Mumbai City FC head coach Petr Kratky was disappointed after a 1-1 draw against Odisha FC at the Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai in the Indian Super League on Sunday. Roy Krishna opened the scoring for the visitors in the 14th minute but Greek footballer Nikos Karelis scored the equalizer for the Islanders in the 23rd minute.
Kratky admitted they started very poorly and they had to pay the price for their mundane show. “I think we started very poorly, to be honest. First 20 minutes, there were a lot of mistakes. Obviously, we got the goal from one of them, but the football wasn’t exactly so. We have to look at that,” Kratky said in the post-match press conference.
“The start of the game wasn’t ideal, but then as soon as we got the goal, we started improving as the game went. We got better and better, and we created goalscoring opportunities. I’m very happy with that,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mumbai City took four shots on target and had 54.5% possession. The Islanders could not take advantage after the Kalinga Warriors were reduced to 10-man with Ahmed Jahouh receiving a red card in the 80th minute.
“I think it was a clear goalscoring opportunity where we should convert, but as I said, in terms of how the game went, I think we started poorly today, but as the game progressed, we got better and better in football. We find the spaces where we want to find and score goals—very good goals.”
“Again, there are a lot of positives. Obviously, we are sad because we wanted to win. We have an opportunity to do so, but we have to improve. We have to be a little bit more dominant across the game and get three points because it’s very important in this season,” he continued.
Kratky showered praise on midfielder Jon Toral, who impressed one and all with his performance against the visitors.
“I think everyone saw John can dribble, and I think he was very good today for us. He’s a very good player; we know that. He’s coming back for a little setback, and he’s settling down in India because it’s his first time here as well with his wife and kids. He was very good today, so I’m very happy for him.”
“The whole team worked very hard today, and we will try to do our best. I’m very pleased with his performance, but there were also others who did well today,” Kratky signed off.
