My Midfielders/Defenders Can Score For Algeria Too – Djamel Belmadi

Algeria coach, Djamel Belmadi has come out to say that he won’t blame his strikers, Islam Slimani and Baghdad Bounedjah for his team’s failure to score at AFCON thus far. He recently revealed this while speaking to the press, and fans have been reacting.

According to him, it is true that their finishing lacked lucidity vs Sierra Leone but he won’t say he has been blameless for the lack of potency in front of goal as well.

Djamel added that if his strikers don’t score, there is nothing wrong with other players on the pitch coming through with the goals.

His words, “I ask a lot of my strikers.”

“I ask them to work to prevent the easy first delivery [from the opposition defence], and all of what I ask demands a lot of energy.”

“They need to press, this takes energy, and maybe [against Sierra Leone], their finishing lacked lucidity. Perhaps it’s my fault.”

“If the striker doesn’t score, but the others do score and he puts in the work, then he may not be satisfied—either Islam or Bounedjah—but I will be.”

“We must start to finish the chances we create, that’s key before anything.”

“We must be more surgical, more clinical, finish our moves and add that final gesture.”

“It can be worrying when you’re not producing, but we created a lot of chances and just didn’t take them.”

“We didn’t succeed in our work rate, applying ourselves, but we won’t stop attacking as much as possible—it’s in our DNA—we just have to find a balance.”