(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Dalic promises The Boss will come out firing on all cylinders against Ajman Omar Abdulrahman is Al Ain’s star performer. — Supplied photo
Abu Dhabi: Competing on two fronts is never easy especially when it is a packed schedule. Al Ain had to put their first leg semifinal loss to Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal in the AFC Champions League on the backburner to open their campaign in the Arabian Gulf League.
And they will have to do so yet again when they are on the road to Ajman in Week 3 at the Rashid bin Saeed Stadium on Wednesday. The fixture has been brought forward as ‘The Boss’ still have the Asian competition’s return leg to left to play at the Hazza bin Zayed on September 30.
Though 10-man Al Ain were 2-0 winners against Al Wasl in their opening fixture of the League coach Zlatko Dalic was not entirely convinced with the performance and urged his players to show more.
“Winning three points made me happy but the performance was unconvincing. We should show our real power against Ajman” said Dalic.
And the Croatian has confidence that his squad will do just that. “The match against Ajman will be tough but I have confidence in my team. They have been training efficiently. We are going to Ajman to win and show the performance we prepared for” he said.
Dalic knows a thing or two about his opposite number Fathi Al Jebal during his time in Saudi Arabia where he coached Al Faisaly and Al Hilal. The 51-year-old Tunisian Fathi Al Jebal was coach of Al Fateh at that time.
“I played against Ajman’s head coach Fathi Al Jebal in the Saudi league. He is an excellent coach. Ajman lost to Al Jazira and drew with Al Dhafrah. So they will redouble their efforts against us to go for that first win. So we have to be wary about that” said the 47-year-old.
With Mohammed Ahmed Gharib sent off during the game against Al Wasl Dalic is forced to make a vital change in his backline and is set to bring in former Bani Yas defender Mohammed Fawzi. There was a fitness cloud over Fawzi after the defender got injured in training on Monday but Dalic said he would ready.
“Mohammed Ahmed got a red card in the previous game and it was a problem for us. But we have Mohammed Fawzi. He is an excellent player in this position but he is still not fully ready. He trained with the team and I’m sure he will be fit for the game” Dalic said.
Dalic was also pleased to have a full complement of players but rued the lack of time.
“There are only four days between the two matches and it is difficult for the team. We didn’t have some of our National team players for 17 days. It was a tough period for us. Now we have 17 players but we don’t have time between games. So I would be rotating my players accordingly” he said.
Meanwhile Fathi Al Jabal said Ajman will face a tough test. “We anticipate Al Ain will rest some of their players by virtue of their upcoming AFC Champions League game. But we know that their substitute players are equally strong and that we will have to proceed with caution regardless.”
But he added that Al Ain could be under a bit of pressure. “There could be more pressure on Al Ain than on us as they have to think about two competitions at the moment” he said.
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