ATK Mohun Bagan coach Antonio Habas dismissed suggestions that his side's upcoming Indian Super League (ISL) clash against Mumbai City on Monday is a battle between ATKMB's stingy defence and Mumbai's prolific attack.
Mumbai City have scored the most goals so far in the ISL (16) while the Mariners have let in the least (3) amongst all teams this season. The two contrasting teams are also at the top of the table with Mumbai City in the first spot, two points above ATKMB.
"I don't think that Mumbai is a team that only attacks. They have good progressional play and counter attacks [too]. It's very difficult to stop their team because they always play forward but I don't think it's a match between attacking and defending because football is a game of attacking and defending. Both teams have transitions from one side to the other," he continued to explain.
"The importance of a match depends on the moment. Now it's a match between the first (Mumbai City) and second teams [on the table]. Maybe two or three weeks later, the match may not have the same importance but the idea is to continue playing in the same way to get three points [in every game]."
After nine games, ATK Mohun Bagan have accumulated 20 points, two less than the Islanders from the same number of games. However, Habas who has won the ISL twice with ATK feels that, at this stage, it counts for nothing.
"I remember my first season in the ISL, we (ATK) won the competition. Maybe we played better in the second season (more points in league stage - 23 as compared to 19 from the same number of games) but did not win the competition," Habas observed.
ISL
ATK Mohun Bagan forward Roy Krishna, who has continued his impeccable form from last season, feels Mumbai City are a big team and is fired up for the encounter.
"I think everyone wants to play in a big game and this will be one of the biggest games of the first round (first half of the season). We are just going to concentrate on doing our own thing, play well and stick to our game plan.
"It's really good to see that we are keeping those clean sheets (7) and getting important wins even when we're not playing well. So this shows what kind of team we are. Hopefully, we are going to continue defending well, get those counters and convert our chances," the Fijian admitted.
