Just A Few Things: Selangor Vs. PJ City

Credit: MFL

If You Look Closely At The Stats…

… You see that Selangor has kept a rare clean sheet this season, only their second of the year. Granted, it was against a Petaling Jaya (PJ) City team not known for their goalscoring exploits this year and the fact that they were also given their fringe players a run with perhaps an eye on the visit to Johor Darul Takzim on Tuesday. Last time someone sent their back-up team against Selangor, it definitely didn’t go well for them and that is putting it lightly.

Still, it was encouraging that a leaky Selangor backline was able to keep out an opponent. Taylor Regan and Michal Nguyen, who has been the subject of scrutiny, along with Syahmi Safari showing his fancy footwork and Fandi Othman, kept their composure to play it out from the back and didn’t do anything facepalm inducing. There were a few nervy moments, especially on Regan & Fandi’s part, but nothing troubling that made a difference. Successfully keeping out their opponents would surely boost their confidence as Selangor make one final push next week against PKNS to go as high as possible in the table.

PJ Press

They may have one eye on Johor Darul Takzim clash when they rested some first-teamers, but PJ City has a gameplan in mind to frustrate the Red Giants. To counter Selangor’s sublime one-touch football, one of the ways they did so was to employ a high press towards the ball holder. And at times of when one or two players press, there is always one player behind the pressing players so that space wasn’t given away that cheaply. To their credit, it did work to some degree.

Sometimes Selangor would hit a dead end and have to go back or was put off in their efforts. Despite trying to frustrate them as much as possible, Selangor still came away with three goals that they felt they deserved and it could’ve been 5-0 had Kalamullah Al-Hafiz not pulled two great saves. If only they have attackers as influential like their opponents have.

The Usual Please, Selangor

There’s only so much defending you can do, but there’s nothing that can be done when the opponent’s creativity is on point. Selangor as usual played their quick thinking and creative football that put PJ City on edge. There were a few warning shots throughout the first half, such as Ifedayo Olusegun’s free header early on and Endrick Dos Santos’ low strike that Kalamullah did well to keep out.

Finally before half-time, Selangor got their reward. Halim Saari was able to dink the ball over a defender in front of him to set up Endrick, who lashed in a half-volley past Kalamullah for a deserved lead. Some time later after the restart, Sandro was able to pick out Khyril Muhymeen and the forward was able to outrun his nearest marker to score in the one-on-one situation. 

The night was capped off when Ifedayo was able to get the ball out of his feet to carve out a shot and score despite so many PJ bodies surrounding him. A comprehensive win and a rare clean sheet to boot? A good night out overall.

Khyril’s Redemption Arc

He may not be setting the local football scene alight, but Khyril Muhymeen has been on the road to redemption. Having been wandering around Malaysia aimlessly, perhaps Khyril finally is on the right path after years in the wilderness. He is able to keep up with the free-flowing football Selangor played and still had the pace to go as evident with how he scored the second goal despite entering his thirties.

All this is because he has been given a proper run of starting in the first eleven when all of this started due to injuries to mainstay wingers Syahmi Safari & Syazwan Zainon and so far, he has been doing well consistently being down on that flank. There is still a lack of depth when it comes to forwards for Selangor, but Khyril is benefitting from it and he hopes he can further show what he is capable of.