Struggling Al Wakrah take on Al Sailiya on Wednesday evening in round 13 of the QSL season. Blue Waves head coach Kais Yâakoubi spoke to the media ahead of the game. 

Opening up the press conference the Tunisian coach stressed the importance of the tie for his side. “Al Sailiya will be a important test for us before the end of the league. It’s the aim each team wants to finish the first half of the season with a win, that is the same for Al Wakrah.”

Wakrah fell to a 3-1 loss to Umm Salal last time out, and Yâakoubi is hoping for a moral boosting win. “After Umm Salal our moral was low. I expect a reaction from the players after the loss to Umm Salal, confidence should be back quickly and i need a big reaction from my players.”

“We have to play with tactical discipline in all of our games, we played badly and I don’t expect we will play that badly again in the season” added the Blue Waves head coach. 

Ending the press conference, Yâakoubi  noted that his side must beat the sides around them in the league. “We have lacked the killer touch in front of goal to finish off the game in recent weeks. All of the teams in the relegation zone will have tough games so that is why we must beat the team around us if we are to be safe.”

As for Al Sailiya, they have started to push away from the relegation zone and will be  targeting a win to give themselves a gap away from the relegation zone. Al Sailiya’s Tunisian coach Sami Trabelsi gave his thoughts to the media ahead of the game.

Opening up the press conference Trabelsi was quick to praise his opposite number at Al Wakrah. “Kais Yâakoubi is a young sucessful coach, he is going a good job at Al Wakrah. That aside I will be looking to get the win on Wednesday.”

“Al Wakrah are doing well, but the results are not following the performance. We have prepared well for the game, even though the calendar is tight.  The result is important for both teams, I am expecting a exciting match and of course I am hoping that Al Sailiya will get the win before the new year” noted the veteran QSL coach. 

Ending the press conference Trabelsi outlined that his side will be looking for players in the January Transfer market. "Our balance is not great at the moment, I think that we have played well as a group this season. We are aiming to be better in the second half, we are looking at two or three players to bring in, we have a problem in the offensive area we will be aiming to buy strikers in January."