Just A Few Things: Melaka United Vs. Selangor
Credit: Selangor FC
Padang Besar
Who could blame Selangor for fielding the same setup and line-up? They made no changes to the side that comprehensively beat Perak 3-1 at home and hope to do the same to an erratic Melaka United side. But it didn’t take long after the kick-off to see a major problem to the Red Giants 4-4-2 diamond formation
Selangor’s setup emphasizes more on playing narrow. But because of the huge size of the Hang Jebat Stadium field, Melaka employed a wide setup to make use of the vast field as their wide players, Sony Norde and S. Kumaahran would often attack space left behind by Selangor’s full-backs on the wings. A. Namathevan and Jordan Ayimbila had to labour more to get back on the wings whenever Melaka focuses play there.
Not only that, the narrow setup would play perfectly into Melaka’s hands when out of possession. Whenever Selangor do have the ball, Melaka would close them down. And as a result of Selangor’s narrow approach, the ball holder has only options to play short with a Melaka player breathing down on their necks. This would cause Selangor to go more direct in their passing. But this also caused sloppy possession and their direct passes would often go wayward. That, in turn, caused non-existing attacks, something Selangor is not used to. So, the system this time wasn’t working. Something had to change from Selangor’s perspective
Changes Paid Off
As soon as the second half got underway and a goal down, Selangor head coach Karsten Neitzel showed the urgency to come back from this situation by changing his approach. He did so by bringing on winger Nor Hakim Hassan for midfielder Aliff Haiqal and changed the formation from the 4-4-2 diamond to a 4-3-3. What happened next? The impact was almost instantaneous. Just five minutes into the second half, Brendan Gan ran down the right-wing to receive a through ball and played a cross into the box. Melaka keeper Khairul Fahmi only got fingertips to it and the ball fell nicely for Ifedayo for the easiest of goals.
Then, Melaka struck back through Syamim Yahya’s graceful header and Selangor fell behind again. Once again, Neitzel rang more changes shortly afterwards by bringing on Syahmi Safari and Mukhairi Ajmal for Namathevan and Oliver Buff. Both of those changes proved to be the decisive moments for Selangor to snatch the win from Melaka’s clutches.
Mukhairi superbly evaded the press by two Melaka players before playing the cross that led to Selangor’s (And Ifedayo’s) second goal. Then just before stoppage time, Syahmi surprised everyone by taking a volley on the aerial ball the first time and made everyone even more surprised, particularly the Melaka United camp, that it went into the far post beyond Khairul’s reach and it proved to be the winner.
Notice how all of Selangor’s goals came from the right-hand side. Selangor attacked more down the wings, particularly on the right, as they utilized the size of the pitch themselves. Neitzel deserves credit for making the right calls to turn the game around as the Red Giants leave Melaka with three points by the skin of their teeth.
Kumaahran Vs. Ayimbila
Given the form these two players are in recently, it was intriguing to see who will emerge as the winner from this intriguing battle. S. Kumaahran is in hot form after scoring a goal and got an assist in Melaka’s match Vs. UiTM last time out while Jordan Ayimbila remained a beast as a left-back as not only he was a pain for opposing wingers to get past him, but his bombing runs were a sight to behold.
More often, you see these two battling out on the right side throughout the first half. Kumaahran valiantly rises up to the challenge to take on the makeshift Ghanaian left-back with his runs and trickery. However, Ayimbala did make use of his physique to win his fair share of duels. Overall, it was a close duel between these two players. This battle though was at the centre of the opening goal of the match when Ayimbila clumsily fouling Kumaahran inside the box to give away a penalty when there was no real danger from the winger at all. Stefan Nikolic just barely got the ball in from the resulting spot-kick as Kumaahran initially won this skirmish from a bigger picture. But Ayimbila got the last laugh in the end
Sadly we didn’t these two going at it with one another more in the second half compared to the first, due to Selangor focusing more on the right and Melaka attacking all sides. But for the neutral, it was surely an exciting clash.
Mengecewakan
Don’t get Melaka wrong. They played really well and can count themselves unfortunate not to get more from this match. The approach they employed was spot on. The press, the compactness and the pace. Melaka had made Selangor sweat in most parts of the match. They didn’t allow Selangor to repeat their pattern of play they did when they faced Perak last week. Melaka employed a slightly high urge to press Selangor when out of possession and it forced the Red Giants to lose possession. Melaka did so well in frustrating Selangor, they only limited them to making only one shot in the first half and that was in the sixth minute.
The pace, agility and creativity by Melaka’s attacks did their part unnerving Selangor’s defence as Melaka created so many promising chances inside the box, only to be thwarted by last-ditch Selangor defending on numerous occasions. Even so, the Sang Kecil had more shots than their opponents with 12 shots on goal and eight of them on target compared to Selangor’s six shots with five on-target. Normally you would see Selangor rueing their wasted attacks, but on this night, it was Melaka who were the ones made to pay for their squandered chances. Ultimately, the scoreline is what matters the most and Melaka was on the wrong side of this important stat.
