Mistakes will not be repeated: Jazira coach

dubai — Al Jazira coach Henk ten Cate felt that it was a matter of time before their unbeaten record would come to a halt and said that mistakes would not be repeated when his side take on Al Nasr.

The defending champions suffered a shock defeat to Dibba at home last weekend and it put an end to an ominous record stretching back to January this year. The Pride of Abu Dhabi lost only two games last season en route to their second Arabian Gulf League title. And the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium remained their fortress with them never losing or drawing a game. The two draws and two losses came on the road for Al Jazira.

But the fortress was breached last time out by Dibba. Henk ten Cate said that they have learnt lessons from the defeat and will put on a much better show against Al Nasr. “We lost only one game in the League since last January, and we had to lose again sooner or later because this is an integral part of football,” Henk ten Cate said at his pre-match press briefing.

“We have learnt lessons from the loss against Dibba. We were severely hampered by the absences of Ali Mabkhout and Ahmed Al Attas as well as Ahmed Khalil’s injury a few minutes into the game and because of that, we couldn’t play our style of offensive football. But we will come up with a better performance against Al Nasr,” he added.

The Dutchman will be buoyed by the return of one half of his fearsome Emirati pairing with Ali Mabkhout set to play against Al Nasr. But the former FC Barcelona and Chelsea will still have to do without Ahmed Khalil and Ahmed Al Attas. Khalil lasted all of eight minutes before being stretchered off because of an injury. The former Al Ahli ace has been ruled out for six weeks. Meanwhile, Al Attas is still recovering from the injury he suffered when on international duty.

Mohammed Fawzi and Salem Abdulla have returned to training but they still need more time before making the team.

james@khaleejtimes.com