Inzaghi: Happy with the victory... We maintained our high concentration

Italian Simone Inzaghi, coach of Al Hilal, expressed his happiness with the late victory achieved by Al-Zaeem over Al-Hazm with an unanswered goal in the tenth round of the Saudi Professional League.

Inzaghi said during the press conference after the confrontation: “I am very happy with this victory. The players put in a great effort and deserved the victory. The only disappointing thing was the many opportunities we wasted and our failure to succeed in some of them, but we maintained our high concentration and achieved the three points in the end.”

He added: “We tried in many opportunities to open the scoring early, and in such circumstances the players may lose their concentration after wasting successive opportunities, but our team players showed great discipline and continued trying until we were able to score the winning goal.”

Regarding the upcoming confrontation against Al-Qadisiyah, Inzaghi explained: “We are waiting for a very important match against an excellent and high-level team like Al-Qadisiyah. We will work immediately to recover the players over the next few days, and then strive with all force to achieve victory.”

In response to a question about the team’s program and movements before facing Al-Shamal in the AFC Elite Champions League, he said: “Mostly we will stay in Dammam after the next match, and from there we will leave directly to Doha, and I am very impressed with the readiness and physical performance provided by the players.”

German coach Thomas Leitch admitted that his team committed a number of mistakes after taking a two-goal lead against Al-Faisaly, in the confrontation that ended in a 2-2 draw, noting that his team lacked control of the midfield, which gave its opponent the opportunity to come back in the result.

Leach said, during the press conference after the match: “We started the match well, and we succeeded in scoring two goals, and we had opportunities to add the third goal, but after taking the lead we resorted to long balls, and left spaces between the team’s lines.”

He added: “We lacked superiority in the second balls in the midfield, which gave Al-Faisaly an advantage and made us lose control of the midfield. We conceded the first goal, even though we could have advanced by three clean goals, so the first half ended with a score of 2-1.”

The youth coach pointed out that his team had chances to resolve the confrontation, saying: “During the last minutes of the match, we could have scored the third goal.”

In response to a question about the use of Awad Al-Nashiri in the right-wing position, Leach explained that the player did not start his participation in that position, but rather changed his position in response to the tactical shifts that the match witnessed.

He said: “Awad did not initially enter as a player in the midfield from the right side. Rather, we played in a 4-3-3 system, with Yassin, Awad, and Josh in the midfield.”

He continued: “Football requires making tactical changes, and when Al-Faisaly changed his way of playing, I had to modify our style, and I pushed Mosquitoes on the right side of the midfield, because the team needed ferocity, energy, possession of the ball, and superiority in the second balls, which are things that distinguish the player.”

Leach acknowledged Al-Faisaly’s advantage during periods of the confrontation, saying: “Al-Faisaly was better than us in the second half, while we were the better side during the last ten minutes, but we did not succeed in controlling the ball as required, and we relied on long balls.”

The youth coach concluded his speech by saying: “Given the entire course of the match, I think a draw is a fair result for both teams.”