Just A Few Things: Kedah Darul Aman Vs. Sri Pahang

Pahang’s Goul-ing Task, Kedah’s Herold-ing Dominance

Given the quality of Kedah’s attack, the Pahang defence, particularly Herold Goulon, is set for a busy night defending. And they certainly were kept busy. Goulon, being the defensive commander that he is, did well to cut out three promising Kedah attacks. It was as if he was getting warmed up to neutralize Kpah Sherman.

However, he was a little too up for it in the end. On the 17th minute, Kipre Tchtche played a sublime pass to find Sherman. Just as Sherman was about to break free, Goulon clumsily brought down the Liberian striker. Being the last man and making no attempt to win the ball, it’s understandable the referee gave the Frenchman a straight red card, marking the beginning of Pahang’s difficult night.

Kedah meanwhile saw the chance and further stamped their control on the match. It was all the Red Eagles throughout the match, not giving Pahang any chance to attack just by retaining possession and making good use of them. Pahang’s disorganized defense also helped matters for Kedah to easily penetrate their final third and make use of the space left behind. Two players though

It was only dilly-dallying that led to Kedah conceding via an excellent counter lead by Nor Azam Azih to tee up Nur Izzat Che Awang and they could’ve conceded another had Shahril Saa’ri not saved Lee Tuck’s penalty late in the match. Other than those times, Kedah looked comfortable throughout almost the whole match and completely dominated proceedings. Heck, they could’ve had at least one or two more had the final pass been better. They definitely 100% deserved the win.

Lebanese Flair

Lebanese forward Rabih Ataya completely made fools out of the Pahang defence. Whether he is making runs, playing passes into the box or anything else, you can count on him to create a decisive attack out of nothing. Pahang left-back Faisal Rosli could not for the life of him contain him.

Rabih’s runs down the right was a mix of his pace and trickery footwork that would often leave defenders bamboozled, sweating and keeping their guard up. If he is not out wide, he would drift near the half space and play incisive passes or air balls into the box to find his fellow forwards. He was the one that played the key pass for Kedah’s first goal. Though he didn’t get a goal himself, Rabih still was a menace to deal with finding space to attack and he doesn’t find it, he creates it himself. It’s a shame he didn’t get a goal for himself following amazing work before he was subbed off with ten minutes remaining.

A Good Bad Man

Form is temporary, class is permanent. If you wonder why Baddrol Bakhtiar remains one of Kedah’s best players, just show them this match. The midfield is the figurative quarterback as he is able to make many penetrative progressive passes aided by one of either Kipre or Sherman who drops deep or to the same people who are looking to make runs off the last defender. With Pahang a man less, they opt to not apply a press to try and keep a disciplined shape, which makes Baddrol’s job so much easier to play those incisive passes.

Baddrol also knows when to attack and go forward off-the-ball. Hence, why he was responsible for two of Kedah’s goals. Seeing the space and the ball incoming towards his path, Baddrol put the ball away with a rocket strike hitting the roof of the goal to open the scoring in some style just before half-time. He then attacked the box to score a glancing header for Kedah’s third and effectively wrapping up the three points, although it could well be credited as a Zarif Irfan own goal seeing the ball bouncing off his shoulder. Nevertheless, Baddrol overall had a good night out and surely Kedah’s best player of the game due to his great technique and vision as well as a keen smell of attack.

Contrasting Fortunes

Kedah may have started off badly with a defeat to Johor Darul Takzim (JDT), but they are now on an impressive run. A form of four wins and a draw now see them being the early contenders to JDT by being just one point behind them. The result became more important after Terengganu dropped points following a goalless draw at home to Petaling Jaya City. Now all that remains is to see if Kedah can maintain a title challenge and carry it throughout the season.

Pahang meanwhile is seeing their season spiralling out of control. Once again, instability has arisen after the management opted to rest Thomas Dooley after just two games into the season. With whispers of refusing to accept criticism made by Dooley about the quality of the facilities as well as refusing to cooperate with Dooley to get the foreign players he wants, what was the point of appointing him if you refuse to listen? Bringing back Dollah Salleh to the hotseat has not improved things at all. Maybe it’s a little harsh to judge here given Pahang were a man less for more than 70 minutes. But even before that, Kedah looked the better side. Even so, Dollah has taken Pahang quite high before, so maybe the time will come when Pahang will climb the table. For now, Pahang may as well be considered early contenders for relegation.