ISL 2018-19: 'Mumbai City Found Defending Easier With 10 Players' - Carles Cuadrat After 1-1 Draw

After Bengaluru FC drew 1-1 with Mumbai City at the Kanteerava Stadium in Sunday night's Indian Super League fixture, the Blues coach explained that Mumbai City executed their gameplan well after going down to 10 men.

Sehnaj Singh was sent off for the Islanders in the second half when he received his second yellow card and Mumbai City had to play the rest of the game a man down - more than 40 minutes in all.

Jorge Costa's men held on for a draw to share the spoils and Cuadrat also credited their efforts.

"We tried our best today," Cuadrat said. "It happens sometimes in football when the other team is reduced to 10 players. For them, the gameplan is easier then.

"It's easier to defend and they have very, very fast players. They decided to play exclusively on the counter-attack so when you play against 10 it becomes more difficult.

"We tried to attack with all the weapons that we have. We tried to create situations and arrive in the box with options but sometimes it was a question of control inside the box. It's one of those things in football - just a matter of inches.

"It happens; a lot of games went in our favour but today it didn't. In such games, you sometimes lose but we are happy because we are unbeaten and at the top of the table. We've been playing a lot of games over the past few weeks and I think you can see that the players aren't fresh - but they tried until the end."

On whether Subhasish Bose and Amrinder Singh were familiar with Bengaluru's tactics

"I think Mumbai City have been working very hard and you have to congratulate them because they were working very hard in defence," Cuadrat said.

"I think it was an exciting game to watch with a lot of things happening and that is good for football."

On why Rahul Bheke switched to left-back and Nishu Kumar on the right

"Rahul is in fantastic form," the Spanish coach said. "And you know how fast Arnold is and he didn't participate a lot in the game and that was because of Rahul.

"Nishu is a small offensive player and not so strong as a defender," Cuadrat explained. "He had problems in the first half with Bastos because he was creating a lot of chances and Nishu wasn't good in defence.

"That's why at half-time we changed things with [Harmanjot] Khabra in defence and Nishu in midfield."

Bengaluru FC's Chencho Gyeltshen played only the first half against Mumbai City [Image: ISL]

On why Checnho was taken off at half-time for Xisco

"We started the game very well and we had options to score the second goal," the 50-year-old coach said. "But when they scored I felt we were losing the ball and they became dangerous in the counter-attacks.

"Chencho was not participating a lot in the no.9 position - it is not his best position. So we put Xisco in the middle of the pitch to retain the ball and we started the second half well. But the red card made their gameplan easier.

"Normally you have to try and score the second goal. We had our chances but it wasn't happening."

On Modou Sougou finally breaking the offside trap to score

"We don't work with an offside trap," he said. "We push our defenders up so that the distance between the lines is less and reduce space in between for the other team to play.

"On that occasion, there was a misunderstanding between Albert [Serran] and Nishu [Kumar] and that was the only time they got through. The other team had the right tempo to put the cross and run in and we have to say they did well."