Just A Few Things: KL Vs. N9

Credits: KL Hawks

Safe Over Sorry

And breathe, KL fans. The City Boys have to work hard to grind out a 2-1 victory over relegation rivals Negeri Sembilan to not only guarantee safety, but also condemn The Deers to immediate relegation into the Premier League next season. They had to dig deep to get out of troubling positions to make their way forward and

For N9, the win against Selangor sparked hope, but whatever fight Negeri Sembilan has, it was too late. They needed to win or else, their demotion is all but confirmed. They couldn’t get those three points as they bid ‘Selamat Malam’ to Liga Super. To be fair to them, it was decent performance but for a match will so much on the line, N9 needed a lot more than what they put out here. KL’s defence didn’t look too assuring, but N9 should’ve gone all out if they wanted to stay. Although they did give KL some problems, the energy levels were stuck on third gear.

But it was set-pieces that became their hope and undoing at the same time. Bobirjon Akbarov opened the scoring with a tremendous jump to head in a corner but Alex Moraes scored from one of N9’s own corners immediately after. Three minutes before stoppage time though, Moraes misjudged a deep free-kick by Paulo Josue that allowed Indra Putra to sneak behind and slid the ball in that effectively sealed N9’s fates.

Scrappy Midfield

If KL had not been missing Irfan Zakaria, they would’ve not been discomforted in the middle of the field. But N9 to their credit had not given the KL midfielders room to breath. They were ready to stifle KL before they can get the ball forward. Heck, KL’s creative leader Paulo Josue definitely found it hard to provide the ball to his teammates from open play going forward with Flavio Beck Jr. getting close to his fellow Brazilian while Zhafri Yahya looked labored.

This often caused Indra Putra, who made his presence felt in the match with his leadership and solidity, to go back a little to help out recovering possession. What N9 was missing was those incisive passes KL are capable of doing so well. Playing neat passing football out of tight spaces and accurate long balls, although to be honest they did waste some passes just when it looked promising.

Velez Absence Hurt

Bewilderment set in when Team N9FC made an announcement just 10 minutes before kick-off that their Argentinian forward, Nicolas Velez was replaced by Fakhrul Aiman. The cause of the last-minute change is unknown at the moment but Velez absence was felt. N9 lost a lot of edge in attack as a result and Angel Guirado has to cover a lot of ground to get the ball which caused him to not be at his usual position as the centre-forward.

Granted, Guirado’s presence did cause headaches to the defence. Bobirjon in particular had to do everything he can to disrupt the big striker and even getting physical with him. But without Velez who was instrumental against Selangor, N9 lost their cutting edge. They had a few half-chances with Fakhrul the closest to score, but without any sharpness, they couldn’t carve open the KL backline convincingly. Velez would’ve been high on confidence after that last match, but instead had to sit at the stands to watch his team’s downfall.

Curious Battle

There was one battle that seemed to be interesting down on one of the flanks. KL’s left wing-back Syazwan Andik and N9’s right-back Fauzan Fauzi were in a constant battle no matter who was attacking or defending. Fauzan actually was one of N9’s standout performers as his immense work-rate helped to cut out any of KL’s attacks on his side of the field while Syazwan’s runs and crosses were incisive.

But when it comes to defending against one another, Fauzan didn’t get close enough to prevent Syazwan from crossing while Syazwan on the other hand gets caught out with Fauzan taking advantage by bombing forward with so much space to utilize.