Zoran: We Did Not Plan to Lose Any Point with All Due Respect to Fujairah’s Aspirations
In the post-match press conference held following the end of the match between Al Ain and Al Fujairah of matchweek 5 of the Arabian Gulf League, Zoran Mamic acknowledged that his team’s mission against the home team was not easy considering the organized compact defensive style they adopted. “They deserved the one point. As for my team, they had unusual inaccurate passes which happens in football sometimes and consumed a lot of energy as it is easier to adopt defensive style rather being offensive most of the time,” he stated.
He added: “We are required to close this chapter and focus on the coming challenges in the Arabian Gulf Cup. Again, we will be missing the international players join the UAE National Team prior coming back to the league competition again.”
Commenting on missing the golden chance to be at the top spot of the standing table, he said: “We did not plan to miss the three points of this match with all due to the home team’s aspirations. However, in football you sometimes face unexpectable situations that lead to losing points. We have to learn from our mistakes and fix them in the coming matches.”
On his late decision to give the opportunity to Diaky given that he succeeded in changing the shape of the team as he enjoys offensive solutions, he said: “As for me, I consider Diaky an important player in Al Ain squad. I do know when I should give him the opportunity to play and if I let him play as of the beginning of the second half he might not score any goal. Anyway, it is a technical issue by the end of the day.”
“Definitely, we have to respect the VAR decision and if referees decided it is not a penalty kick, then it is not!” he commented on a question on the cancelled penalty kick.
As for the defensive problems that Al Ain always faces and conceding easy goals due to defensive mistakes, he pointed out: “As a coach I do not want to see such mistakes committed by my defenders, but this problem faces not only my team but also other teams. It seems that all clubs and football schools focus more on midfielders and strikers. We have no other solution except to focus on our job and overcome all mistakes.”
