Shorn Of Confidence
Even as news came in that heimu XI will be returning to II.2 after a season's absence, joined by Batavia Cavaliers, who make the leap after six seasons in III.1, it became increasingly clear that
Han Lik-Tsun's position as Grilled's head coach is under heavy threat.
The gormless home loss to Arrogancae exposed too many of the team's failings at once, and whether Han can keep his job will probably depend heavily on if he can get the board of directors to buy in to his youth-oriented vision. While attendances have fallen only slightly from last season, and are still better than the season before last, the fact that so many stayed away from such a crucial match will raise questions in the finance department.
On top of that, there is still the spectre of III.12 champions Sim™, who visit next weekend, and Han will be eager to at least reward the home fans with one home win. He will have to come up with something special to breach the formidable defence that Sim™ rode to the title, and Grilled's agents have identified Italian playmaker Claudio Arcangeli and German defender Peter Mathan as two to watch.
Han's task is further complicated by the loss of
Erik Back to long-term injury, with the midfielder likely to miss the first few matches of the coming season, and also the suspension of
Chow Ying Lee, although it is likely that Safrinho or Fan will be able to step in smoothly.
newbies, whose legendary striker Roshadi bin Che Rusli claimed the Golden Boot with ten league goals, will face Toa Payoh club Whampoa Siao, an incredibly defence-oriented team who specialize in winning by the odd goal. It should be intriguing to see how Roshadi will deal with this challenge.
