Al Arabi’s head coach Dan Petrescu.
The summer break is a busy period as clubs scramble to bring in new players and secure coaches for the new season. Al Arabi has been no different in that respect, sweeping away all their foreign players and bringing in new coach Dan Petrescu, the former Chelsea defender and Romanian international.
Having been in the country for a week, Al Arabi head coach Dan Petrescu talks about his new club and his ambitions for the season ahead.
Firstly welcome to the QSL and let’s start by finding out what made you want to come to the Gulf.
Well, I didn’t have a club and so I was available. As a coach you have to weigh up the different offers and ambitions of each club. Also I had to consider my family and discuss it with them of course.
Actually I was waiting to be signed by a club in Russia who looked very interested in me but in the end they didn’t, that’s why it took so long because although I had other clubs interested I thought I was going to stay in Russia.
To be honest I wanted to come to the Gulf for some time, I often visited Dubai on holidays so I knew what it was like to be in this area. I spoke to Lucescu and he gave me a good overview of life in Qatar and football here, he had many positive things to say about the league and the country.
I had another offer from Saudi Arabia but I liked the project here in Qatar more, I hope to stay a long time. But in football it’s difficult to tell the future, my record so far is 3 clubs in 8 years which in modern football is quite unusual.
Even in England where I used to play, a lot of coaches stayed 5 to 10 years but now a lot of clubs are owned by Europeans and so they don’t have as much patience as the English. Nowadays football is about results only.
How much do you know about this league and what do you think about the way Al Arabi plays?
I don’t know too much about the league, of course I know who the big teams are and I have seen some DVDs and so I have a bit of knowledge. With regards to my team I would say they did well in the last two years. They finished very low a few seasons back and now they finished in 5th, this is a big improvement.
This is why it will be difficult for me this season because the previous coach did a good job; we also don’t have a lot of time to bring in new foreign players as the new season will start soon.
So what do you think about the new 3+1 rule that the QFA has announced?
Well it might be a little difficult to convince foreign players to come but not to play every match. On the other hand I am glad that they still allow four foreign players because in football there are always injuries. Also we can rotate the three who will play each week so that all the foreign players get good game time throughout the season.
What players are you looking to bring in and what positions are you most keen to fill?
We got rid of our foreign players from last season, so we are now looking to bring in four new ones. We are looking all around the world and hopefully we can make some quick buys. The main area I want to address is the attacking positions in the team.
So how many seasons did you sign for with Al Arabi? Last season the club had three different coaches, doesn’t that worry you?
I signed for two seasons and hopefully I will stay to the end of my contract.
When I signed for FC Kuban Krasnodar the club went through four coaches a year on average and I was thinking I am going to need some luck but I managed to stay three years at that club. I got them promoted, then the following year we finished sixth and then finally in my last year we finished in fourth. So hopefully I can bring the same kind of success here to Al Arabi.
The results are what kept me in the job for so long, I prefer to play in a nice way and win but this is not always possible.
The football world is ‘buzzing’ with news of Xavi coming to Al Arabi; can you tell us the latest regarding him?
At the moment he is not here, I would be very happy to have a player like him, he is not just a good player but a good leader and he would also be good for the development of the league but until now there is nothing concrete.
Your glory days were at Chelsea; you have played in many countries and gained a lot of experience. What would you say is your football philosophy?
It depends on the players at your disposal and of course the opponents you are facing week to week. When a manager has good players then he can attack all the time, so if you are a big club you have to attack, if you are a small club you have to defend. If you are the champions then you are expected to win every game and every competition, it’s very simple.
Look, when I was in Romania I won the league with a small club called Unirea Urziceni, we managed to have success because we defended well and counter attacked at every opportunity. I am a pragmatist, you have to do your best with what you have and be smart about the way you approach each game. I had to make sure we would not concede and only then think about attacking.
What has the club told you, do they prefer to win something or finish above fifth place next season?
To be honest they want both, they want to win and finish as high as they can! It’s normal in life to always want more but we have to focus on building a good team spirit. If we have a good team spirit then I believe we will do well. My mentality as a player was to work hard, be organised and show discipline, if we can do this as a team then we have a chance.
