Just A Few Things: Pahang Vs. Selangor

Credit- FA Selangor

Slick & Smooth

Selangor made numerous last-minute transfer dealings, most notably replacing Antonio German with ex-Kedah talisman, Sandro Da Silva. While Sandro wasn’t available, the change in personnel looks like it paid dividends. Selangor looked far better going forward as all of their attackers didn’t slow down when it was going so promising.

The attacks look much more smoother and Selangor arguably had the better chances. But the Red Giants could not make the most of them and can count themselves unlucky going behind at half-time. They kept huffing and puffing in the second half and finally got that deserved equalizer.

With Pahang down to 10-men about 18 minutes to go, you can’t help but sense that Selangor could’ve got all three points. But they have to make do with a point. Still, Selangor showed great fight against a team like Pahang no less. Their performance at least bought a bit of optimism back. But they still have to proceed with caution as Johor Darul Takzim is next.

A Needed Boost

It’s four games in and all Rufino had to show was a late penalty against PJ City on MD 2 to save a point. Some Selangor fans worry about the Spaniard, showing no signs of him repeating that stellar form from last year. But the timing of him scoring his 2nd goal of the season may likely come at the right time.

Rufino looked a shadow of himself, but he finally came good just on the hour mark. Syazwan Zainon, played a pass on the left. With the Pahang players standing at the moment, expecting Nurridzuan Abu Hassan to called offside. But it allowed Rufino to make the run from an onside position and placed enough power on his shot past the keeper. It bought a sense of redemption after squandering a golden chance in the first half.

Rufino’s movements looked more fluid compared to the last few games and tried to find that much needed space to utilize. That goal will surely at least boost his confidence.

Double Defensive Blow

Pahang not only dropped points (Depends on how you see it) but the Tok Gajah now has to go into the next game without their main centre-back pairing. Muslim Ahmad was forced to be subbed off due to injury and replaced by Afif Amiruddin, and to his credit, did a not bad job. But it’s the other defender’s absence that will surely be felt.

For the second week in a row, Pahang was at the wrong of a red card and it was shown towards one of their recent stars. Herold Goulon committed a foul on Endrick. The referee then brandished a second yellow card to the French defender. It is unknown how bad Muslim’s injury is, but Goulon will miss the PKNP match. Good news is that Goulon will at least be back for the crunch match against Kedah afterwards.

Start Dickson… Always

Confusion reigned in when Pahang head coach, Dollah Salleh, opted to start Norshahrul Idlan Talaha (AKA Mat Yo) over their ‘Iron Man’ Dickson Nwakaeme. Perhaps Dollah is looking for Mat Yo to carve open the defensive line with his trickery like they did at the FA Cup final last year over the powerhouse of Dickson. Problem is Mat Yo is deployed as a centre-forward next to Ze Love.

While Pahang looked good at the start, they didn’t cause enough problems for the Selangor defence. Though they did get a rather fortunate lead when Wan Zaharulnizam’s low strike deflected off a sliding Halim Saari that took the ball away from Khairul Azhan. But Pahang didn’t make any convincing headway since then.

When Dickson came on after Goulon’s red card, it was as if Pahang are still playing with 11 men. Dickson provided the much-needed physical presence to give Selangor’s defence something to think about and the Tok Gajah looked much better when attacking. Dickson’s power was needed to break through the defence and it looked as though Dollah got this crucially wrong. If Dickson had started, Selangor would’ve been in much more trouble.

Another Top Keeping Performance

He has pulled off a few good saves before against Selangor last year, and he has done it again here on this night. Pahang can thank Helmi Eliza for sparing a point after he made a few crucial saves to keep the score down. Helmi did very well to stop Rufino from scoring a one-on-one effort and a rocket.

Late on, Helmi also denied substitute Sean Eugene Selvaraj’s low shot with a smart stop. Helmi showed great composure in keeping out any impending Selangor threat making those crucial stops. So he can count himself a tad unlucky that he couldn’t keep out Rufino’s equalizer. Still, if it weren’t for Helmi, Pahang would’ve suffered their first defeat of the season.