Dubai: Dubai coach Ion Marin says he has sympathy for whoever becomes the next UAE national team coach.
Speaking after his side's 2-1 win over Al Wahda on Friday, Marin said: "One man cannot come in and change the mentality of everyone here.
"If you want to coach in the UAE you have to adapt your mentality and see how your players live, experience their culture and their beliefs first-hand."
The UAE has so far lost all five of their World Cup qualifiers and sit bottom of the table below South Korea, Lebanon and Kuwait.
In reference to previous coach Slovenian Srecko Katanec, Marin, a Romanian, said: "You can't come in and press them to be aggressive.
"It's not like Serbia or Slovenia where they have been fighting their whole life in wars.
"Here they are not fighting, they have never fought so you cannot ask for them to be fighters if they are not fighters in real life.
"In other countries players don't have money to live, they are playing and fighting so they have money to survive. You can't ask your players to play for money here — they have money, they don't need it.
"I play them as a collective, teach them to pass, play together and be concerned for one another as brothers. This is what I have to do here."