Our players don't deserve to wear the Mumbai FC jersey: Nicolas Anelka
Mumbai City FC manager Nicolas Anelka has lambasted his team, accusing them of lacking character and being unworthy of wearing Mumbai's jersey, after their dismal performance during the 0-7 loss against FC Goa at the Fatorda Stadium on Tuesday.
It rained goals in Goa last night as Dudu Omagbemi and Thongkhosiem Haokip scored a hat-trick each to put the Mumbai defence to the sword. The 7-0 rout was the biggest loss in the short history of the ISL and Mumbai's hopes of qualifying for the knockout stage have been dented marginally.
Nicolas Anelka, Mumbai's marquee player-manager, was less than impressed with his team's outing and the Frenchman tore into his players at the post-match press conference. When asked about what went wrong, he said, “Everything I think. In the first 30 minutes, we played well. Then we conceded a goal. And since we have no character in this team, we have failed to win away from home so far this season. Every time we conceded a goal we put our heads down and we had no power to come back from 1-0.”
“After that we were chasing the game, all the time it was the same thing and it was too hard to come back. We allowed the opponent too much space to play and score. It’s simple,” Anelka was quoted as saying by Goal.com.
With this away defeat, Mumbai have extended their win-less streak on the road to 12 games. Moreover, their goal difference (-6) has taken a huge hit and this could prove to be costly as qualification for the knockout stages could very well come down to that one statistic.
The former Real Madrid and Chelsea striker regretted what was the biggest defeat in his career. "It's the worst defeat in my life and our players don't deserve to wear the Mumbai FC jersey after today's humiliating defeat," Anelka said, as reported by Zee News.
Three of their remaining four matches in the league phase will be away from home, and if Mumbai do not improve on their appalling away record, the fans will have to endure another hugely disappointing season.