El Jaish Al Arabi ready for crunch QSL battle

11/21/2015 1:07:37 AM

(MENAFN- The Peninsula) El Jaish’s coach Sabri Lamouchi (centre) speaks at a pre-match press conference in Doha yesterday.

Doha: El Jaish are the only side besides leaders Al Rayyan and Al Sadd who are yet to taste defeat in this season’s Qatar Stars League (QSL).

The army men are second on the points table with 20 points from six victories and a couple of draw and head coach Sabri Lamouchi wants his side to consolidate their position to keep pressure on Al Rayyan who are maintaining 100 percent record so far in the league.

El Jaish will visit the Al Arabi Stadium today for their Round 9 match against the hosts and despite of a good showing the army men are aware of the threat by fourth-placed Al Arabi.

“When have had a break of two weeks it’s difficult to start again. It becomes more difficult when you have to play a strong opponent like Arabi” Lamouchi said at a pre-match press conference yesterday.

“They are a team with ambition to play for the top 4. It’s going to be a difficult game against a team that has a good coach who knows how to extract the maximum from his players. But we have belief in our abilities and we will give our maximum in this match.”

“I have analysed the weak points of Arabi just like Zola will have done for Jaish. This game will require tactical discipline and concentration from the players. And my players will have to capitalise on the good phases during the game and also learn how to deal with the bad periods”

“It’s better for me to have more options when it comes to players. It’s a problem I don’t mind having. I need to find the right balance which can help my team stay in this situation.”

On the other hand Al Arabi head coach Gianfranco Zola hoped the break will help his side.

“The break gave us an opportunity to work on some aspects tactically. We had two tough games before the break” he said.

“Against Al Sadd we played with nine players for 45 minutes We needed to recharge our batteries and I think the break has been good for us. We have three players returning from national duty tomorrow (today). It has been a good 10 days of training for us” the coach added.

“There are four points that separate the two clubs. Also there are four points between Jaish and Rayyan. If we lose this game there will be a big distance between us and Rayyan and Jaish. So certainly it’s a very important game when it comes to the standings. This match is also important because it’s probably the last big team that we will play. It will be last big test for us. And it will be a tough test.”

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