El Jaish coach Sabri Lamouchi (left) will face Lekhwiya’s Michael Laudrup in what promises to be an extremely mouth-watering clash today at the Abdullah bin Khalifa stadium.
By Sports Reporter/Doha
In one of the biggest matches of this Qatar Stars League season, Lekhwiya will take on El Jaish today at the Abdullah bin Khalifa stadium. Lekhwiya are in prime form, currently at the top of the table, two points ahead of Al Sadd while Jaish are in fourth place, nine points adrift.
Lekhiwya are on a 10-match unbeaten streak while Jaish have managed to win just two out of their last five games. However Jaish have had to endure the exit of their coaching maestro Nabil Maaloul and they have now brought in Sabri Lamouchi who is doing his best to steady the ship.
But Jaish have the players to take the challenge to their opponents and Lekhwiya coach Michael Laudrup is aware of that. “It’s a big game. They are a top team and this will be a tough game for both of us. They had a tough game in qualifying for the Asian Champions League. They won the game in the closing minutes so they will come into this game with confidence,” said Laudrup during the pre-match press conference.
Jaish coach Lamouchi also stressed this was a very important game for the club. “This is the big game that all fans have been waiting for. For the players, administration and also for the fans, it’s a big game. This match we want to win because we are playing against the leaders and this kind of game is exactly what coaches thrive on. And so we are enjoying our work before the game because they game is against one of the best teams in Qatar,” said Lamouchi yesterday.
Lekhwiya is also missing a few players which should boost the confidence of Jaish. “Unfortunately we have a few players who will not play in this game because of a red card (Sebastian Soria), yellow cards and a few injuries. The missing players are: Ahmed Yasser. Khalid Radhwan. This time of the year this happens. You accumulate yellow cards and players have to miss games. But it happens with every team. But we will still have a very strong squad for tomorrow’s clash.”
Lamouchi denied that absences for Lekhwiya would work in his favour. “Despite their absences, it will be a tough game. They have a good bench and they can replace players with other strong players. So we are focusing on our team and we will try to be more efficient and concentrated during the game.”
When asked about the current bad patch that Jaish is going through, Lamouchi said that it would take a bit of time to fine tune the players. “We need time for that though. I want to play with the entire group and I want them at 100 per cent concentration and to give the maximum and so I want to make a team that can win all games. Also we need to see our players enjoying the game. I am happy to work with this group of players. They are good players who want to improve.”
And when asked about the game against Al Arabi where Jaish had to struggle with a stubborn defence, Lamouchi said that this match would be different because Lekhwiya play an attacking game. “I agree that our team has a lot of possession but we lack the finishing touch in the game against Arabi. We knew that Arabi will play a more defensive game. We need to be more efficient. But against Lekhwiya, They will play to score and win points and won’t try and defend like Arabi did. Therefore this will give us some opportunities too.”