Just A Few Things: FELDA Vs. Melaka

Credits: Melaka United Soccer Association

Take A Pass

From kick-off, both sides went for it. It was a scrappy affair, but they looked bright trying to get something early. And this continued for quite a while before the match settled down and the energy levels picked up again after the restart. The major problem was the final pass into their opponents’ box. Neither team could be consistent with their passing. FELDA’s Iain Ramsay being the only player whose passing was great all night.

Their final passes were either intercepted, inaccurate or blocked. Even if those passes do get through, some of the time the receiver would made poor touches that would waste those attacks (FELDA’s Thiago Augusto being guilty of at least two times). But FELDA did get the better of the chances in the second half, but Gilberto Fortunato’s curler hit the post and Augusto’s smacker tipped over by Khairul Fahmi after getting himself in a good amount of space. It’s not often you see FELDA getting shutout in this season.

Melaka though will be happier with the point but they too have their shortcomings as well as they couldn’t carve any decisive chances of their own.

 

Mirrored Defending Approaches

The teams’ attacks had not been helped given with how they defended from each other. They made sure they have at least three in their own half in case of any counter attacks are coming. So as a result, they effectively canceled each other out in the whole match. Ifedayo Olesegun couldn’t weave his magic as a result with his silky runs when he has the ball as he would run into at least two FELDA defenders.

In FELDA’s case, they took it a bit further by making sure any Melaka player who has the ball doesn’t have any room to work with. But Melaka also did well to prevent Thiago & Fortunato to wreak havoc and they can thank Khairul Fahmi for being as cool as ever if FELDA actually got a chance. One thing is for sure: Counters won’t break either side.

Hardworking Christie

Although, there was one player that stood out for FELDA: midfielder Christie Jayaseelan. His work-rate was on another level. He was all over the middle of the park or near the opponents’ box to help out in any way he can by either helping out defending or provide support to receive the ball. FELDA then switched occasionally in the 2nd half to a 4-2-4 formation with Christie joining the front four as a left-winger. Throughout the whole 90 minutes, Christie was tireless as he worked hard to get the ball running in Melaka’s half. It’s too bad his hard work didn’t get rewarded in the end.

Zubovich’s Frustration

This was by far not the best night for Melaka’s Belarus’ hitman Yahor Zubovich. He stood out all right, but not for reasons you will think. The striker had a bad off day with losing possession just as it looked promising and also scuffled his attempted shots. There were two times he was in a good position, but he missed the ball almost completely on those occasions.

His decision-marking also looked terrible. FELDA once was exposed in a 3-on-2 counter-attack situation. Zubovich had the ball with Ifedayo & Syahrul Azwari being in a much better position in each flank. Instead of passing, he opted to shoot and it deflected wide. That passage of play summed up his night as he cuts a frustrated figure.