Al Duhail assistant coach Thierry Claude spoke to the media ahead of their 2023-2024 season Expo Stars League postponed match from Week 9 against Al Sadd.

“We will play a big match against a team that stands at the top of the standings, which is Al Sadd, which has great potential and prominent players. For our part, we are giving this match a lot of attention and focus because we are working to achieve victory after we stumbled by losing to Umm Salal and drawing against Qatar SC in the previous two rounds.

“We are working continuously with the players in order to bring them to the ideal degree of physical, technical and psychological preparation for this important match that we will enter in order to make up for the points we lost because we will face the table leaders and coming out against them with a positive result will bring us many gains.

“The absence of coach Galtier from the bench in the next match will not affect the team because we know the role that we must play during the match. Just as the players on the field are a team, the technical staff are also a team.

“Both teams are going through the same circumstances in terms of match pressure and the players not getting enough rest, but we hope that we will be on time and that the team will achieve what is required in the match and come out with a positive result,” said Thierry Claude.

Al Duhail player Luiz Martin said, “We are excited about the important match for us, as it is a summit and enjoys wide fan following, and we must achieve victory in order to improve our position in the table.

“We need to solve some of the problems that appeared in our performance, especially in the last matches, where we saw some fluctuations. After we performed well against Persepolis in the AFC Champions League away, we returned to Doha and settled for a draw in the league against Qatar SC and there are many things that must be done. Improving it is like focusing on the field, which is what we need to work on. The team has new technical staff that have new philosophy for us and we are trying to adapt as quickly as we can to get back on the right track and start achieving wins. But sometimes it takes a little time, both on our part and on the part of the coach who needs time to convey his philosophy to the players and make them understand his method of work. We also have players with individual skills who can make a difference and I believe that things will improve a lot soon after we get used to the new philosophy.

“We must be more focused on the field and victory over Al Sadd will give us confidence because they are on top of the standings and our main opposition in the previous seasons, and this match is very important for us.”