possible to play the way you want to play. The opponent was playing and we had to play in another way. In the second half, we suffered a lot because they wanted to keep possession. This is not the way we want to play. We want to win more games and improve. We need to work on this." said Lobera.
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The Spaniard heaped praise on the Red and Golds and suggested that East Bengal were a completely changed side from what they were when Mumbai City met them in the first phase of the league.
"They (East Bengal) have improved a lot, they have new players. They are a very competitive team. Their results speak about their quality now, seven matches unbeaten. They played very well today and there is no comparison of this team with the team they were in the first half of the season."
The Islanders have been exceptional at scoring and defending and the former Las Palmas managed credited his assistant coach Jesus Tato for the team's prowess in dead-ball situations.
"We do everything possible to change the result and change the classification of the matches. With FC Goa I lost the final in 2018-19 conceding late with 10 players from a corner. I am very lucky because (Jesus) Tato is doing an amazing job with setpieces. We are scoring but we are also defending set-pieces very well. It is very important," said the Mumbai manager.
