Coach Buckingham’s faith, team’s support key to my good form, says Mumbai City’s Mehtab Singh

Mumbai: Mumbai City FC have made a decent start in their Indian Super League (ISL) 2022 campaign, coming away unbeaten from their first three games which included clashes with defending champions Hyderabad FC and defending league winners Jamshedpur FC.

While the attack is yet to click in full gear, the Islanders have improved defensively after the 3-3 draw against Hyderabad FC in their opening game.

Key to their renewed defensive solidity has been Mehtab Singh who has started Mumbai’s both home games so far ahead of captain Mourtada Fall and delivered handsomely.

Mehtab was awarded the Hero of the Match in both those encounters for his composed defending that has seen his team concede just one goal in the two games that he has played.

He has dealt with the threat of the opponent in an extremely composed manner and has been excellent with the ball at his feet. As it stands, no other Indian player in the ISL has completed more successful passes than Mehtab Singh who has a pass accuracy of 87.5 percent.

After the match against Jamshedpur FC, Mehtab said that Des Buckingham’s faith in his ability and bonding with the team helped him to do better in the matches.

“The fact that the coach trusts you, gives you a lot of confidence. I have received great support from the team and we are always helping each other so that makes you feel very good. We follow our own style of football that the coach has inculcated in us. We try to focus on ourselves and try to play our football whoever the opponent is,” Mehtab said.

Asked about the partnership with Rostyn Griffiths on the field, Mehtab said, “Every time I play with him whether, in training or in the match, I get to learn a lot of things from him. He is a very experienced player and I have a lot to learn from him. Our style of football is to build up from the back and I think we do it quite well. We have worked a lot on that on the training field because the coach loves to play that way.”

–IANS