Hyderabad FC came up with a spirited performance to hold Mumbai City FC goalless in the Indian Super League (ISL) 2020-21, at the GMC Stadium in Goa, on Saturday. With this draw, Hyderabad manages to stay at fourth, while Mumbai continues to dominate on the top.
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The opening half saw ten attacks, including five saves, while four of them came from Mumbai's Amrinder Singh, as Hyderabad looked surprisingly relentless with its attacking approach. Nonetheless, Mumbai managed to hold it off, as the sides went goalless at half-time.
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The second half saw a similar approach from both sides, including four saves (two each). With Hyderabad continuing to be promising with its attacks, Mumbai was somewhat compelled to play defensive throughout, as in a substantial test of its defence, it managed to hold the former off. At the same time, honours were shared at the full-time whistle.
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Following the game, Mumbai head coach, Sergio Lobera, was visibly not happy with the performance, as he said, "Obviously, I'm not happy because we always want to win three points. The draw is a fair result though, because we didn't play well and Hyderabad FC was clever. I didn't want to lose an important player for ten days. Hugo Boumous was rested for that reason. He wasn't 100% and I have other players who can do the job well. That's the advantage of having an amazing squad and everyone is ready to step up. My strategy for every game is different. I need to choose the best playing XI based on the opponent. And, that's why I've been alternating between Adam le Fondre and Bartholomew Ogbeche. Hopefully, we continue this unbeaten run (ten games now) and go into the ISL season seven playoffs as the top-ranked team."
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Meanwhile, Hyderabad manager, Manolo Marquez, was somewhat delighted with his boys, as he reckoned, "More or less, we played according to plan. They were better than us in the first leg. Maybe, they had better possession tonight, but we played really well. I think that it's very easy to train my players. They do everything I ask them and believe in my work. Today, we were compact in defence and Mumbai hardly found any empty space. So, I'm very proud of my players. We had a problem with Fran Sandaza, our other No. 9. Practically, Aridane Santana is forced to play every minute. I knew if he had to be fully fit for the next game, I had to take him out in the 70th minute. We spend a lot of time together in the hotel and on the field. I have a fantastic bunch of players and it's not about an individual. For us, it's always a team effort."
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