Hatta eye winning start under new coach against Al Jazira

Mohammad Abdullah, Sports Reporter

Al Jaizra will look to extend their winning streak when they take on Hatta, who seek a revival of the fortunes under new coach Vladimir Vermezovic in their seventh round match of the Arabian Gulf League (AGL) on Thursday.

A total of four matches will be played on the first day of the seventh round as Sharjah visit Khorfakkan, Al Jazira welcome Hatta, Al Wasl host Fujairah and Ajman meet Shabab Al Ahli Dubai.

Fresh from their 5-3 rout of Shabab Al Ahli in the previous round, Al Jazira will look to bag all three points and go second in the standings. They are at the fourth spot with 11 points, having won three, lost one and drawn two from their six matches so far.

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Al Jazira coach Marcel Keizer is wary of a new-look Hatta under the new coach.

“We have an idea about the potential of Hatta players, but we can’t anticipate how they will play against us because they just changed their manager a few days ago,” said Keizer.

“My guess is that they will focus on defence and counter attacks, because of their position in the table as their coach did not have enough time to know his team properly,” he added.

“Anyway, as usual, we will focus only on ourselves, and we will use the time before the match to prepare for the game in the best possible way.

“The players are all okay and fit, except Khalifa Al Hammadi, who is under medical evaluation after picking in injury in the last match against Shabab Al Ahli,” informed the coach.

Hammadi recently committed his future to the club by extending his deal for another five years, which means he will render his services to them until 2025 at least.

“I am quite satisfied with the performance of the team. The way they are responding to situation in every match is commendable,” added Keizer.

“Against Shabab Al Ahli, we played the game in two different styles.

We scored first three goals by possession technic and the last two goals by counter attacking our opponents.

“I am happy with the maturity of my team, and I know the players can do a lot better in the near future”, Keizer concluded.

On the other hand, Hatta will look to start a new chapter under the new coach. Vermesovic took over Hatta after Greek coach Krustos Conte was sacked following the dismal performance of the team in the league.

Hatta are at the bottom of the standings with just one point after losing five games and managing to draw one.

They hope to end their barren run under Vermezovic. However, the Serbian looked confident ahead of his first game and vowed to pull the team out of the rot.

“When I arrived at the team training, I realized that they have very good players and they don’t deserve to be at the bottom of the table,” said Vermezovic.

“I am sure that the players have enough power to fight, play, win and change their position in the league. I am thankful to the players and the board for a warm welcome,” added the Serb.

“I saw four matches of Hatta before coming here and I noticed some players have put on a remarkable performance. We have to forget the past and work on reconstruction of a new team,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, Sharjah coach Abdulaziz Al Anbari ruled out any complacency against a lowly Khorfakkan, who are second from the bottom.

“The performance of Khorfakkan against the big teams like Al Nasr, Al Wahda, and Shabab Al Ahli was fantastic.

We cannot afford to take them lightly. We will go into the match with full focus and seriousness. We want to collect all three points,” said Anbari.