Just A Few Things: KL Vs. Perak

Credits: KL Hawks

Much Needed Boost

While they were their usual tenacious self, Perak had to rely on dead-ball situations to finally ripple the net though. Wander Luiz’ free-kick from the right found of all people, Jad Nourredine unmarked and the Lebanese defender scored with a striker’s finish as he lashed a low drive past Sharbinee.

Norhakim Hassan was also menace on the left flank, giving Hafiz Johar quite a hard time. And his efforts finally paid off when drew a foul from the KL right-back. Gilmar saw his penalty saved, but the rebound fell nicely to him and he converted it to double the lead.

Brendan Gan initially had a good night and could’ve opened the scoring had his first shot not been weak and the rebound after that saw the midfielder hit under the bar. Brendan drifted into the wings often and he took off like the wind. He could’ve got an assist had his cutback not be toe-poked wide by Gilmar for the third goal. But Brendan should also be blamed for an ugly scene in which will go later.

They had to labour hard to get through that KL back-line, but in the end they got the job done. Perak definitely needed this. After disappointing results against FELCRA & Terengganu, they finally got a win to keep the group wide open.

Defence Up…

Since Fabio Maciel was rested, Chong Yee Fatt introduced a different system for the team. He got rid of the 3-5-2 system that KL used majority of the season for a 4-5-1 set-up that sees Bobirjon Akbarov partnering with Saifulnizam Miswan and Hafiz Johar & Azmeer Yusof as the full-backs. In front of the centre-backs were Achmad Jufriyanto & Farid Ramli (More on him later) protecting their defence line.

It’s quite amazing that this team suddenly looked more defensively composed after conceding 51 goals. They didn’t waver facing the menacing Perak attack that caused them so much grief a few weeks ago when they took advantage of mistakes that saw the Bos Gaurus winning 5-1. The system helped out their defence well with the central defence being in the right position to deal with any incoming balls while the full-backs worked hard to not give the wingers a way in easily. But the problem is…

… Attack Down

When it comes to KL throughout this season, you can expect to score a good number of goals. But on this night, it was the attack that let them down and that proved to be their undoing. KL actually had a good amount of possession. All their passes and long balls have gone to waste. It was so bad that the first shot registered by KL came late in the game.

With the new system, because Farid & Jufriyanto are not known for their creativity, Paulo Josue didn’t get enough of the ball since he was advanced further up. Even if he did get the ball, he doesn’t get the fast wing-backs to support beside him and the wingers Indra Putra & Zaquan Adha couldn’t be penetrative enough to supply the ball from the flank. They struggled all night to create clear chances as caretaker head coach, Chong Yee Fatt has another conundrum to solve.

Farid Everywhere

Farid Ramli is primarily a right-back, but was slotted into the holding midfield role. He was KL’s best player of the night as he remained committed to apply pressure to any Perak ball holder. He was everywhere in his own half wherever the ball is. He even went forward a little bit, but his attacking traits leave much to be desired.

He was tireless throughout the minutes he has, so it was a shame that he was hauled off on 51 minutes for Afiq Ahmad Razali as KL needed more attacking options being one down at that time. Farid may have a new role he could well relish.

Referee’s Hard Job

No one wanted to be in Razlan Jofri Ali’s shoes during that match. Not only there were a few times he should’ve booked players for fouls, but he had to keep everyone calm after Zaquan Adha committed a reckless foul and Brendan Gan stoked the fire for unnecessarily pushing the KL winger to the ground that saw both sides getting to each others’ faces. Both benches even got involved in that heated argument but the officials were able to avoid the worse from happening.

He also had to deal with the loud protests of Leandro and Gilmar despite rightly booking Brendan & Zaquan that also saw the former two getting themselves yellow cards. Suddenly the match became tense and Razlan had to keep his toes up in case another wild challenge happened. Thankfully nothing else happened, but both sets of fans made their displeasure known at him with jeers and insults as the police officers came out and escorted the officials back to the locker room.