Home defeats for Al Ain against Al Wahda are usually followed by a change to the name on the manager’s office.
Winfried Schaefer and Toninho Cerezo can both testify to that, but the Boss should resist the temptation to call in their sign writer this time around.
Quique Sanchez Flores has not had the impact that was hoped for in the Garden City and for a team that has won the last two titles their decline has been startling.
Relocation to the state-of-the-art 25,000 Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium was supposed to kick-start a season that had been listing. Instead the whistles of derision have become louder.
There are similarities with the situation in England where Premier League champions Manchester United have fallen from first to seventh under the stewardship of David Moyes.
But while Sir Alex Ferguson’s image has goaded Moyes from the directors’ box, Sanchez Flores has had to deal with a rather more real threat.
Cosmin Olaroiu is currently en route to a third successive league title, at Al Ahli. As each week passes his achievements in the Garden City become more fabled and Sanchez Flores’ reputation recedes.
The Spaniard’s tactics have been questioned, while there have even been suggestions the players are not putting in as much effort under him as under the Romanian.
That is a little unfair and Olaroiu must shoulder some of the blame for the current malaise. The search for his replacement meant Al Ain were late returning for pre-season training, and by the time Sanchez Flores arrived, and by their own admission, the players were unfit.
It cannot be forgotten either that the Boss had lost twice before the Spaniard even pitched up. He cannot, therefore, be expected to carry the can for a disappointing league season all on his own.
His saving grace may prove to be his side’s run to the final of the President’s Cup, which of course brings him back on collision course with Ahli and Olaroiu.
That game is the biggest in UAE football by a distance; win it and he will be a hero.
There is also the spectre of the AFC Champions League on the horizon. Asia’s biggest club competition kicks off for Al Ain in just 11 days, and if the club wants to avoid a repeat of the embarrassment suffered by Bani Yas then they must keep faith with Quique.
