FC Pune City manager Franco Colomba refused to blame any player or department of his team for the humiliating 5-0 defeat to hosts Mumbai City FC at the DY Patil Stadium here this evening.“The problem was not any particular section of the team but the entire team,” the Italian gaffer said at the post-match press conference. “For the first 20 minutes we played a good match. We did not score, but we launched many attacks which did not conclude in a goal. We had two chances to score but in the first counter-attack they scored and after the second goal we lost our mind (concentration) and lost control of the match.”Colomba said he never expected that his team would go down by such a heavy margin. “After the first 20 minutes, it was impossible to think,” he said in halting English, helped along by a translator. “When we were down 1-0 (David) Trezeguet hit the cross bar. After it was 2-0 we didn’t think we it would get this bad but after taking 2-3 goals it is very difficult to come back in the match.”The coach also refuted a suggestion that the debacle was caused by the fact that he plays with three defenders at the back, explaining that a 3-5-2 formation morphs into a 5-3-2 when the side is defending, with the two wingbacks falling back to do defensive duties. Rather, the goals were conceded because of the mistakes committed by his players. “We showed a lot of will to come back but we committed too many mistakes, which hurt us,” he explained.So what message does the 59-year-old former manager of Reggina and Napoli now have for his shell-shocked troops? “I want to tell my boys that all is not over and the championship continues for the next two months. In their first match Mumbai City lost 3-0 away in Kolkata but today they won 5-0 at home. This is football, anything can happen!” he quipped.Colomba also tried to explain that it was not only his forward line that was misfiring but that it was a “collective problem”. The attacking deficiencies are not because of the lack of supply from the midfield but because of the collective failing of the entire team. “We will have to go back to Pune and work hard to improve and solve our problems because we need to score goals and get points,” Colomba declared.
