Just A Few Things: PJ City Vs. JDT

Credit: Malaysian Football League

Ain’t A Masterpiece

It wasn’t that vintage Johor Darul Takzim (JDT) performance where they dazzle, but they got the job done in the end at the Petaling Jaya Stadium, beating Petaling Jaya City by just 1-0 on a wet, muddy night. It was a scrappy affair that saw both sides having trouble to create clear-cut chances, much more so for the home side.

But for JDT, a solitary goal was enough. Syafiq Ahmad scoring the winner in the first half as they momentarily created a gap between them and Pahang at the summit. Fatigue may have played a part in JDT not being their brightest best given they played in China a few days ago, but they will take the result. Though they could’ve scored a second had PJ City keeper, Muhaimin Mohamad not pulled a double save to deny Gonzalo Cabrera & substitute Akhyar Rashid.

As for PJ City, they did well to hold their own facing a big threat as they adopt a somewhat cautious approach. But their offensive presence in the end let them down where the fine margins were tenable, in which we’ll go into later.

S&S Combined

It’s not been a bad week for Safawi. Scoring a worthy contender for goal of the week against Shandong Luneng in an AFC Champions League clash days ago. Here against PJ City, he turned provider when he set up Syafiq’s opener, and it was a sublime pass too.

JDT caught PJ on the break and the ball reached Safawi on the right. Despite a few PJ City players approaching him, Safawi somehow was able to carve out a brilliant pass from what little space he had that took out four recovering PJ players out of the equation when it was travelling to Syafiq.

As for Syafiq, he had a decent night. His work-rate & passing looked right and finished off Safawi’s pass with a sublime chip over the keeper to remind us how he can finish from a promising position. He’s been much maligned recently, but he had a good game.

PJ Has A Dynamic Problem

Earlier this season, a statement of intent was made when the former MISC-MIFA changed their name to PJ City and has a backing from the QI Group who has ties to the group that owns Manchester City, City Football Group.

PJ City bought in a host of players earlier this season along with retaining most of their key players in their breakthrough season last year. However, it looks like losing the Kpah Sherman-L’Imam Seydi combo had an adverse effect on the squad. Along with the 3-5-2 formation deployed by head coach K. Devan, they also work best when they play on the counter.

However, they need both their centre-forwards to gel well with dynamic movements and an exchange of passes. While Safee Sali is trying his best to make it work, it’s just not working out for him. He’s better suited as a poacher and if he has the ball, he couldn’t hold-up play and play his teammates. It also doesn’t help that chief passer, Bae Beom-Geun was somewhat neutralized and couldn’t feed the ball and the wing-backs had an off-day.

There’s a dynamic problem going on when it comes to attacking and it remains to be seen how PJ will deal with this.