Coach: Players are only human, not machines

KUCHING: Kuching City FC head coach Aidil Sharin Sahak stressed the importance of managing player fatigue, saying footballers cannot be expected to perform at full intensity without adequate recovery.

With The Cats competing in five competitions this season, Aidil said the demanding schedule and limited recovery time had made it challenging to keep his players fresh for every match.

He explained that the team sometimes had little time to train between fixtures, as travel and recovery took priority ahead of the next game.

“Let’s not forget that we are not the richest club with the best recovery system to help our players maintain their sharpness.

“They (players) are human, not machines that can simply have their oil topped up and then run at 100 km/h,” he told a post match press conference at the Stadium Taha Ariffin in Petra Jaya last night (Oct 15).

Aidil speaks at the post-match press conference. Photo: Gabriel Lihan

Aidil added that players could not always be expected to reproduce their best performances, particularly during periods of high-intensity football.

He said coaches had to trust their players’ abilities while ensuring they remained confident despite the physical demands of the season.

To illustrate the challenge, Aidil pointed to the team’s tight schedule, which sometimes leaves little time for training between matches.

“Sometimes, like this coming (week) we play DPMM FC on Sunday, and we can only recover the next day before flying on Saturday and playing on Sunday. There’s no time to train,” he said.

Aidil explained that such circumstances meant the team had to balance training demands with the players’ physical condition rather than push them beyond their limits.

With limited time to prepare, he said maintaining the players’ belief in their abilities was crucial as Kuching continued to compete on multiple fronts.

“The most important thing, like I said, is that they have to believe they can do it in every game,” he said.

Kuching City FC will face Brunei DPMM FC this Sunday (Oct 18) at 8.15pm before taking on Selangor FC away in the Malaysia FA Cup semi-final, first leg on Friday (Oct 23).