Mohun Bagan coach Jose Molina gives his stance on criticism over leaky defense in 3-2 win against NorthEast United

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Mohun Bagan Super Giant head coach Jose Molina took aim at those criticising his team's defensive records after a 3-2 win against NorthEast United in ISL 2024-25 on September 23 - Monday. The Spanish manager said that the Mariners faced a lot of unwarranted criticism in their last match as well, despite keeping a clean sheet.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Molina was asked about the defensive record of Mohun Bagan, who also conceded two goals in a stalemate against Mumbai City FC in the opening match of ISL.

"No, absolutely not (worried about defence), I'm happy with my players," said Molina at the post-match press conference. "Of course, I'm not happy about conceding two goals. But, in the last match (vs Ravshan in AFC Champions League Two), we didn't concede, and people were not happy because we didn't win. Today, we won, and people are still not happy because we conceded two goals. "What's the most important, to win or not concede goals?" he asked.

The goal fest saw Mohun Bagan end their winless run in all competition and that too in front of home fans at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, courtesy of a late goal by the substitute Jason Cummings.

The recent result left behind the disappointment of the opening day draw against Mumbai City FC and lifted the Kolkata Giants to fourth place in the ISL 2024-25 table. However,

After the recent shaky performances, not everyone in the Mohun Bagan camp was as optimistic as coach Molina regarding the team's poor defensive record so far. One of those is Scottish forward Greg Stewart, who spoke in the post-match conference to motivate his teammates to defend the goal as a cohesive unit.

The newly-signed forward, who was awarded the player of the match for his Monday's show, further claimed that the poor defensive record puts added pressure on the attackers.

"We're still conceding some goals. From our point of view, we have to defend even with attacking players," said Stewart at the post-match press conference. "We have to work on it because forwards can't score four-five goals every game. We can't rely on this."

Stewart will be back in action in Mohun Bagan's next match against Bengaluru FC on September 28 - Saturday.