Gregory defends his decision to bench Jeje, Augusto against Mumbai City FC

Chennaiyin FC benched its prolific scorers Jeje Lalpekhlua and Raphael Augusto, which affected them as their forwards Mohammed Rafi, and Thoi Singh squandered a few chances. Chennaiyin who were on three-match winning streak lost 0-1 to hosts Mumbai City FC at Mumbai Football Arena on Sunday night. Achille Emana scored from the spot in the 60th minute.

The visitors coach John Gregory who made five changes to the playing XI blamed the tight schedule for his decision.

“We have to play total 18 league games and already played three in a week. Jeje and Raphael have been playing with injuries. They’ve worked exceptionally hard earlier. If they would have started tonight, they would have had serious injuries. We don’t want that situation. You want to rotate the squad and make changes. Five changes meant five opportunities for those guys in the starting XI,” he said.

Gegory felt other clubs are also facing same problems.

“The other day Teddy (Sheringham, ATK coach) said at times he has only 14-15 players training. He has seven or eight players who have serious injuries or can’t train. It is a long season and the schedule can destroy them (players), you have to look after it. I have to try and keep my players fresh and injury free,” added Gregory who sent in Jeje finally in the 67th minute.

The Englishman thought they dominated the game on Sunday but rued missed opportunities.

“The most one-sided game I’ve seen all season. We missed many chances. The game could have ended in the first half itself. If we’d used the ball better, we’d have won the game. We gave Mumbai a chance to attack us,” he said.

Mumbai City FC coach Alexandre Guimaraes was happy to register second straight win at home and get campaign back on track. The Ranbir Kapoor co-owned side have lost two away games and drawn one.

“We knew that we have to be very strong at home. We understood after the first half, the kind of game the rival is trying to play. We adjusted some things in second half and we deserved the win. They had chances of course after that but we had many chances too. We are back in the tournament with this. I’m happy that we are showing that it will be tough to get points here,” the Costa Rican coach said.