Just A Few Things: JDT Vs. Selangor

Credit- Malaysian Football League

It Just Falls Apart

To be fair to Selangor, they actually did well to hold off Johor Darul Takzim (JDT) for almost the entire first half. There wasn’t a decisive chance by the home side until just before half-time. The thing is, there was a strong air of controversy surrounding the first two goals (And we’ll go into that next). But when the third goal was lashed in by Diogo Luis Santo, that’s when everything fell apart. 

It was basically all-hands on deck mode for the Selangor defence after that whenever JDT had the ball in their final third. But as a result of going into that mode, the defence lost their shape completely and it became easy for JDT to create the chances and score the goals. It was only once all six goals went in that everything would stabilize again for the Red Giants, but the severe damage was already done.

Lagi Sekali…

Can we go through a few big matches without having any refereeing controversy whatsoever? After the debacle at Kuala Terengganu last week, another bad refereeing performance was in the spotlight. Firstly, the free-kick that led to the opener shouldn’t have been given as the foul looked too soft.. But that wasn’t the most controversial decision.

Just moments after the restart, Diogo received the ball and just as he was about to get into the box, Selangor defender Nicholas Swirad went in to prevent a threatening chance and sacrificed himself to be booked. But stunningly, the referee pointed to the box where replays showed it was very obvious that the foul was committed outside the box and incredibly, the linesman didn’t even help rectify the situation.

Move, Farizal Harun!

It’s strange that Selangor’s first-choice keeper Khairul Azhan is out due to a wedding. I mean, congratulations to the man. But the timing of it has to be suspect, especially after what happened here. Farizal Harun had to be called up to mend the sticks. But the keeper again is in the spotlight for the wrong reasons and this time, it’s his performance that was scrutinized. Firstly, he didn’t set up the wall very well that led to Safawi Rasid’s opener. Then, he didn’t even move to try and save Safawi’s penalty that shouldn’t have been given in the first place.

Farizal’s performance looked suspect throughout the match as his movements and positioning looked static. And the one time he did move, it was on a shot that left him no chance of saving even in full stretch. Maybe his performance is down to some rustiness as he hasn’t started for quite some time, but he definitely didn’t give himself a good case here.

Ramadhan’s Surge

He didn’t start the match, but was given a go later on as he replaced Gonzalo Cabrera on 68 minutes. And goodness gracious, what an impact he made in his 22-minute plus cameo. It only took Ramadhan Saifullah four minutes for the impact to happen as after he set up Diogo on the left, he kept moving and it resulted in him pouncing on the rebound following Diogo’s shot getting saved. Then another three minutes later, he did something absolutely astonishing.

Picking up the ball on the left, Ramadhan got into position just outside the box. Then he unleashed a spectacular curler into the far top corner that left Farizal Harun no chance of saving. The confidence of this 19-year old forward is a sight to behold as he continues to grow to be an amazing player since he made his Super League debut against Pahang a few weeks ago. Surely national head coach Tan Cheng Hoe would be keeping tabs on this young man from here on out.

An Author’s Note

Pardon the transition to a first-person perspective, but this is something I have to say. I’ve already made my feelings known about the state of FA Selangor in the build-up for this match where you can read here. To expand on this after what we’ve witnessed, I still maintain what I said. But what happened here shows that there is a lot more work than expected to be done to even challenge the Southern Tigers for taking the pinnacle of the league.

But the manner of this result is definitely unacceptable and honestly, I can’t blame the fans for being so frustrated and angry about it. Looking back on this season, the management would surely have to make a big decision when it comes to the first team for the next season to at least improve them in the short-term, whether it’s a managerial change, personnel change or investment in something that would improve the first team. Because on paper, the team seemingly (That’s the key word) should be good enough to be in the top 4. But reality shows differently. Even so, I’m still willing to be patient as I still have faith in the management. However, I’m not too sure about the rest of the fans though.