Just A Few Things: Malaysia Vs. Kyrgyzstan

Credits- Football Association Of Malaysia

Positives Among The Defeat

Despite all the possession and chances that we had, Malaysia came away with a narrow defeat to Asia Cup hopefuls Kyrgyzstan. However, Malaysia gave the 91st placed team in the FIFA rankings something to think about during the match. Malaysia’s adventurous approach forced them to keep their toes up to defend from any impending danger.

So it was a shame when an unfortunate bounce off Irfan Zakaria, who was trying to cut out the through pass, fell to substitute Bekhsan Sagynbaev who took the shot first time and duly scored on the 68th minute with his first touch. Still, the wingers looked lively and midfield looks assuring. Let’s look into it more.

Wing Wizardry (But The Night Belongs To One Of Them)

Akhyar Rashid started on the bench while Safawi Rasid was not called up. But the wings occupied by Pahang duo Norshahrul Idlan Talaha (occasionally) & Mohamadou Sumareh has gained a good amount of trust.

Sumareh experienced a memorable international debut when he came off the bench to contribute two goals from Malaysia’s 4-1 win at Sri Lanka. Here, he continues to make a strong case. He wasn’t afraid to take on the Kyrgyzstan defence and offered the penetration the attack needed. But the Kyrgyzstan defence adapted well to narrow the space Sumareh could’ve made use of.

Then there’s Norshahrul, fondly known as Mat Yo, who started out as the attacking-midfielder. But here, he showed why being on the flanks is much better for him. He was definitely the best player that night. He performed similarly to how we all remembered him playing in the early 2010s. His tricky footwork and dribbling kept the opposition guessing on where he will go along with brave take-ons whenever Malaysia goes forward. He was extremely unfortunate not to have scored on Malaysia’s two best chances. First, Syahmi Safari’s cross picked out Mat Yo, who had space in the box. He calmly guided his shot to the top corner but somehow hit the bar.

But a world-class save unbelievably kept the scoreline goalless at half time. Zaquan Adha dispossessed a defender and the ball fell to Mat Yo. He dribbled into the box as he got into the goalside of a defender. Everything about his effort was right. Problem was Kyrgyzstan keeper Pavel Matiesh somehow only got the miniscule of touches to keep the shot out. It was a save even David De Gea would be proud of. Frustrating that Norshahrul didn’t get anything, but his performance in this match will keep us buzzing.

A Forward Conundrum

With the amount of attacking talent we have in our disposal, we lack a proper centre-forward. This is where Tan Cheng Hoe must ask himself: How to make the attackers click without an attacking focal point? This problem became apparent whenever Malaysia played on the wings, there wasn’t a reliable target man in sight in the box. Zaquan Adha isn’t a natural centre-forward while Shahrel Fikri’s injury complicated matters. Although, Safawi Rasid wasn’t called up this time around.

This provided further indication that a False 9 system is the way to go for this team. The weakness is though that ‘Parking The Bus’ would render this system ineffective. And that’s what Kyrgyzstan did in the final 10 minutes after they had Iusupov Mustafa sent off for a second yellow following a mix of dissent and time-wasting when he went down injured. Either Tan Cheng Hoe has to take a chance on a local centre-forward that isn’t usually talked about (Kelantan’s Shafiq Shaharudin, Sarawak’s Bobby Gonzales) to address this ongoing problem or he has to rethink his approach if a situation like this happens again.

Something Is Up With The Midfield

Kenny Pallraj & Syamer Kutty Abba started as the two midfielders protecting the backline. They did their absolute best to keep the Kyrgyzstan midfield at bay as they caused problems to their captain Edgar Bernhardt. Both men dropped deep to allow the full-backs Syahmi & Syazwan Andik

But neither man lacked that explosive power that would have elevated the team further. Not only that, they are not exactly known as deep-lying playmakers to carve open further the Kyrgyzstan back-line. Defensively they put in a good shift. But don’t be surprised if Tan Cheng Hoe goes for another midfield pairing to find that perfect balance.

Cause For Concern?

Akhyar Rashid has no doubt dazzled our 2018. But concerns have resurfaced whether he may be in danger of burning out. He came on for Syazwan Zainon on 55 minutes. While he was his trickery self, there were a few times he may held on the ball a little much.

Given he took part in a lot of matches both for club and international this year, Akhyar deserves a rest once the football year is over.. There has to be some form of communication between Tan Cheng Hoe & U-19 head coach Bojan Hodak about the 19-year old. It’s probably for the best if he sits out the November 3rd match against Maldives to keep him fresh for the AFF Suzuki Cup, in which starts five days after that match.

Aerial Problems

Although give credit to Kyrgyzstan where its due, they did have us in some spells of the match. They were the better side during the midway period of the first half. Their corners were the main source of Malaysia’s defensive problems. Khairul Fahmi isn’t the tallest keeper and he was usually in trouble trying to get a hand to these corners. Kyrgyzstan has players that can fully utilize their physicality to throw their markers off balance just as a set-piece comes in.

Kyrgyzstan came close to scoring twice following those corners. Luckily for the Harimau Malaya, defender Tamirlan Kozubaev spurned those two great opportunities given to him. It didn’t help that we kept giving corners to them. Kyrgyzstan repeated their dominant spell midway in the second half and they took advantage where it mattered the most.