Edgar Cardoso said the manner of his appointment as Kitchee head coach was “not so easy”, but obtaining a senior managerial post had been a “life target”.
“The team was going through a strange and difficult moment [at the end of 2023-24],
to be honest, we don’t know exactly the reasons behind that drop,” Cardoso said.
“[The managerial change] was an internal decision, and not so easy for me.
“I was replacing someone I worked with, and who I cared about a lot. But it was the club’s decision, and everyone agreed with it.”
Cardoso said his appointment was “perfect timing”, as he had obtained his Uefa Pro Licence last month.
Armed with the leading European coaching certificate, and a CV that includes coaching jobs with Benfica, Shakhtar Donetsk, and Qatar’s under-18 and under-23 sides, Cardoso said he would not be consulting Kim over his new challenge, but said: “He is a very valuable person for me, we have a fantastic relationship, and that will never change.”
Cardoso was unable to arrest Kitchee’s slide at the back end of last season. However, it would be unfair to judge him on a handful of matches, after inheriting an ageing team that was bloated on past success.
Kitchee’s summer recruitment is reflective of owner Ken K Ng’s pledge to put more faith in youth and local talent. Cardoso is expecting more additions “in the near future”, with a European-based midfielder and striker set to fly to the club’s training camp in Thailand next week.
The six recruits already through the door boast an average age of 25.6, with four of them 26 or younger.
Seven thirtysomethings have departed, along with a handful of others who paid the price for Kitchee tumbling to fourth in last season’s local Premier League.
“We are trying to build a younger team, so we now have players with less experience but are more available physically,” Cardoso said.
“Kitchee has a very clear playing style, and we lost it in the last month [of 2023-24]. After Kim took over in September, we played attractive, solid football.
After January, when the Hong Kong team went to the Asian Cup, I don’t know what happened.”
Ng revealed Kitchee coaches watched more than 30 hours’ footage of each individual they signed.
“We are picking players who can fit our style,” Cardoso said.
“We expect quality in possession, and a change of rhythm in the last third. We want them to create associations with each other, and have tactical responsibility.”
Cardoso originally joined Kitchee as the academy’s director of elite football last September, soon after visiting the club in his role as senior football consultant for Double Pass, a Belgian football consultancy appointed by the 12-times Hong Kong champions in 2020 to increase the quality of coaching for young players.
He insisted he was not worried by the step-up to the top job, nor the ramifications of failing to regain the title Kitchee surrendered to Lee Man last season.
Cardoso insisted Ng had not ordered him to win the league, but said: “[That demand] is the air we breathe in this club.
“You have the natural pressure to win the league, and I live very well with this.
“We cannot go two seasons in a row without winning the championship.
“We want to complete our signings soon. We will have fewer foreigners, but they will have more quality [than previous overseas contingent], together with a lot of young players.
“I’m very optimistic Kitchee will go back to playing attractive football.”
https://www.scmp.com/sport/football/article/3269645/kitchees-new-coach-edgar-cardoso-says-fresh-signings-can-turn-clubs-fortunes-around