T-Team looks for striker, playmaker and fitness coach

Kuala Terengganu: Newly-appointed T-Team Head Coach, Mohd Azraai Khor Abdullah says at present he has a good set of players.

"Although they are not big names, they are fighters," he tells BolaPantaiTimur in an exclusive interview on the day he signed up a two-year contract with the Terengganu-based Super League club.

However the team's focus is to find a good striker and playmaker. Still, he says that T-Team is not too bad in defence and midfield. It was evident last season that T-Team under different coaches had to grapple with goal-poaching weakness.

Azraai, who is also on the lookout for a physical fitness coach, believes in a scientific approach to training and coaching.

He says, "We have to be mindful of the intensity and loading during training so that players will have enough recovery time."

Azraai's appointment has generally been well-received in Terengganu after both Terengganu and T-Team fared rather poorly last season. It also coincided with a change of guard in the leadership of Terengganu Football Association (PBSNT) with the departure of long-serving President, Dato' Che Mat Jusoh. He was succeeded by Dato' Wan Ahmad Nizam Wan Abdul Hamid, the Menteri Besar's political secretary in September this year.

While the expectation is high for him to take T-Team to a higher level, Azraai is a realist. He says, " There is no short-cut or immediate success." Given a top five KPI in the Super League, he adds that the first season will primarily be on evaluating and building the team, including the President Cup development. He is optimistic that in the second year he's in charge, T-Team will be a force to be reckoned with.