The end of his dispiriting sojourn at Saudi Arabia was the only thing Al Ahli boss Cosmin Olaroiu enthused about during an often bizarre press conference to herald the Arabian Gulf League’s restart.
Olaroiu, 45, spent an unhappy loan spell with the Green Falcons at the Asian Cup where they exited at the group stage.
He returns to guide the treble winners who have failed to come close to last season’s highs. Victory is essential at home to Sharjah tonight if the champions are to begin the climb from sixth.
The Romanian swayed between surliness, humour and frustration as he discussed the physical condition of his large UAE contingent, stellar new signings Oussama Assaidi and Everton Ribeiro plus the difficulty in selecting a side to play the King.
Olaroiu opened the press conference mumbling: “If you have questions, I don’t know what I can say. I have nothing for you.”
The cause of his detachment seemed to stem from the narrow timeframe to work with his seven UAE players, who returned from finishing third at the Asian Cup late on Sunday.
“Since December 23, they were away in the camp and now they put them to play after two days, changing seven or eight hours [time] difference.”
He added: “Until now I do not have anything; I don’t know who is going to play, how we are going to play. Until now, we do not know anything. We wait for the players to come, what problems we have.
“Then after [that] we see who is able to play, we will think how we will play or what we can do in 48 hours to find a way to play.”
And, despite the calibre of the new signings, Olaroiu declined to show any visible enthusiasm when asked about them.
“We are missing [the injured] Ciel, so we tried to find an option. We got Assaidi, Ribeiro I haven’t seen yet," he added.
When repeatedly pressed about whether he was consulted about the new signings, he replied each time: “It doesn’t matter, it is not important.”
A smile crept across his face when discussing his return to Dubai, far away from the problems he faced within a fractious Saudi Arabia squad.
He said: “Of course, I am happy to be back. We know how things work here and the work is easier for us. It was the most difficult period in my career there [with Saudi Arabia]. Of course, it is like home [being back in Dubai], no? It is good to be home.”
