Gabriel Calderon has admitted Al Wasl cannot afford to wait any longer to claim a first Arabian Gulf League triumph under his aegis.
The Cheetahs sit second bottom of the table, with the Argentine yet to turnaround their form since taking charge a fortnight ago following the dismissal of Jorginho.
A 2-2 draw was claimed against leaders Al Wahda on debut, but this was followed by the disappointing 2-1 loss to fellow strugglers Bani Yas. The latest chance to register an invaluable three-point haul comes tonight at Sharjah.
Calderon said: “I have a lot of confidence in this team; everybody knows we introduced 17 new players over the summer but every day I see them getting better together and I truly believe that another victory will come soon, but we need it as quickly as possible.”
Meanwhile, Eric Gerets has challenged his Al Jazira players to prove they are title contenders by seeing off bottom-placed Ittihad Kalba.
The Pride of Abu Dhabi have scored and conceded with abandon this term. The Belgian hopes for a more conventional evening against opponents who have registered just one point from seven matches.
He said: “We must come back to Abu Dhabi with three points if we want to stay on the right track and if we are serious about putting more pressure on the first-place team.
“If we do our job with minimum mistakes and give all we have then we will win.”