Just A Few Things: PKNS Vs. JDT

Credit: Malaysian Football League

Keep It Compact

Somehow or another, it’s perhaps unsurprising PKNS head coach K. Rajagobal adopted a different approach in order to frustrate the Southern Tigers. Instead of the usual 4-3-3 system, Rajagobal opted to go for a 4-4-2 formation with a lower line of engagement. He even further made huge calls by giving rare starts to Mahali Jasuli, K. Kannan & Tauffiq Ar-Rasyid.

The plan seemingly worked. Even though JDT had most of the possession and patient in the build-up, PKNS has the midfield line keeping close to the defence to close out any space JDT could utilize. It resulted in Diogo Luis Santo having to drop deep and provide support for his teammates in order to get the ball forward.

Chances by the away side were scarce and PKNS looked disciplined. So everything is going well for the home side, until…

A Timely Reminder

With a good strategy in place, all it can take for it to be taken apart is brilliance by any of the opposition players. And that is what Safawi Rasid did to put JDT in the lead and it took only 17 minutes for him to do so. Safawi picking up the ball on the right, dribbled past Kannan with ease as he went into the box.

Safawi then went one better faking out the incoming Romel to get himself into a better position to use his favored left foot before finishing with a great curler into the far post. Ironically, the last time Safawi scored was against PKNS at Larkin last month, so he had a somewhat dry spell as he made his satisfaction of ending it known on the Johor Southern Tigers page. The goal serves a reminder of how talented Safawi is.

Risk & Sort Of A Reward

Another one of Rajagobal’s big calls was to put Romel Morales as the left midfielder instead of a natural winger being played there. It looked like he was mainly there to provide defending support for Kannan with his physicality to further shut down the visitors (But we’ve all seen how Safawi took them for a ride).

Though it did somewhat pay off for a different reason. Sherman and K. Gurusamy played a brilliant one-two on the right-wing. Gurusamy then delivered a low cross to the far post and Morales was there to slot a low shot past JDT keeper, Farizal Marlias. Though played out of position, Morales remains committed in doing his job no matter which midfield area he is slotted to.

Finding A Way Past

Romel’s equalizer may have been a setback, but JDT go about it again like it’s normal. It was going to take a lot of focus and determination to try and keep a team like JDT out. But with the amount of talent and skillset JDT has, it feels more likely that they will get another goal.

By the hour mark, they did. The play started out from a short corner then Leandro Velazquez delivered a cross to the far post. Adam Nor Azlin headed the ball across goal and Diogo was there to get his head on it to score despite Tauffiq getting a hand on it. Despite knowing full well what PKNS was trying to do, JDT continued to play patiently to break down a disciplined PKNS defence and ultimately, it paid off.

Tau Tak?

Tauffiq Ar-Rasyid was thrust into facing a scarily offensive-JDT side, but he did a job well done. JDT could’ve scored at least one or two more had it not been for Tauffiq. The stand-in keeper had good strong hands to keep out Diogo’s powerful shots at least twice, one of Safawi’s trademark free-kicks and Velazquez’ low searing strike from a tight angle

So he will feel frustrated that he couldn’t get a much stronger hand to Diogo’s header that proved to be the winning goal. But he made himself a good account by being solid against a side like JDT despite being on the losing side. Tauffiq perhaps earned himself another chance in goal, so Zarif Irfan better watch out.