BY ZULHILMI ZAINAL Follow on Twitter
Kedah's new signing Ken Ilsø Larsen has set an ambitious target for himself, to score 20 goals this season, despite his own admission that the Malaysian league is tougher than where he was playing before, in the S-League for Home United .
When asked by Goal regarding his personal target this season, Ilso said that his target for 2017 is the same as in the previous season when he was playing for the Singaporean side; to score 20 goals.
"I had that (a target) last year in the league as well, I wanted to score 20 goals but I didn't succeed.
"I only scored 19... so I'm going for the 20 again (with Kedah). Even though I know Malaysia has a tougher league than Singapore, but I'm also at a better team now," admitted Ilsø following Kedah's 2-0 friendly win over Felcra FC on Wednesday.
He also finds players in the M-League more challenging, when asked about his observations so far. "In general, players in Malaysia are more technical as well as faster," said the 30-year old forward.
It's a good thing then that he finally broke his duck for Kedah, netting his first ever goal for the Red Eagles in the Felcra friendly, right before the referee blow his whistle for fulltime.
When asked whether the goal took some pressure of him, he responded that he was relieved, as he was not able to play at his best.
"Today was just one of those days where it did not really come together as expected, I made the wrong choices in terms of finishing. But sometimes if you continue 90 minutes, you're back in.
"I think I would be lying if I said I wasn't happy, as a striker will always want to score, I'm just happy that I scored," said the former VfL Bochum man.
He also told the press that he requested to play the full 90 minutes in the friendly, from head coach Tan Cheng Hoe.
"I had just been eased into it, and not playing fulltime (in the previous pre-season friendlies).
"I asked the coach to let me play the fulltime today because I need to run for 90 minutes so I will be ready for our first league match, against JDT," explained the Dane.
And according to Ilsø, as he joined Kedah after their pre-season preparations have started, he has to take extra care with his own preparations.
"When you get into a pre-season a little bit later than the rest of the team, you're going to develop a few issues with your body.
"In general, you have to time it and not be too aggressive, but also not too slow," he explained.
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