Al Duhail Head Coach Christophe Galtier explained that the team will enter its next match versus Al Gharafa in order to achieve victory, and there are no other possibilities. The coach said in the pre-match press conference that was held at 5 pm yesterday evening in the club’s press conference hall: The next match is very important for us. We must win it, we are not satisfied, whether the technical staff or the players, with the recent results, especially the result of our recent match versus Al Arabi. We must fight to reach an advanced position in the league standings, and the question is how we will win. For 80 minutes in the previous match, we played well, then we stopped playing, and I do not blame the players because they put their best into a big game, but they thought they guaranteed the match because we were superior, and we must return to reality, and when the opportunity arises to win, you should not think that the points are guaranteed, and we must learn from this lesson because at the end of the match, we wasted what we achieved.
The coach added: During the stoppage period, we worked hard with the present players, and we prepared well, and I do not think that our decline in the previous match was due to that period. The last draw is not the responsibility of one individual, but rather a collective responsibility, and it is a lesson that all players must learn.
Galtier continued: There are two reasons for the draw. The first is our belief that we settled the match and the management was poor, especially in the last 15 minutes. The second reason could be physical, but I do not think so. There was laxity on the part of the team’s players, which made the performance bad, and if the reason was physical, it should have been from Al Arabi side because they continued the match minus one, and in stoppage time we should have reacted, but it was difficult for us.
Regarding the participation of the international players after their return, the coach said: The international players performed well because they had rest days, and as I said before, the decline was collective, not individual, and I cannot hold any player alone responsible.
Regarding the team’s next match, Christophe said: Al Gharafa is a good team, and it is ahead of us in the league standings, and we must take into account overtaking them because they are a direct competitor for us to approach the first places. We do not have any other possibilities.
He continued: Yass Brahimi is a great player with a distinguished football career and possesses high skills. There will be a problem if we give him space to move, so we will focus on him.
Regarding his career with the team in light of the declining results, he said: I know the rules of the football game, and I know that Al Duhail is a big club that is accustomed to always staying in the lead, and this has not been the case since my arrival, and the results have not been positive, and whether or not I stay is a matter for the management, but we in the technical staff are working whatever it takes, we give everything we have to achieve the club’s ambition.
