Dubai: Al Nasr boss Dan Petrescu has claimed “Emirates is ten times more difficult than Al Jazira” ahead of the tricky encounter in the Arabian Gulf League (AGL) on Friday.
The club from Bur Dubai brought Al Jazira’s ten-match unbeaten streak to an end last week with a 2-0 win against the Pride of Abu Dhabi.
“Definitely, we are high on confidence,” Petrescu said.
“The last match was a gamble and it paid off, and we are all pleased with the result. But the win came at a cost as we had injuries to crucial players, and now we’ve got to manage with what we have.
“The key now for us against Emirates is that we need to now pay total attention during the entire 90 minutes. We can’t complain about anything.
“We just need to go out there and win.”
The Romanian coach, who just celebrated his 49th birthday, has insisted on consistency and dedication from his players at Al Nasr. “We have to be solid and not give the Emirates strikers too many chances. And then at the same time we have to create chances and score the goals. Emirates have a standard and we need to be careful about what they can do on,” he said.
However, the former Chelsea defender admitted huge confidence will be drawn from the Al Jazira win.
“We’ve got more than one positive to draw from that match. First, it is the spirit of the team and the way we fought. Secondly, we won all three points against a strong team that had been on a scoring spree, and thirdly, and most importantly, we didn’t concede any goals,” he added.
“Yes, the absence of players is one of the biggest problems for me. There are too many injuries and for sure, we are in a better situation now than before.
“But this is a solid unit of players and we depend on everyone to contribute to the success of the team. We just cannot afford to make any mistakes due to the situation we are in at the moment. The other teams can make mistakes and get away with them, but we can’t.”
FIXTURES
On Friday: (4.50) Sharjah v Dibba; (8.00) Al Nasr v Emirates; (8.00) Al Wahda v Al Shabab
