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Baniyas back Luis Garcia despite fourth AGL defeat on the bounce

Reem Abulleil

12:10 15/03/2015

Bani Yas are standing behind their coach Luis Garcia and have assured the Spaniard will be around next season, despite the club’s recent run of poor results.

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The Samawi’s 1-0 loss to Al Shabab on Friday was their fourth Arabian Gulf League defeat on the trot – a dismal stretch that included home losses to Emirates and Sharjah and one which has piled the pressure on Garcia’s shoulders.

But both the club and Garcia have denied reports that he will be departing from Bani Yas and the AGL outfit took to their Twitter account to deny rumours that Garcia’s days were numbered.

Garcia, who has previously coached Levante and Getafe, arrived at Bani Yas last July hoping to spur new life into the club after a disappointing 2013/14 campaign saw them finish ninth in the table.

Barring a semi-final showing in the League Cup, Bani Yas have been sub-par this season and lie at the bottom half of the AGL standings, in eighth place with just six wins from 19 games. And while many expected Bani Yas to hop onto the sacking bandwagon typically associated with UAE clubs, the Abu Dhabi side have backed Garcia, who believes one victory can turn his team’s fortune.

“I am confident I’ll be staying with this team and I will meet you next season with the same sense of determination and spirit. We’ll continue to work hard irrespective of the results,” the Spaniard said following the Shabab defeat.

“There are no internal problems within the team. This is just a run of bad luck and we are sure that one victory is all it will take for us to turn things around.

“The reason we’ve been changing our formation and starting line-up frequently is only due to injuries and accumulated yellow cards, nothing more.

“Bani Yas has gone through periods worse than this one in the past. We have men in this club who play with spirit and heart and that is enough to get us back to our winning ways.”

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