Newly promoted Muaither take on Al Khor in round seven of the QSL today afternoon, the game will kick off at 4:00pm at the Al Gharafa stadium.
Muaither have registered back to back wins in their last two QSL games. The Stallions are currently eleventh in the QSL standings with six points from six games.
Philip Birrol, the head coach of Muaither is wary of the attacking threat that Al Khor possess, “Al Khor have a good team and they score many goals. They have good strikers in Madison and Iajour, they are dangerous we will have to deal with these skilled attackers.”
Talking about the international break, Birrol added, “In the first week we did recovery because we were very tired as we did a lot of running on the pitch. In the second week, we prepared tactically and focused on set plays. And we also played a friendly game against Al Fatah.”
“Dioko is a top player; he has scored more than eighty goals in the QSL. He’s playing amazingly for us and he has a lot of experience. He is very positive and down to earth and we are very happy that he is playing for us,” added the Frenchman at the press conference on Wednesday.
Al Khor has only lost one game in the season so far and they will be looking to continue their string of positive results against Muaither. The Knights sit sixth in the table with eight points.
Jean Fernandez, the head coach of Al Khor hopes for a positive result against his opponents, “We are going to face Muaither who are a good team. We prepared very well and we are hoping to provide a good result in this game.”
“All the matches are difficult in the QSL. Our team is doing well because of our good results in the last few games which gave us confidence. Muaither beat Al Arabi and Wakrah and they have good players. We are in good shape but we must respect our opponents,” added the French tactician.
Speaking about his ambition for the team, Fernandez added, “My personal ambition is to improve the team and players. We had many changes in terms of players before the season, however, players we now have are good. They want to work hard and they know the season is long and they want to give it their all.”
In the other match of the day Al Sailiya take on Al Kharaitiyat at the Al Ahli stadium , at 06:10 pm.
Sailiya are struggling for form this season as they have only two points from six games. They will be hoping for their first win of the season against fellow strugglers Kharaitiyat.
Sami Trabelsi, the head coach of Sailiya knows the importance of this game, “This is a big game for us. It’s very hard as we have seven games in one month. We are working on correcting mistakes and getting points. Kharaitiyat is a good team and I know the new coach very well.”
“We have to respect Kharaitiyat even though they didn’t get good results but they are a good team and they play with discipline and I believe that both teams are equal. We will try to win to motivate us for the rest of the season. We are not getting the desired results but we are playing well,” added the Tunisian head coach at the press conference on Wednesday.
Trabelsi stressed the importance of the three points, “We need these three points as they wilbe the first three points for us. Sure we have problems in the offensive department. The only bad game for our defense was against El Jaish. But in the five games, we have proven that we are one of the best defenses in the league. The offense is the issue because we only scored three goals and then in one game we scored 4 so we need to work on that.”
Kharaitiyat recently appointed a new manager, Ahmed Al Ajlani from Tunisia, after the departure of Amar Osim.
The new coach will bring with him a hunger to win as he hopes to bring in some positive results.
Tawfiq Zaboub, assistant coach of Kharaitiyat spoke about the transition from Amar Osim to Ahmad Al Ajlani as head coach, “As you know we are in transition after Amar Osim left the club and now we have Ahmad Al Ajlani as the coach. He asked the players to train with full concentration. The players were under stress and they now feel the difference and they feel better psychologically. The new coach will have the same technical staff and we will help him.”
“Al Sailiya also had a difficult campaign as they are not used to being in such a position. They will like to improve but it will not be against us. We only have 4 points and we can't lose points anymore,” added the assistant coach of Kharaitiyat.
“We are focusing on giving confidence to the players and to allow them to play freely. They had many directives and restrictions before but not anymore. We focused on the defense in training because we don’t want to concede so many goals,” added Zaboub.
