Just A Few Things: Petaling Jaya City Vs. Selangor

Selangor’s Striking Prince

Ifedayo has now reached a double-figure of goals for the third season running for Selangor and what an incredible way to achieve it. Before he came to a heroic rescue, Ifedayo would often be seen dropping back to keep possession and continue the play. As a result of that though, the Nigerian’s threat is stifled in favour of possession.

Then the 88th minute came. A. Namathevan delivered a cross to the far post and the Petaling Jaya City (PJ City) defence failed to deal with it as Ifedayo was given a bit of space to jump and head it in. But they weren’t done yet. Selangor wants the winner and set about immediately to find it. And through an incredible slice of luck, they did get the winner at the last minute.

Ifedayo was looking to cross the ball back into the box following Shahrel Fikri’s stray pass. But the cross came off the back of K. Prabakaran and to his and his teammates’ dismay, the ball floated over Kalamullah Al-Hafiz and went in. Whether the goal will be credited to Ifedayo or the incoming Shahrel, that is another story. But these goals would have never come about had it not been for Ifedayo’s resilience.

A Familiar Script

It’s not easy being a Selangor fan. If this was a theatre show like you see on Broadway, Selangor would be commended for actually sticking to the same script that was given to them for the past three weeks without any adlibbing. Start poorly and then kickstart their comeback trail after the interval that would mesmerize the audience and send them all home with a happy ending. But this is not theatre, this is football. And serious questions have to be asked about how Selangor has always started their matches.

This is the third match in a row where Selangor didn’t get it going from kick-off. They would often struggle to string a number of passes, let alone getting into their opponent’s final third. And of course, for all their possession, they find themselves trailing 1-0 before half-time in those three matches. Then when the second half came, Selangor would reenergize, dominate possession and mount a successful comeback (Except against Sabah where Selangor conceded a late equalizer). Sure people love a good comeback story, but Selangor can’t keep getting away with lousy starts all the time. So, they either need to show urgency from the first minute or head coach Karsten Neitzel has to get his plan right from the get-go. Because there would surely come a time Selangor’s luck will run out thanks to awful starts to a game.

It’s Not Just Parking 

You can argue that V. Ruventhiran’s goal was a smash-and-grab. But when that ball incredibly went in, it perfectly played in PJ City’s plans. They didn’t go and find a second immediately. Instead, they sat back deep and would try to attack on the counter. So basically, they parked the bus. They have two lines of defence within their final third with a line of six players just inside their own box and a line of three just in front of them. So of course it was difficult for Selangor to pick out a teammate with the danger of being pressured as well as passing lanes to their attackers getting blocked off.

But they didn’t just park the bus. Their second line of defence, their midfield basically, would often press the ball holder with the occasional help of one or two defenders. As a result, Selangor would often hit dead ends one after another after being closed down. PJ City often looks to Mahali Jasuli to press the defence or of course attack on the counter. It wasn’t pleasing, but it worked for PJ City until that monumental late collapse. To make this result worse for PJ, Syahmi Zamri and Kogileswaran Raj had golden chances at some point throughout the match to score PJ’s second only to be stopped by Selangor keeper Mohd Khairulazhan. How different it could’ve been had they taken them better. Alas, PJ City instead were left licking their deep wounds from a despairing loss.

Creative Help Needed

That being said, for all the possession the Red Giants had, they were absolutely struggling to break through a stubborn PJ backline. If they had lost the match, perhaps no Selangor fan would be complaining. That’s how lacklustre Selangor was throughout the whole match.

This has already been touched by resident statistics guru Keesh Sundaresan AKA Mat Stats, but Selangor has problems looking to break through disciplined defences due to a lack of a reliable creator. It was already in full display when they faced the likes of Penang and Terengganu before PJ City, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they had so much trouble penetrating PJ City’s line of defence because of two reasons. One is that no one is capable of making those creative passes that will catch the defence off guard. And second, the deliveries into the box from the wings, especially from the full-backs have been disappointing.

Selangor may have a ready-made solution for the full-backs with on-loan right-back Quentin Cheng in the form of his life with Penang while R. Dinesh looks like he is ready to make the left-back slot his again. But who is the No. 10 in the midfield to attack down the middle? Selangor needs to dip into the mid-season transfer window for that kind of player. Otherwise, we question whether they do like to inflict pain on themselves whenever they deal with another defensive side like PJ City.

THIS ARTICLE IS POWERED BY CYBERLYNX INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE: EDUCATION FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM