Just A Few Things: PJ City Vs. Selangor

Credit- Malaysian Football League

Muddy & Messy

The way both sides played in this match is just as messy as the pitch condition. While Selangor looked like they had more possession, everything in this match, the attacking and defending from both sides looked so sloppy. Neither side couldn’t maintain a tempo throughout the whole match. PJ City can’t launch a consistently dangerous counter-attack while the Selangor attackers seemingly can’t get in sync as if the chemistry they developed is not enough at this point.

It kind of speaks volumes how this frantic match was decided by a penalty each, first by PJ’s Pedro Henrique on 79 minutes & Selangor’s Rufino Segovia just before stoppage time. There were attacks that look promising with a disappointing end product that made the defenders job somewhat easier.

But PJ City didn’t help matters when some of their challenges were a bit too strong that had at least four of their players booked that made it a lot more untidy. One of them resulted some concern for Selangor’s Syazwan Zainon (Who was great in this match) when he was hacked down deep into stoppage time that resulted in him leaving the field on a stretcher once full-time is blown. Still, at least PJ can be happy that took a point from the Red Giants, though they would understandably feel it was two points lost if they had not made that glaring error that lead to Selangor’s penalty.

However, if Selangor head coach B. Sathianathan had comments on the state of Shah Alam Stadium’s field, surely he has something to say about the sorry state of the Petaling Jaya Stadium field. There were patches that came off along with muddy spots enveloping the field and that played a factor how the match went much to the fans ire.

He’s At It Again

This diminutive midfielder is turning to one of Selangor’s great transfers in recent years. Faiz Nasir once again proved to be the hardworking midfielders of all three that were deployed. There was worry whether or not he can work his way around the much bigger PJ City midfielders early on in the match. But he finally got control and was unfazed by the challenge.

But with Faiz at his usual best, there could be danger that Selangor could over-rely on the ex-Terengganu player. He seems to be the only one looking to try and unlock the defence down the center. On the plus side, Selangor this time around utilized the wings a lot more and one those attacks lead to Syahmi Safari winning the crucial penalty. Once again though, Faiz Nasir rose to the occasion.

Wall On The Left

He was not the best player by far last week, but K. Prabakaran looked much more composed and comfortable at left-back. His track back was excellent, save for a slip-up earlier in the match that allowed PJ City right-back, P. Rajes through earlier in the match. Nevertheless, he has shown some improvement as he got into positions to get the ball away from his box and looked solid.

Beside him is of course the Australian centre-back, Taylor Regan. Regan continued where he left off to be the commanding presence in Selangor’s final third and like Prabakaran, was able to get the ball away from tight situations nicely. But worry set in when he was forced off with a rib injury just before the hour mark. As soon as he went off, PJ City had two promising chances that they just couldn’t get the end of. Hopefully for Selangor, it’s only a minor one.

Korean Influence

There were some eyes on PJ City’s South Korean midfielder, Bae Beom-Geun after B. Sathianathan praised the player and had orchestrated ways to stop his influence. He normally acts as a link from the midfield to strikers Henrique & Giancarlo Rodrigues.  He did put in a good shift, committing to help out everywhere in the centre of the park.

It was one of his passes that lead to PJ’s penalty after Giancarlo Rodrigues managed to take the ball away from Selangor keeper, Mohd Khairulazhan, that resulted the keeper bringing down the Brazilian. As a result, Henrique put enough power to take it away from Khairulazhan’s reach.

You can thank Beom-Geun for starting that play, but a few of his decision-makings were questionable at best, such as a few times he opted to shoot from way out that never would’ve troubled Khairulazhan despite his teammates were inside the box. Still, PJ City knows he can do a lot better after a labored performance, so keep an eye on this attacking-midfielder.

Ingat Ah…

Given who the Red Giants faced so far, it’s easy to forget that it is a team in transition. Their opponents they’ve already faced were newly-promoted played a part to the fans’ sense of optimism that is surely been completely snuffed out by now and replaced by a feeling of cautiousness. So keep in mind that Selangor is currently in a rebuilding process. Give them time. Same can be said about the subpar players in this match such Antonio German & Endrick Dos Santos and the way the team plays. Even Rufino had an off day as he failed to find some space to utilize that would’ve caused trouble to the PJ defence.

As for PJ City, they’ve only just rebranded themselves to who they are now thanks to the backing of multinational conglomerate, QI Group, who shares closes ties to the owners of top-English side, Manchester City. While they assembles a pretty decent team, one of their main priorities would be building to be a force in Malaysia like their English counterparts did and next to that of course, is looking to improve the poor condition of their pitch. Both have something exciting going on and it will be interesting to observe their progress.