If Sunil Chhetri is not happy, then that is life: Nicolas Anelka
Mumbai City FC manager, Nicolas Anelka, has claimed that he was not allowed to sign the players he wanted by the club's management. Following their second consecutive defeat at the hands of NorthEast United, the Frenchman has criticized Indian skipper Sunil Chhetri, insisting that the forward has to play on the left wing since they have better strikers in the squad.
NorthEast United extended Mumbai's win-less run to five matches with a 2-0 win over the visitors at Guwahati last night. The defeat comes on the back of the 7-0 thrashing they were handed over by FC Goa, and they have fallen behind in the race to qualify for the knock-out stages.
After the match, Anelka refused to entertain questions regarding the Mumbai squad, claiming that the club management did not allow him to choose his own players in the summer and the people who have bought his squad should be questioned.
“We have to see who is injured or not. I try to pick the best players. I don't have a lot of player. I don't have a lot of quality. If you want to question about the players, ask the people who signed the players, not me. I have tried my best with these players.
“If I had a choice and chance to choose the players, I would have chosen different players. I have to use the players they have given me. I try my best, that is it,” the former French international said in the post-match press conference, as reported by IBNlive.
Mumbai have now failed to score in their last three matches and squandered a host of chances against NorthEast on Friday. Chhetri missed a golden opportunity to equalize in the 74th minute, and the Indian striker did not seem happy at being played on the left wing.
Nicolas Anelka, however, insisted that the club has better players to play through the middle, despite the fact that the Indian skipper is the top goalscorer in the league.
"When I came to India from England, I did not know him. They said he was a left winger and a striker. I put him on the left. He was not a striker for me today. I believe he has played as a left winger before and today was not the first time. If he is not happy, he is not happy. I have nothing to say.
"I decide who plays where. There is a better player to play in the middle than him. He is not a number 10 as well for me. Did you see him give the ball to anyone from the beginning? No. So he has to play left winger, If he is not happy, then that is life," Anelka was quoted as saying by IBNLive.
Anelka had earlier as well blasted the team's performance after the thrashing from FC Goa saying, "Our players don't deserve to wear the Mumbai FC jersey"