ZORAN: WE HAVE A PROBLEM DEALING WITH SET PEICES
Croatian Head Coach of Al Ain, Zoran Mamic, congratulated his players on winning the match despite being a difficult confrontation. He stated, “We should not forget that the team had missed in this “Derby” key players due to injuries and suspensions.
He added, “We did not take any risk in the first half of the match but our performance improved in the second half when we scored two goals. We had the advantage of having extra player compared to Al Wahda. Following that we lost control and I personally have concerns about set pieces because they put the team in dangerous situations. Therefore, we have to concentrate during the coming training sessions to deal with this issue and be able to fix such type of mistakes.”
He replied to a question regarding the decline in the team performance, especially when they took the lead by saying, “We certainly have a problem and we have to change the mentality in dealing with this such weird problem. It is very difficult in football to control and progress and then retreat; an issue which confirms that we need to work doubly during the upcoming phase.”
He commented on an inquiry on such a decline in performance could be attributed to mental exhaustion he said, “I do not think such a problem is relating mental exhaustion as much as it is associated to the problem of dealing with set pieces. Sometimes the team retreats because of individual mistakes and non-compliance with field duties. As I mentioned to you before, we must take into account the crucial absences that have an impact on the team performance. Yet, are required to end this season well.”
In his answer to an inquiry regarding Al Wahda Head Coach statement that Al Ain took the advantage due to having extra player, he said” “It is their own problem. However, after the second goal, Al Wahda defender hit Yousef Ahmed without the ball and the fourth referee told me that he communicated with the referee about the matter and that he would make a decision after the ball stops. What was his reaction? He gave him a yellow card though the incident deserves a red card.”
As for the advantages of this match, Zoran stated “I am certainly very happy with the performance of our young player, Said Jumaa, in his first appearance at the Arabian Gulf League.” He added, “He is a good player and I hope he will be the next added value to the team.”
