Sharjah, Al Nasr coaches adapt different approaches

Dubai - Sharjah looking for more safety points as the AGL slows draws to a close before the summer sets in, are in 10th place on 21 points.

Al Nasr after the past fortnights' reverses in the Arabian Gulf League (AGL) and the Asian Champions League were in for a hard time when as the defending champions of the UAEFA President's Cup, went down 4-5 to Sharjah during the weekend. The Blues still manage to hold on to the third spot in the AGL with 33 points.
On the other hand, Sharjah looking for more safety points as the AGL slows draws to a close before the summer sets in, are in 10th place on 21 points.
Before their latest venture, Ivan Jovanovic had stressed that the match against Sharjah was going to be very difficult before the kickoff. In fact he was apprehensive to the extend of being wary and cautious. He said Al Nasr would have to work a lot harder than in the matches the past three weeks to live up to the expectations of the supporters who were rooting for them as the defending champions.
Seeking support from the disappointed crowd after the loss to Sharjah, he said: "Of course the game was not a smooth ride for us against Sharjah who are sophisticated and strong and we had to come good which we were in the second half for a short phase. It was also important to have the support of a strong crowd backing in the stadium and we tried hard to live up to their expectations of being worthy of defending the crown."
Up or down, Al Nasr are always dangerous with the quality and depth they have in all the departments, reckoned Sharjah coach Abdulaziz Al Anbari after his side shocked the defending champions in the first round. "The match was another example of what I am trying to say. Look at the way they came back hitting at us with a couple of classy moves. We went into the dark late in the second half," said Al Anbari.
"Five days ago Al Nasr had a difficult time in the Asian Football League competition abroad and they came home and hardly had time to recover. The way they played in the later stages of the second half was phenomenal. I had advised my team not to let the second goal go past us, so it was not the fourth goal equaliser that was actually more dangerous than the second one," he added.
On the other hand, Jovanovic was self critical yet confident despite the loss to the night's lesser known side. "We should have sustained our brilliant burst a little longer late in the game. From now we have a lot of homework to do and analyses to carry out. Front, middle and back, we had holes in all of them in one go in periods that were more than eight to 10 minutes each in the first and second halves. This is not good but we can overcome this with the experience and skill sets we have in our hands," Jovanovic added.
"Injury to skipper Luis Jimenez after 30 minutes did not help either. He was to lead with an extra bit of effort in the midfield and attack. His absence was worrying initially," he continued.
On the 'dead stop' balls Al Anbar said: 'The opposition is saying we had easier chances as we made the grade more from the 'dead stop' situations with no one to tackle immediately.
Goals scored from as many times as it was during the first game is not a common happening but at the end of the day, we got the tailor made openings and capitalised on them. The important thing is to out put the ball in the net, isn't this what all teams try. Maybe it was luck as you may term it. ."
moni@khaleejtimes.com