Adelaide United coach Marco Kurz has said he expects star signing Ken Ilso to help fix the club’s lack of goals.
But Kurz added that he felt the 31-year-old Danish attacker had spent too long playing in Malaysia before moving to Adelaide.
Ilso played in Singapore in 2015-16 before spending the past two years in Malaysia.
“He played too long in Malaysia — in Malaysia he can play with 60 percent,” Kurz told reporters on Thursday.
“The players here, the intensity is higher, it’s true.”
Ilso will make his A-League debut for Adelaide in Friday’s season-opener against Sydney FC.
“He can be an important part in our team, and I expect goals from him of course,” Kurz said.
Scoring was Adelaide’s problem last season, when the Reds were beaten in an elimination final.
They managed just 37 A-League goals, with their 12.1 percent conversion rate the second-worst in the competition, and their shooting accuracy — 38.7 percent — was a league low.
“I expect more goals from the whole team,” Kurz said. “We had last season a lot of good chances but we didn’t score enough goals, and that is one of the things we have do to better this season.”