| Fadhil Yunus |
DPMM FC will be hoping to get maximum points against Garena Young Lions in their final Great Eastern-Hyundai S League game of the season at the Jalan Besar Stadium in Singapore tonight.
The match will also be Steve Kean’s final competitive game in charge of the club as head coach for four years.
The head coach will be parting ways with the club at the end of the season in “good and amicable terms” following talks with the chairman about a month ago.
Kean also highlighted that the players have performed well in training for the past fortnight and will be eager to end the season with a win.
“It is always sad when you leave a club. I’ve been in this position many times over the last 20 years when I’ve been coaching teams. It’s always a sad time but the most important thing is to always reflect on the good times,” said Kean in a pre-match interview after a training session at the Jerudong Mini Stadium on Thursday.
“I don’t think we’ve got enough points from some games despite performing well and that was disappointing.”
Kean indicated that he has seen his players blossoming under his guidance stating that the job of the coach is to make them better individually.
“Hopefully they can look back on that in years to come,” the former Blackburn Rovers FC manager said.
The head coach shared that his most memorable moment with the club was winning the league for the first time.
“Winning the league that night when the stadium was packed. To see the S League officials getting the S League trophy ready and bringing it towards the touchline, to win any league especially the club’s first, will always be on my mind,” the head coach said.
Kean made sure the year they clinched the title that the players were not overwhelmed by burnout having learnt the experiences from the previous season.
“Halfway through that season, we really learnt from the season before where we’ve just tailed off. When we come back from Laos with the national team we were a bit exhausted.
“We’re mentally really tired and I think we learnt from that. That season when we did win the league I just tried to keep the sessions short and keep it fresh.
“When we did give the players the details, nine times out of 10 they delivered. And we were exceptional that season.
“You’ve got to learn from the season before. Sometimes when it gets to the end of the season and you’re at the top and the pressure is building, you don’t have to actually be in (training session) for long.
“The players are thinking about the next game and they’re thinking about looking at the result from the night before.
“I learnt just to keep them fresh and don’t give too many plans (A, B, C, D, and E) and go way down so we don’t know what we’re doing and try to stick to quite a strict three-point game plan with the ball and a three-point game plan without the ball.
“Don’t change the team and keep as much with the same starting 11 and just rotate one or two. It meant that we were very consistent in our performances and consistent performances produce consistent results,” he said.
Former Vasco Da Gama Assistant Manager Rene Weber will be succeeding Kean in the 2018 season.
The post DPMM FC aim three points against Young Lions appeared first on Borneo Bulletin Online.