Mumbai City FC drew against Kerala Blasters FC on Thursday night in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) at the DY Patil Stadium. It was an end-to-end match between the two sides, but the draw now means that Mumbai have a very slim chance of making the semi-finals and will have to depend on results from other matches to progress beyond the group stage. Marquee player-cum-coach Nicolas Anelka fielded questions from reporters shortly after the game and assessed his team’s performance on the night.On being asked how much of a blow it was to concede late on, Anelka replied: “You score once and go a goal ahead of opposition team, [and] when it’s 1-0 we need to keep it [that way]. Unfortunately, like in Delhi, we conceded the goal very late. What I was seeing is we need to show more desire, show more fighting spirit.”The mercurial Frenchman chose to start Sony Norde up front in what was a different tactical approach to the game and took positives out of his team’s first-half showing but was not impressed by what followed in the second.“Yeah, [in the] first half we created chances and scored one goal; it was good to come back to the dressing room ahead in the game. When we came back after half time, I don't know what it was but it was not like the first half. We gave space to other team [in the second half]. It was a good first half but that's it.”When quizzed on the chances created by his side, Anelka was quick to chalk it down to Kerala’s more attacking mindset in the second period. “You create more chances because you’re leading of course. The other team will attack more and you'll have an opportunity to score. In the second half, we were too defensive.”Anelka and his men must now win back-to-back away fixtures against Chennaiyin FC and Atlético de Kolkata and then hope that other results go their way if they are to make it to the semi-final stage.
