Dubai: Al Nasr must be more selfish and try harder if they are to get out of their current losing streak, according to coach Ivan Jovanovic.
The Blue Wave have now lost their last three league matches following Sunday’s 2-1 defeat at home to Al Ain and sit ninth in the table with one win in four.
Abdel Aziz Barrada cancelled out Caio Lucas’ early opener before the half hour only for Al Ain to go back in front moments later from a Khalid Jalal own goal.
Between Lucas’ opener and Barrada’s equaliser Al Nasr also missed a penalty from Mahmoud Khamis.
“The team is not playing as everyone expects in this period,” said the Serbian. “Of course we need to work more, be more selfish and try harder so that we can have better results in the future.”
Al Nasr’s drop in confidence stems from their recent Asian Champions League quarter-final defeat to Qatar’s El Jaish where they had a 3-0 win reversed to a defeat for fielding a player on an alleged fake Indonesian passport to assume the club’s lone Asian player slot.
Wanderley Santos, the Brazilian at the centre of that scandal was suspended for 60 days leaving the club without a striker in recent weeks. Santos was finally replaced by Iraqi forward Mohannad Abdul Kareem, who joined from Baghdad’s Al Zawra, before the Al Ain game. He came off the bench after the hour mark to make his debut against The Boss but couldn’t find an equaliser, despite setting up Salim Saleh who missed a sitter.
“I don’t believe in today’s game the striker situation was the problem, with more training and games Mohannad will help us more on the field, we just miss the motivation to make a new start.
“Of course what happened in the Asian Champions League is a factor but it’s not an excuse. We have a very good team and they need to show the fans something better, we need to respond better as a team.”
Jovanovic, who has led Al Nasr to three cup wins since taking over in 2013, said of the game: “The missed penalty, the own goal and Saleh’s miss are small details that played a significant role in today’s match.
“We had chances to equalise and get back into the game but after an unavoidable own goal it changed the balance of the game. In the second half we had critical moments but couldn’t finish, we need to do better.”
Al Ain coach Zlatko Dalic was pleased with his side’s ability to grind out a result given that it had come so soon after their exhausting Asian Champions League semi-final win over El Jaish last week.
He also implored his players to keep the pressure up both domestically and on the continent. “We were in full control in the first half and had chances but didn’t score in the second, I’m happy especially after a tough game in the Champions League,”
“Every game is now a test for [next month’s two legged] Champions League final. We now play Dibba and Al Shabab and must take six points. We’ve had too many games postponed and have to stay close to the top, we have time until the final so must forget about Asia, but for the league we can’t lose focus.”
