PETALING JAYA: The pressure is on Terengganu coach Tomislav Steinbruckner to deliver but the Croatian believes he still has it in him to revitalise the club’s journey in the Super League.
And Steinbruckner hopes the game against fellow east coast club Kelantan United will be the turning point when they clash at the Sultan Mizan Stadium in Gong Badak today.
In the first five games of the season, the Turtles had to navigate through rough waves of inconsistency, with the team only scoring one win, one draw, and three defeats.
They are lying in ninth place with four points.
In fact, due to their sluggish run so far, Steinbruckner has been given a show cause letter by the Terengganu management.
Unfazed by it, he is working hard to restore the team’s true form and believes they will only get better.
“The weakness right now is the lack of sting upfront. We’ve only scored two goals, which was against Negri Sembilan and Police,” he said.
“After five games, we have done a lot of analysis, and if you look at the way the players are performing, it is not that bad. It is just challenging to score goals.
“Of course, I feel the pressure, but this is normal for the team and me as a coach, so what we have to do is to keep looking for opportunities to get three points.
“It’s not easy, but I won’t give up on this team, we will continue to work hard and find solutions to improve quality in terms of scoring goals and making good decisions on the field.”
Terengganu will be looking forward to get the services of midfielder Habib Haroon and centreback Sardor Kulmatov against Kelantan United, as both players are making a comeback after recovering from injuries.
Haroon is recovering from a hamstring, while Kulmatov had a slight knee niggle but returned to training on Tuesday.
“Previously, Habib suffered a hamstring injury while in Thailand and now he is still in pain, but we hope he will be ready,” he said.
“Kulmatov has a knee injury, and he has been undergoing rehabilitation since last week, but has rejoined training.”
