Brazilian Gabriel Martinelli, Al Hilal player, expressed his happiness by scoring a “hat-trick” in his team’s match against Al-Taawoun, but he stressed that his greatest happiness was achieving the three points.
Martinelli added in an interview broadcast on the Al-Asmi Club account on the “X” platform: The team’s reaction was very wonderful after the last loss, as we had to play the match our way, and this is what we did, and I think we deserved the three points.
He continued: A performance like this shows our character and the extent of our quality on the field, and I think that the team gave a wonderful performance from the beginning of the match, as we started very well, and put the Al-Taawoun players under pressure, and that is why we achieved the victory with a score of 6-0.
Josh Brownhill, Al-Shabab player, confirmed that his team deserved to win against Al-Fayhaa, pointing out that controlling the course of the match and creating opportunities did not translate into goals.
The confrontation between the two teams ended in a goalless draw in the Saudi Professional League.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Brownhill said: “We played well and deserved to win. We controlled the match and created many chances, but we were unable to score.”
The Al-Shabab player expressed his frustration at losing two points, but stressed the presence of positive indicators in the team’s performance, stressing his confidence in Al-Shabab’s ability to achieve victories during the upcoming matches.
He added: “It is disappointing not to win, but there are positive signs, and I am sure that victories will come. We will work to achieve victory in the next match at home.”
Thomas Leach, the coach of the Al-Shabab team, expressed his understanding of the state of dissatisfaction experienced by his team’s supporters, in light of the continuing fluctuating results, indicating that the upcoming pause period will be an important opportunity to work on developing the team’s performance and addressing mistakes, both on the defensive and offensive levels. The German coach’s statements came during the press conference that followed the confrontation between Al-Shabab and Al-Fayha, which ended in a goalless draw, for the team to continue the series of draws, as Leach stressed that achieving four draws in seven matches makes it normal for everyone to feel... Frustrated, he said: “I understand the fans’ feelings, and it is natural for everyone to be upset after these results.”
Leitch revealed the reason for his reluctance to make an additional substitution during the match, explaining that Abdullah Maatouq began the warm-up in preparation for entering, after Yannick Carrasco suffered from an injury, but the improvement of the player’s condition prompted the technical staff to keep him on the field.
He added: “I was also thinking about replacing Ricardo, but I saw that he might add to us, because he is a traditional spearhead.” He pointed out that Martinez scored all of the team's goals this season alongside Carrasco, which strengthened his conviction in the importance of the latter's continuation, after he became able to complete the match.
The Al-Shabab coach refused to hold his team’s midfield responsible for the tie, stressing that Al-Fayhaa appeared with a cohesive defensive organization that was difficult to penetrate. He said: “The midfield was not the reason for the tie today, but rather Al-Fayhaa played with an organized defensive bloc, and we needed one successful attack to break this organization and score the goal.”
Leach explained that talking about the tactical aspects of the team, defensively and offensively, requires a long time, in reference to the multiplicity of files that require treatment during the next stage. The youth technical staff is counting on the upcoming hiatus period to rearrange the team’s papers, as Leach confirmed that he has about a month to work with the players and develop performance, saying: “We have many things that we will work on developing during the hiatus period, and we have about a month to correct mistakes and work with the players.”
