ALOR STAR – Kedah Darul Aman FC head coach Mohd Nafuzi Mohd Zain admitted that his team are “not strong enough” to take on the “big boys” in the Super League if some weaknesses are not overcome urgently by the players themselves.
He said that one of the things the players need to focus on is increasing their self-confidence to build understanding and chemistry in giving a good fight on the pitch.
“What I saw was that our players didn’t have enough determination to win against KL City FC. In terms of defence, KL were solid in their counter attacks...so the extra effort on our part to fight KL was not good enough.
“We are not good enough in terms of seriousness, confidence to play, and lose in terms of defence when counter-attacked. This is dangerous and needs to be overcome immediately,” he said after the match that saw his team lose 2-3 to the visitors at Darul Aman Stadium here last night.
Nafuzi said individual mistakes were still often made by his players and needed attention to strengthen the team to continue to give a good fight in the league.
“In football, we can teach them to overcome their weaknesses, but to increase self-confidence, it’s about yourself, it's about your own courage. That’s why we see a good player can play under pressure because he has high confidence and is fearless...that’s where we are lacking,” he said.
Meanwhile, KL City FC head coach Bojan Hodak said the main eleven fielded managed to shoulder their respective responsibilities well and that he was happy his team was able to get three full points.
“I am proud of all the players who showed their best performance and tried to do better. There were some mistakes made, but they managed to overcome them immediately and succeeded,” he said. – Bernama, April 19, 2023
