Just A Few Things: Perak Vs. Melaka United
Credit: MFL
Deep, Deep Trouble
Another day, another disappointing performance. Perak, oh Perak. What on earth is going on over at Ipoh? The Bos Gaurus continue to not only letting their fans down but also themselves following a 1-0 defeat to Melaka United, who themselves were also lacklustre. It’s hard to pinpoint anything positive in that match from Perak’s perspective.
Izzuddin Roslan is probably the only person who can hold their high in that shambolic Perak team given his tenacity and confidence and the night could’ve been so different had he scored his 3rd-minute chance. When he got strangely hooked off just before the hour mark, Perak lost their only spark and it wasn’t long after that they conceded largely due to their own doing. If there was a moment that perfectly personifies Perak’s form, conceding that goal was it. And we will get to that in the next point
But the question remains: How are Perak going to bounce back? Who exactly they can look to for inspiration to bring them out from the doldrums? Because as far as anyone can see here, it’s not going to get any better for the Bos Gaurus. They’re perhaps lucky there are two teams who are doing much worse than them in the meantime in the table. But that doesn’t make it any less infuriating for the Perak fans though.
I Wan It That Way
Wan Zaharulnizam can give himself a pat on his back after he scored the only goal in the match. The midfielder tirelessly ran around the midfield and down the half-spaces to give some much-needed pep to a laboured Melaka attack. Zaharulnizam had the most shots out of all his teammates with three and all of them are on-target.
His second shot was the most pivotal. Perak, particularly goalkeeper Azri Ghani, were awful in dealing with a dangerous situation and it resulted in Azri somehow losing the ball thanks to Stefan Nikolic’s pressing. Nikolic proceeded to cut it back for Zaharulnizam scored an easy tap-in while the Perak defence stood static where not one of them picked up his run. The goal is a reward for Zaharulnizam’s hardworking shift as he is subbed off ten minutes before injury time. But overall, a job well done for the Melaka midfielder.
Atas Sikit
Perak head coach Chong Yee Fatt had to make changes to turn the game around. So he brought on Kenny Pallraj and Nazirul Naim for J. Partiban and Raifuddin Rodin on the 70-minute mark. With Kenny taking his usual position as the holding midfielder, this allowed Leandro Dos Santos to move further up and help in the attack. The change almost yielded immediate impact as Leandro had three shots in quick succession in the space of three minutes starting from the 73rd minute.
He was in a great position just in front of the goal as he met Firdaus Saiyadi’s free-kick. But with his body away from goal, he had to improvise with a back header that sadly for him, was caught easily by Melaka keeper Norazlan Razali. He had another header a minute later that went away from goal. It was his third shot that was the closest he got as his attempt at a spectacular Bicycle Kick by the near post was again easily caught by Norazlan thanks to his positioning.
So there was an attempt to get back into the match, but the effect of that change faded much faster than whatever lingering hope a Perak fan has at this point.
Pressure’s Off… For Now
Heading into this match, Melaka only had one win in the last four matches where the rest of them ended in defeats. And that sole victory happened to be against bottom-placed UiTM FC, so that was to be expected. The rest of those match results have not been kind to the Sang Kancil. This resulted in the pressure increasing on head coach Zainal Abidin Hassan last week when Melaka lost the lead twice en route to a despairing 3-2 defeat at home to Selangor despite getting it right in their approach.
Initially, Melaka was just as lacklustre as their opponents here. The football wasn’t pleasing to the eye about how they went about going forward despite showing they can truly do last week. Sony Norde struggled to cause any damage with his runs, S. Kumaahran was strangely not involved as much as he would’ve hoped and Nikolic often dropped deep to keep possession and his impact upfront is somewhat limited as a result. Overall, it wasn’t pretty, but the result is for Melaka. Zainal wouldn’t mind how they got here in the end. After all, Melaka did win. So his job is safe, at least for the time being.
