Bani Yas need to conquer the mental game to turn their undoubted talent into Arabian Gulf League success, according to midfielder Mark Milligan.
The Sky Blues meandered towards to a limp 1-1 draw to bottom-placed Al Shaab last Saturday. The result was all the more galling as it followed a fine 1-0 win against title-challengers Al Ahli and 2-2 draw with hotly-tipped Al Wahda.
Australia regular Milligan, 30, insisted it was essential to the club’s Asian-qualification hopes that the levels of concentration reached against the big teams is matched against the lesser lights.
“I’d like to say ‘no’ but that is the way it looks at the moment,” he replied when asked whether the club had difficulties in low-key fixtures. “There are small lapses in concentration.
“When you play the bigger teams, you have to be switched on all the time. If you don’t, you get punished.
“I think we need to bring a bit of that concentration in these sorts of matches, especially the ones we should be dominating – and we did dominate against Al Shaab until the goal went in.”
Coach Luis Garcia has struggled to draw consistency from a strong squad which also contains UAE metronome Amer Abdulrahman, nine-goal Argentine hot shot Joaquin Larrivey and enigmatic Algeria forward Ishak Belfodil – who opened the scoring against the Commandos. But despite these travails, Milligan denied motivation was a problem.
He added: “I do not think it is motivation. If you are a footballer, you are here to win games of football. I do not think it is motivation. You can see the pain on the players’ faces in the changing room.”
Before the weekend, Shaab had not registered a top-flight point since November 21. The disappointing result left Bani Yas seventh, six points off the fourth-and-final Asian spot ahead of the trip to Dibba Al Fujairah on January 22.
“We needed a better result and we expected better from ourselves,” Milligan said. “We needed a result to bridge the gap a little bit.
“We have a few weeks to regroup and get back to winning ways.”
