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David James blamed bad referring for their 6-1 loss against Mumbai City

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Mumbai City humiliated Kerala Blasters by 6-1 last night in the ISL 2018-19. Modou Sougou scored four goals for Mumbai as Rafael Bastos and Matias Mirabaje also scored once each. But, Kerala Blasters manager David James blamed the bad referring for their shameful defeat against Mumbai City FC.

Modou Sougou scored two back to back goals in 12th and 15th minute of the first half. Seminlen Doungel then scored the only goal for Kerala Blasters in the 27th minute. Sougou’s hat-trick goal came in the 30th minute followed by Rafael Bastos’ 70th-minute strike and Matias Mirabaje’s 89th-minute strike. Sougou then scored his fourth goal in the added time of the second half.

David James

While talking about the last night’s game, Kerala Blasters manager David James said “The second yellow I don’t know. It wasn’t clear. In the second half, we were 10 men but played like 12. Their performance deserved more. I am laughing it is ironic. They were time-wasting when they were 2-0 up. But you had some wonderful strikes which made it difficult to come back.”

He then said “I am trying to work out what went wrong. Sougou was in an offside position running after the ball and ends up scoring the first goal. They scored some very nice goals in the second half,” and added “It was tough to take because during 3-1 we had a clear-cut penalty claim. For some reason, it was seen as an advantage to play on in a crowded box. I am not sure how these decisions are made. It is tough to take the decisions going against us.”

Mumbai City vs Kerala Blasters

David James said “Individuals are allowed to make mistakes and that is fine. But it is tough to take when your team is suffering. But I have to say that in the game against North East and Goa it was an 11 v 11 game. A fine line game and the offside decision gives them a goal. And Goa was denied a penalty on the other end.”

The manager then also added “We want to win the ISL but today’s result made it very very difficult. This is a learning curve. We got a young goalkeeper in Dheeraj who conceded six goals. We have to learn from it. You know you are as good as your opposition and with 53% possession, we went past them. This was a side which was trying to push forward and now we try to win the next game,” said the former England international.”