Al Duhail First Football Team Head Coach Christophe Galtier confirmed his team readiness for the upcoming match versus Al Wakra after taking advantage of the current training week to review the mistakes the team made in recent matches, during his statements at the pre-match press conference held in the conference hall of Al Duhail Sports Club.
Galtier opened his statements during the press conference, saying: The players trained intensively this week, and I reviewed the match recordings in order to identify the reasons for the fluctuating performance between the first and second halves. In the last match in particular, I was not satisfied with the performance, as we missed many balls and played a lot of long balls and did not provide the required performance.
Galtier added: During yesterday’s training, we worked on reviewing the mistakes in the video until we can overcome the matter in the upcoming matches and correct things. Now we are entering the decisive stages and we must focus well and I hope everyone will provide what is required of him and focus completely.
Galtier continued: We would not forget the role of the substitutes, especially in the last match, they were a good addition to the team and helped their colleagues a lot. We face the organized Al Wakra team, which has high-level players and always puts pressure on the opponents, but we will seek to decide the match and focus on the field.
He went on: The result is always an important element in order to win the title, you must also perform well. We have lost some positive advantages in performance during the recent period, but in order to compete for titles, I spoke with the assistant coach to work on returning to the previous performance that we demonstrated at the beginning of the season or better. Of course, we went through some stumbling blocks at the level of performance, which is normal, especially in light of the great aspirations and ambitions, but winning matches and points is the main goal, and you also have to play better than the opponents.
Regarding the tactical performance during the next stage and the possibility of change, he said: I must thank all the players, whether they participate in matches or during training as well. There may be changes in the next match, but it is not surprising for me given the performance of these players who participate in the matches. At the beginning of the season there were not many changes, I was not satisfied during the last two matches, which prompted me to change the plan in order to return to victories and the usual technical level.
Galtier concluded by talking about the winter Mercato, saying: You know very well the injuries in our team currently, which have affected Sultan and Emad, I spoke with the vice president of the club about the need to sign another defender, of course we worked on the return of Youssef Ayman, which was done, and he presented a good performance in the last match, Hakim Ziyech is a great addition for us that will help the team at the offensive level significantly, as he can play with both feet and fits with what I asked of the vice president and the upcoming results are the ones that will answer the questions regarding the usefulness of contracting with Ziyech or not, Diallo’s departure was due to the presence of many players in the midfield such as Abdullah, Karim and Abdelmaqsoud, and because of the league regulations, we had to replace Ziyech with another professional player within the team, which is what called for the departure of the wonderful player Diallo due to the abundance of players in the midfield as I mentioned.
