Coach with midas touch hopes to work magic on Melaka

PETALING JAYA: Much-travelled 53-year-old E. Elavarasan, the newly appointed Melaka coach, said he has identified the weak points of his new team.

Elavarasan, who is known as the miracle worker in the M-League for his knack of whipping unfancied sides into title contenders, will get down to work straight away.

Melaka are 10th in the 12-team Super League standings with nine points, just a rung above the relegation zone and the seasoned coach appointed on Monday, said he’s in the midst of getting the team ready to face Perak in Ipoh on Saturday.

Melaka rested their Portuguese coach Eduardo Almeida last week following the team’s six-match winless run.

“We have a good team with a number of top players here, my challenge is to get them to play as a unit.

“They are a bit disjointed now but I believe they will be playing to their actual abilities soon,” said Elavarasan.

“The team’s morale is low as they have been winless but the players are looking forward for a win and are working hard in training.

“We are lucky this time because we have four to five days to prepare for the next match against Perak.”

This will be Elavarasan’s second stint with Melaka after guiding them to win promotion to the Super League in the 2008-2009 season.

He then joined Felda United and led them to promotion to the Super League in 2011.

His most recent coaching stint was with PKNS in the Super League from 2015-2017, which saw the unfancied side reach the FA Cup final where they lost 2-1 to Johor Darul Ta’zim in 2016.

Melaka have bolstered their squad by signing international goalkeeper Khairul Fahmi Che Mat from Kelantan and are expected to sign a few more players to salvage the season.

“I have a big challenge here and I think the team can do well with the support of the management, the players and the fans but we need to have patience and faith in the team,” added Elavarasan, a former Selangor player.