Al Ahli boss Cosmin Olaroiu admits his side will try to salvage whatever they possibly can for the remainder of what has been a disappointing Arabian Gulf League campaign for the title holders.
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The Red Knights – treble winners last season – lie sixth in the AGL table, 15 points adrift of leaders Al Ain and nine behind second-placed Al Jazira, who travel to Ahli for their week 19 clash today (Thursday).
Ahli have been nowhere near their dominating form from the last season but managed to end a five-match winless run (in all competitions) with a comprehensive 4-0 dismantling of Fujairah on Sunday.
Olaroiu is hoping the Dubai outfit can now string together a few consecutive wins to try and turn things around, but concedes he is still dealing with numerous issues he vaguely refers to as “problems”.
“Even now, some problems we can talk about, some problems we cannot,” the Romanian told reporters ahead of today’s showdown with Jazira.
“We have to save what we can save in this moment. We can be better, we can be worse, depending on what we do from now on.
“I hope the players get a little bit more confidence for the next games from the (result of ) previous game that we played.
“It’s also different because we received two penalties this season in 18 games. If we received 10, and we scored five, can be more 15 points no? Or 10… or I don’t know.”
Olaroiu has repeatedly voiced his frustration at refereeing this campaign, as he feels Ahli has been purposely denied several penalties, the most famous one coming in the 1-1 draw with Al Ain at the Rashid Stadium last October, where Carlos Munoz was bizarrely sent off for diving despite being clearly fouled by Al Ain’s Ismail Ahmed.
While Ahli have been awarded just two penalties this whole season, Jazira pair Mirko Vucinic and Ali Mabkhout have combined to score eight goals from the spot.
Should Ahli conquer Jazira today, they could potentially help Al Ain strengthen their grip on the league trophy, but Olaroiu refuses to get distracted by his former team right now.
“How can we think about this. Is my problem Al Ain or Jazira? We have to think only about Ahli. This is most important in this moment,” he added.
“We have to get back the confidence, believe in ourselves, believe in our team-mates, the players between them. For this we need results.
“Now we made a little step in front (by beating Fujairah last Sunday). It is important to continue. Important to make two or three positive results in a row.
“And now we’re trying to prepare for this game in a short period of time, to have the players in the best shape in the moment of the game.”