Although Ahli kicked off their season with two successive victories over arch-rivals Zamalek, they never really impressed.
They also slumped to a stunning 2-0 defeat to Masri in the Egyptian League, despite being deemed as the competition’s invincible team.
Yes it is only natural for any team to lose, even if they are as powerful as Ahli.
Yet, it is quite obvious that Jose has to reconsider some of his decisions, which eventually proved costly.
Prior to the Masri game, Jose surprisingly left newly-arrived duo Ahmed Farag and Hani Al-Egeizi out of his side’s squad.
It was a bizarre decision because both men put on a promising display in the friendly game against AS Roma.
His decision could have been justified had he used some high-profile strikers instead of the new duo, but simply his squad doesn’t boast supermen upfront.
Emad Meteb, who has seen his move to Bristol City falls through in the close season, is not a reliable striker. He always goes through several successive matches without finding the net.
Osama Hosni is a back-up striker but he rarely rises to the occasion when he steps onto the pitch. Ahmed Belal has lost his goalscoring touch.
Flavio Amado is the only striker who plays quite good. Jose should have given the chance to Farag or Al-Egeizi to support the Angolan striker.
Ahli were consequently toothless against Masri, who outplayed the Red Devils in every aspect of the game.
Jose’s faults continued in Ahli’s unconvincing 2-1 victory over Dynamos Harare in the Champions League.
Given that the match was played at home, Jose should have deployed a firm attacking strategy to comfortably defeat the Zimbabweans, who would have found it difficult to withstand Ahli’s wave of attacks.
But he instead fielded three holding midfielders to contain Dynamos men.
To rub salts into the wounds, the former Sporting Lisbon coach astonishingly took off influential midfielder Ahmed Hassan at halftime.
Hassan, who joined Ahli after his contract with Anderlecht expired, has been impressive since his arrival, providing numerous assists for his teammates as well fulfilling his defensive duties.
Without him, Ahli played with Gilberto, Hossam Ashour and the below-par Anis Boujelbene in midfield, thus losing their creativity in a very dull second half.
Moreover, Ahli’s defense looked shaky as well. Despite signing a host of players in the close season, the Cairo giants did not land any recognized defender.
Shadi Mohamed, Ahmed Al-Sayed and Wael Gomaa are being outpaced and outmuscled by opponents.
Jose should have signed a new defender.