Al Nasr may face Prandelli wrath
Coach disappointed at team for dropping three vital points against cellar-placed Ajman
Al Nasr can expect a severe admonishment from coach Cesare Prandelli when they assemble for their next practice session today.
Playing a lacklustre game, Al Nasr slipped on a seventh-minute Azizbek Haydarov strike, to surrender to a 0-1 home defeat and hand cellar-placed Ajman their first points of the season in Friday’s early match of the Arabian Gulf League (AGL).
Prandelli’s men never looked to be anywhere in the Round Five match against a resolute opponent who fell back and defended in numbers after taking an early lead. A win would have kept The Blues among the early challengers and in at least fourth place behind Al Wahda, Al Wasl and Al Ain. But the loss not only kept them rooted to the fifth spot, but also brought out a threat from their former Italian national team coach.
“I have not said anything to any of the players so far. It is always my preference to wait for at least a day before I express my thoughts to the group. If I say something immediately after a match, then I might say something that I might later regret,” Prandelli told Gulf News at the post-match conference.
“We take a one-day break [yesterday] and meet for our next training session today. And that is when I will tell my players what I felt after this match,” the 60-year-old added.
However, the former Juventus and Atalanta midfielder could not hide his disappointment at dropping three vital points against a team that had not won a single AGL match. “I will not hide it, but I am very disappointed we actually gifted Al Nasr Al Jazira 0 0 Ajman Al Wasl 1 0 goal them [Ajman] the goal, and that too so early in the match. We started the match too soft and I am really disappointed with this sort of attitude,” Prandelli fumed.
“Ajman was aggressive and they were closing down spaces so well. We need to learn to respect every opponent. And such a result is unacceptable by any standards,” he added.