Al Arabi coach Luka Bonacic spoke to the media ahead of their QNB Stars League Week 1 match against Al Khor.

“New season brings something new. We made many changes last season, with seven or eight players being replaced. We have made some changes this time as well. But then, many changes have been made at Al Arabi over the past few seasons. Players leaving the club is not under my control. It is up to the team management.

“Some of our overseas professional players arrived only two weeks ago. That is not ample time for them to adapt to the squad. I hope they will settle into their stride sooner rather than later.

“As a coach, I implement my plans slowly. I am happy that I could change the fortunes of Al Arabi ever since I took over the team last season. The seventh-place finish was very satisfying.

“Had we been starting by the middle of September, I could have found more solutions. We go into our first match on Saturday and we had to act fast.

“The first three or four games is not about quality of the team. It’s more about players adapting to the situation,” said Bonacic.