Sport | Football
Hickersberger adopts cautious approach
Josef Hickersberger the former Austrian national footballer and coach, who took over as Al Wahda coach, warned not to expect instant results.
- By M. Satya Narayan, Senior Reporter
- Published: 23:39 December 10, 2008
Abu Dhabi: Josef Hickersberger the former Austrian national footballer and coach, who took over as Al Wahda coach, warned not to expect instant results.
"It takes some time to explain your philosophy and style with regard to players and training. I'm not a magician. It takes time. Like all players, we need time to improve too," Hickersberger said addressing his first press conference here yesterday.
"I met with the players after yesterday's training session and told them to just go out and play good football against Ajman on Saturday. Results will come," he said.
Hickersberger signed a contract with the Al Wahda club on Tuesday replacing Egyptian Ahmad Abdulhaleem who threw in the towel after a string of poor results by the Abu Dhabi-based club.
"We face an uphill task. We are into the season and we are number 4 in the standings, 10 points behind the leaders. For this reason, there is pressure. When you take over, you don't know the reasons on why it has happened. If it was pre-season, it would have been fine. But we are into mid-season and there is no time left," Hickersberger said.
"I have seen a few matches of Al Wahda and will have to watch them carefully before ringing in any changes. It is not easy but takes some time to analyse the problem areas and then try and fix them," said the 60-year-old coach, who is back in the UAE after previous stints with Al Shaab and Al Wasl.
Commenting on his return to the UAE, he said, "For me, it was the first choice to come to the Gulf. I had offers from China. But life there is difficult."
"I'm happy to be back in the UAE. I left this country eight years ago. I like the people here, their way of living. I have worked for seven years in Arab countries and I have a good idea of the standard here."
"Some of the players lack match fitness and sharpness as they are resuming after long lay-offs due to injury."
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