The only pressure is to perform: Jovanovic

Dubai - That achievement acted to a precursor to a domestic cup double too, with Nasr clinching the President's Cup five months later with a penalty-shootout victory over Al Ahli.

Al Nasr boss Ivan Jovanovic insists there isn't any additional pressure on him or his players as they prepare to kick off their Arabian Gulf Cup (AGC) defence at Bani Yas this evening (Thursday, Kick-off: 7:30pm).
The burden of expectancy understandably lay heavily on the shoulders of the Blue Wave's first-team squad back in January as they made their run through to the AGC final, which they convincingly won against Sharjah 4-1.
That achievement acted to a precursor to a domestic cup double too, with Nasr clinching the President's Cup five months later with a penalty-shootout victory over Al Ahli.
Having endured and withstood so much physically and psychologically to clinch such silverware, the onus now is to relatively relish the defence of them even if there will clearly be no let-up in performance levels overall.
"I'd say that we had more pressure to win this title last season than we have defending it this year," explained Nasr's Serbian boss, who fully expects opposing clubs to raise their respective games against Nasr now they're the defending AGC champions.
"I like this competition and, because of that very fact and we won the title last season, we want - as a team - to produce our best performance in every game.
"We have to participate in four competitions this year - the AFC/Asian Champions League, the Arabian Gulf Cup, the President's Cup and the Arabian Gulf League. 
"We're going to take all of these games with the same seriousness and we want to improve as a team in every match."
Nasr have been pitted in Group A alongside the Sky Blues and city rivals Al Ahli and Al Wasl. Al Dhafra, newly-promoted Al Shaab and Emirates complete the seven-strong pool.
Group B meanwhile contains the top four clubs in the Arabian Gulf League in 2014/2015 - Al Ain, Al Jazira, Al Shabab and Al Wahda, as well as the aforementioned AGC runners-up Sharjah; Dibba Al Fujairah and Fujairah round off a strong line-up of contenders in that qualifying pool.
Nasr then would appear to have the more favourable draw in the quest to reach the semi-finals, although Jovanovic staunchly rejects the mere suggestion that Group A will be any less competitive than its B counterpart.
"I believe that all of the teams that are participating in this group will try to finish in the first two positions. It's a nice and interesting group," he added.
"Last season, we played against Bani Yas in the Arabian Gulf Cup semifinals (Nasr won 2-0 with goals from Ibrahima Toure and Tariq Ahmed). They're a very good team and we shouldn't forget that Al Wasl is a serious contender as well. 
"Al Dhafra is also a difficult side and they've been in semi-finals for the last two years. Al Ahli will have absences with players going to the UAE national team, but - on the flip side - they are a club that has a big roster and many players. It's a difficult group to play too."
alex@khaleejtimes.com