Kolkata Derby: Mohun Bagan’s Kibu Vicuna unhappy with second-half performance

Mohun Bagan extended their lead at the top of the I-League table with a hard-fought win over arch-rivals East Bengal in Sunday’s Kolkata Derby. 

It was a tale of two halves as the Green and Maroons dominated the first half but East Bengal came back strongly in the second.

 Bagan coach Kibu Vicuna mentioned that he was not happy with his team’s performance in the second half and suggested that they need to improve if they want to remain at the summit. 

“Today, in my opinion, we were better in the first half and they were better in the second half. I am unhappy with the performance in the second half. But we have to improve our performance if we want to remain at the top of the table.” 

The Spanish coach further elaborated on the mistakes his team committed in the second half. “We didn’t win the ball. Of course, the result matters. But I was happy after the Churchill game. We lost but we played well.

“But today I wasn’t happy with the second-half performance. After the second goal, the players became complacent. They thought the job was done. You cannot do that in football. When they scored one goal they came close to equalising,” said the Bagan manager. 

With 17 points from the first eight matches, Mohun Bagan are comfortably placed at the top of the table but Vicuna wants to take things match-by-match. 

“We have played just 40 per cent of the league. We need humility. We played well in the CFL but we did not win. We are happy because of the result. But we have to improve a lot of things.”

Vicuna heaped praises on Mohun Bagan youngster Nongdamba Naorem who was fantastic on the wings against East Bengal. 

“I am happy with (Nongdamba) Naorem. He is a very good talent. He has a European style of play. Of course, he needs to improve. He is not a strong guy. He has to improve that. But for a 19-year-old, he is doing a great job. We are happy with him. Young players need to be calm.”