Al Wakrah take on Al Gharafa with the Blue Waves in need of a big result, Wakrah sit in bottom place with five games played in the QSL season. Head coach Muricio Larriera spoke to the local media on Wednesday morning. 

"We have had a short time between games, which has not helped our preparations. We concentrated on the physiological element of the game to push the players for better results” explained the Uruguayan tactician when asked about his sides preparations ahead of the Gharafa tie. 

 Looking towards the match up, Larriera admitted his side are playing one of the best in the QSL. "We are heading into a important game against strong opposition, they have a good coach and squad. Of course they didn’t start well like us, but they are a very strong side. They have good individuals, and when they play for Al Gharfa we are playing an unbeatable side. I hope that my side will work hard and turn our fortunes around."

Al Wakrah fell to a 1-0 defeat against fellow strugglers Muaither Larriera has stressed to his side to forget about the game. "The result against Muaither was unexpected and not normal. The statistics in the game showed that my side performed well and much better than Muaither, the stats showed this. We spoke with the players and we told them not to loose confidence, we have worked hard to support them and we decided to forget the last match so it’s history. We have to focus on what is ahead of us. Truthfully, our standing in the league is uncomfortable."

Mauricio ended the press confernce bemoaning his lack of striking options in his side. "I am the coach, i did not choose the players and i am not the management. I asked for key players, but i cannot choose who they brought. Of course we have not scored many goals this season so far, we need a strong striker we just don’t have a clinical striker. However It is my responsibility as coach to get the best out of my squad.”

As for Al Gharafa they head into the Thursday evening clash off the back of a six goal thriller against Al Sadd. Head coach Pedro Caixinia gave his thoughts to the media ahead of the Wakrah game.  

"I was not happy with the result against Al Sadd, the result will only be good if we get the three points in the next game. That is what we are working for against Al Wakrah” claimed the Portuguese tactician during the Wednesday morning press conference. 

"I take that we played very well in the opening twenty minutes against Al Sadd and we showed spirit to fight back for the draw. We have to be focused and aggressive for the total ninety minutes that’s what we have to in each every game” reflected Caixinia when asked about the 3-3 draw against the Wolves in round five. 

Al Gharafa have been struggling in defence in recent weeks, yet Caixinia admitted that his side is slowly improving. "Week by week, we have had difficulties in defence, it’s hard to understand to score seven goals against Lekhiwya and Al Sadd yet only come away with one point. We have gone back to basics with our defensive training this week, so we can take responsibility as a team to defend when we don’t have the ball."

Caxinia ended his press conference with a short answer, when asked about the expectations of the Al Wakrah match. "Just to win."