| Fadhil Yunus |
DPMM FC are determined to kick of their season with their first league match of the season in the S League at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium against overnight league leaders Home United FC after eight weeks of pre-season training.
The Gegar Gegar men are the final team to start their campaign with the rest of the teams already playing their first fixture following the season opener between Albirex Niigata (S) and Tampines Rovers FC at the end of last month.
DPMM FC head coach Steve Kean watched two games during his side’s wait for the season involving the Tampines and Albirex game and the Home United’s 6-1 rout at the expense of Garena Young Lions at the Bishan Stadium.
“I don’t think we’ve been ever any more ready for a season. We’ve now had eight weeks and we can’t wait for the season to start,” said DPMM FC head coach Steve Kean in an interview after a training session at the Jerudong Mini Stadium yesterday.
“I know it will be a tough game but if we can play anywhere close to our level then we won’t have any problems for the whole season,” he continued.
The head coach also hinted that Reduan Petara may start in place of Yura Indera Putera as part of a potential three-man defence with Francois Marque set to be handed a debut.
Kean has highlighted the speed and experience which the new defender could bring to the plate.
Meanwhile, club captain Rosmin Kamis looks to continue to play a defensive role at the back which he frequently occupied last season.
The club new signing Billy Mehmet also looks poised to form a partnership with striker Rafael Ramazotti while Azwan Ali could play an integral part in providing service.
Kean will be wary of the threat that main striker Stipe Plazibat poses who have proven to be a natural replacement for Ken Ilso who joined Kedah FA in the Malaysian Super League.
The Croatian plundered four goals in a single game in the annihilation of the Young Lions and has scored at DPMM FC’s home ground last season for former club Hougang United FC.
“They got goals and their main striker scoring four goals. They’ve got Camara making penetrating runs as he always does from the fullback position.
“What they do really well is they switch play and they got the ball down on one side and get the ball in midfield. They move teams around and they move Young Lions around and offensively that’s their biggest asset of the game”, he continued.
“They played really open and they switched play a lot and created a lot of space. Technically, they’re confident on the ball”.
Furthermore, the head coach believes the new imports have settled in really quickly after the pre-season training which included four friendly matches during the Bangkok tour.
“I feel that we’re in a much better level than probably we were two years ago. We’ve no excuses now and we can’t moan about bad pre-season or no competitive games”.
“We’ve had everything and that is credit to the club. We can’t complain and now we’ve got to deliver as a group of players and technical staff.
“We’ve got to deliver the results because we’re really ready”, the former Blackburn Rovers manager added.
The head coach continued that they will be better prepared to nullify the threat of Home United’s front two with an extra man adding that they will not be any shortage for cover.
The player tasked to be the most forward on the final third of the pitch will be anyone’s guess as either Billy Mehmet or Rafael Ramazotti could occupy the position given their free role.
“They’ll move around so I don’t know where they’re going to go. I’m hoping the opposition not know where they’ll go because they’ve got a free role to rotate as a three”.
“In all honesty Billy sometimes likes to come as a number 10, Juan (Azwan Ali) likes to come as a number 10 and sometimes Rafa (Rafael Ramazotti) likes to come towards the ball so we’ve got a good fluid nature in our attacking role where one comes the other one goes.”
“I think it will be very hard for the opposition to deal with our front three this year”, he concluded.
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