CAIRO - Titleholders Al-Ahly are gearing up for their Egyptian Premier League game against newly promoted Semouha on Thursday under new coach Abdel-Aziz Abdel-Shafi, nicknamed ‘Zizo', who will return to the club's traditional 3-5-2 formation in the forthcoming matches. Zizo has taken charge of the Red Devils on a temporary basis, after Hossam el-Badri handed in his resignation earlier this week. He is burdened with the task of ending a poor Ahly run that saw them exit the African Champions League at the hands of Tunisia's Esperance before dropping points against lowly Gouna and bitter rivals Ismaili in the domestic league. One of Zizo's methods of fulfilling that target will be re-applying a formation that many Egyptian teams have escaped from over the past two years. Portuguese boss Manuel Jose, a cult figure among Ahly's faithful, led the team to a host of local and continental titles with the 3-5-2 strategy that features an old-fashioned sweeper behind two central defenders. El-Badri, however, opted to shift to 4- 4-2 after succeeding Jose in the summer of 2009 and the majority of Premier League managers followed suit. Jose used to rely on Emad el-Nahhas, now retired, as his sweeper, but Zizo will face a dilemma over who can fill that role at a time where natural liberos are scarce. Under el-Badri, evergreen defender Wael Gomaa used to partner Sherif Abdel-Fadil in the heart of Ahly's backline. Mohamed Samir was their understudy, but was often criticised for his recurring lapses of concentration. Abdel-Fadil, who also operates as right and left back, and central midfielder Hossam Ghali are also in contention to occupy the critical position where any blunder can be costly, according to Zizo. The defending champions, who are eyeing a seventh consecutive league title, lie fifth in the table with 18 points from nine games, six behind leaders and archrivals Zamalek, who have played two matches more. Meanwhile, the Ahly and Fayyoum friendly started Saturday in Cairo .
