I-League: Mohammedan Sporting to face Gokulam Kerala in struggle for survival battle

Mohammedan Sporting are fighting to stay out of the relegation zone and just when their performance needed an upswing it is going downIn the ILeague 202223 they have been able to grab full points only against 11thplaced Mumbai Kenkre since the turn of the year Even the unbeaten home record this season was broken in a humiliating 04 loss to RoundGlass Punjab and after losing the last two matches they are just three points out of the relegation zoneThis troubled brigade of Kibu Vicuna will be taking on Gokulam Kerala FC here at the Kishore Bharati Krirangan on Sunday Gokulam are defending champions but have also started dropping down the ladder They are now fourth on the table with a tenpoint gap between them and the top Therefore none of the two teams can afford to waste points in tomorrows match Gokulam have lost three matches since the resumption of the Hero ILeague after the winter break With a lot of away matches coming up Francesc Bonet knows he has to pick up full points against a team like Mohammedan Sporting whose target is survivalAlso Read India goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu extends stay at Bengaluru FC until 2028Those are often teams that hurt title contenders most and the ominous thing about Vicunas team is that they have firepower Just that it does not come out often enough Nobody can doubt the scoring ability of Marcus Joseph and Abiola Dauda But Vicuna has tried them in different positions sometimes starting with the former at other times with the latter nothing has yielded enough goalsParticularly in the last few matches midfielders like Kean Lewis Sheikh Faiaz Abhisek Halder have created a lot of opportunities but lost the plot in attacking third Mirlan Murzaev sometimes played in a forwards role has also not looked the part leading to Mohammedan drawing or losing matches they could have won That is why Vicuna on Saturday stressed on the importance of converting the chances they get We have to take advantage of the opportunities we get and try to score first he categorically said While he admitted wasting scoring opportunities is a headache the Spanish coach maintained that his side is improvingAlso Read Must bring curtain down on issues concerning All India Football Federation Supreme CourtWeve improved even in the last two matches Especially in the last game we were the better team was his opinion Im happy with the way the players are working on the field at the training ground The trick is to keep believing in ourselves The results will come Vicunas counterpart Bonet spoke highly of the opponents Mohammedan Sporting are a good team and should not be judged by their position on the table he remarkedThey are not there because they have played badly Sometimes theyve been unlucky and sometimes the finishing hasnt been very good he elaborated It is natural for Bonet to be wary of such a team not to mention his own set of problems Sergio Mendigutxia up front has been sublime one day and wasteful on another The defence led by Bouba Aminou and Pawan Kumar has also made the occasional blunder best example being the failed offside trap for Luka Majcen in the last match that led to an own goal by Pawan Such mistakes shall prove to be costlier as the league approaches its end We have also been lacking in the finishing part of the game for the last few games Bonet saidOften we have created more chances than the opponents but have not converted them Midfielder Thahir Zaman supported his coach by saying Mohammedan and Gokulam have the same kind of problems and added If both teams manage to be clinical we can hope for an enjoyable match tomorrowThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever