April 19, 2004
Tanjong Pagar United may have lost all 6 of their matches & is out of the Singapore Cup after a thrashing by the Warriors, but new coach Karim Bencherifa believes the team is capable of better days.
The 36 year old Moroccan admits 1 of the main reason for taking up the Jaguars offer was the challenge of helping the bottom club achieved it pre-season goal. Jaguars chairman Mathew Kang before the start of the season promised a fifth position finish. It appeals greatly to him as he thrives on tough challenges.
The other main reason for him accepting the job was the passion of club chairman Matthew Kang. Bencherifa felt after speaking to the chairman, he was convinced that the chairman sincerely wanted Tanjong Pagar United to succeed & he is willing to work with a man showing that much passion about football
But the Moroccan certainly has a mammoth task on his hands as the Jaguars are now the only S-League team without a point scoring just 3 goals & conceding 25 goals. Making it worse is the quality of the players at his disposal with most of the local players not up to mark while the four foreign signings — Nicodeme Boucher, Gimmy Bade, Benoit Salviat & Jean Marc Audemar – have also disappointed badly.
Bencherifa agreed his first task is nothing else but to boost morale in the team. Have suffered 6 straight defeats, he knows their morale is low & he must instill self-belief back into the players. Once that is achieved the club would get its first victory & confidence will grow.
On rumours that dressing room unrest had unseated his predecessor, Malaysian coach Moey Yoke Ham, Bencherifa is unfazed by all that.
He acknowledged he is not sure what happened before but all that matter now is that he communicate with his players.
As he is a coach who likes communication with his players he knows his players will understand they have a common objective & that is to make Tanjong Pagar United successful again.