| Fadhil Yunus |
DPMM FC head coach Steve Kean has expressed admiration in the philosophy that Home United coach Philippe Aw is trying to instil in the club ahead of their crucial S League tie at the Bishan Stadium in Singapore tonight.
Last March, Kean revealed that The Protectors drew parallels with the way his own charges perform on the pitch as a team who prioritise the urgency for possession football.
The similarities that both clubs share also extend to the undoubted talents of the import players and the prodigious rise of young local players from the academy as well as the continuity of the same team.
“I like his (Philippe) philosophy and he likes to bring young players”, Kean said in an interview after a training session at the Jerudong Mini Stadium on Tuesday.
“When he first took over, they were quite an old team. They’ve had a lot of senior professionals and he made way and let them go and made a pathway through for the young players”.
“I think that’s admirable for a club to do that. They are really hard to play against because they’ve got energy, speed and get the ball back quick”, he said.
Azwan Ali holds the ball during a training session at the Jerudong Mini Stadium before the Home United away match. – FADHIL YUNUS
Kean would need no reminding of the threat that Danish striker Ken Ilso and the lung-busting runs of Sirina Camara offered but believed the threat should be covered with a wider range of players with the growth of their local players from the Prime team.
The development of the young players at Home United has been likened to how the ‘Gegar Gegar’ men have progressed over the last few seasons.
“I’m equally impressed with the local players as the imports. They are very similar to us and if a neutral was watching the development over the last couple of seasons for both clubs they are probably the most similar to us”, Kean added.
“They are a good team. They have been together a long time like us and they’ve got a lot of young players that came through from the Prime team”, he said.
But his charges will be up for the fight after staging a promising display at home against Hougang last week.
“We’ve shown that we’ve got a little bit more resilience now even in the last half an hour when we were chasing the game”.
“We’ve dug something out which we have not seen this year. There was a little bit more desire just to do whatever it takes to get the points”, Kean continued.
Home United FC managed nine wins, nine draws and nine losses last year but they are well on course to better that haul this season.
Kean has exercised caution that his charges may not be able to hold possession of the ball for a period of time if they intend to produce killer passes which go astray.
“If you don’t look after the ball enough you don’t see it for a long time against Home United. They are really good in keeping it”.
“We need to be patient and when we get the ball back we’re not always trying to make a killer pass because if we do we might not see the ball again for 10 minutes”.
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