Daily Express
Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah Premier League players will definitely give their all for the fans in the coming season said head coach Milomir Seslija during a meeting at the Sabah Football Association office on Tuesday.
"What I want to say to the fans is this, please come and watch us play and give us your full support.
You may have to be a bit patient as there are many new players in this team but I can promise that you all will be happy to see each of the players' attitude on the pitch and they will be fighting for every ball and will not be relaxed and 'jalan kaki'."
He said that the team under him will not be built around on one or two players instead all the players will play an important part for the success of the team.
"Every single player is important to me and I want all the players in the team to be able to express their quality during the game.
It will be suicidal to build the team based only on a couple of players as any injury happening to them may signal the end of the team in the competition."
He believed if all parties including the fans, coaching staff, officials and players do their part for the good of the team and not interfere with each other's job then there is no reason why they cannot succeed in achieving their three-in-one target of gaining promotion, developing young players and getting results.
"To me, the fans' support is very important and Sabah has one of the best in the country. I remember when I played for the State, their support always raised the players' game and I hope to see all of them return to the stadium like the good old days."
On the return friendly match against Sarawak this Saturday (Jan 4) here at the Likas Stadium, he said he will be using the match to try out several new combinations.
"Sarawak is a very good team and they are much stronger this year but we showed that we can compete with them in the first encounter in Kuching with the 1-1 draw."
He said the team is improving with every match and they had some good results in the Indonesian tour as well, where they managed to beat a team that Sarawak lost to when they played against a few days later and they also edged a top team that Selangor had lost heavily to last year.
Meanwhile, chairman of the Safa team management committee Joehari Ayob called on the fans to come to the Likas Stadium this Saturday for the match against Sarawak which will start at 4.15pm.
"I urge all fans to come and give support to our Sabah team.
It is going to be free as a good gesture to their support and Rozaimi Abd Rahman who has just returned to the team is set to be featured in the game as well."
"We decided to hold the match here purely for the fans as I want them to feel the atmosphere and it is also our pre-season friendly match against a very strong Super League team."
He added that they may line up a couple of friendly matches against strong opposition before their first match of the season in the FA Cup tie against Kuantan FA on Jan 21.
