Just A Few Things: Kuala Lumpur City Vs. Selangor

Credit: KL City

Cagey Derby

What a match for these two teams to kick-off the Super League restart. Both teams have been making efforts to restructure how they work behind the scenes. Their first encounter this season ended 1-1 and here, the result repeated itself in a physical and cagey match. Neither side looked dominant on one another as KL couldn’t take advantage of their attacks while Selangor didn’t make use of their possession that well. 

The Selangor defence was able to square up to KL’s forwards while the KL defence stood their ground whenever the Red Giants had the ball in their final third despite the latter’s encouragement going forward.

While there wasn’t any of the desired explosiveness you would see in a derby, you can’t really blame them for a wary display as it has been about two months since these teams (Alongside others) played competitively. Though cagey, the two teams did have their fair share of shots with KL’s 11 shots to Selangor’s 16. While there were efforts shown on the offensive front, the teams have rarely troubled each other’s keepers. While the result seems fair, it didn’t help them in terms of climbing the league table.

On The Red, Blue & White Corner

The way KL City head coach, Bojan Hodak, has set up the team to be defensively solid in order to frustrate their opponents. A 4-4-2 shape with their front two pressing the Selangor defence who are looking to play out from the back. And even if the Selangor defence got the ball in their midfield, KL’s structured defence and midfield line and the press had to make Selangor playing more direct, especially from the back. However, Selangor eventually grew into the game, but the KL defence, alongside the solid Kevin Ray Mendoza who read most of the situations well, stood their ground.

When it comes to chances, KL did have a few as well as a superb free-kick scored by Paulo Josue that left Selangor keeper, Mohd Khairulazhan no chance of saving. However, the free-kick shouldn’t have been given in the first place as replays showed Oliver Buff clearly winning the ball before getting the eventual goalscorer with his challenge.

Other than that, defender Giancarlo Galilfuico had two decent chances courtesy of corners just inside the box, but he blazed them over the bar despite having some decent amount of space on both occasions. However, KL’s new striker, Kyrian Nwabueze perhaps had the most golden chance of all just after the hour mark when he got ahead of defender Sharul Nazeem to receive a long ball. Just as he was close to the goal, he took the shot only for him to be denied by Khairulazhan’s trailing leg with perhaps Sharul’s challenge throwing the Nigerian off his effort.

On The Red & Yellow Corner

Because of KL’s systematic defensive shape and press, Selangor found it hard to break through KL’s final third, let alone their midfield line. The central defence pair of Ashmawi Yakin and Sharul Nazeem alongside defensive midfield Manuel Konrad dropping back to form a back three to carry out the build-up from the back so that the full-backs can move forward.

Despite this, the Red Giants were never in a hurry and continued to probe the KL final third with patience. Oliver Buff has the most shots out of all the Red Giants with five and with one of them scoring the equalizer just minutes after KL opened the scoring. Prior to the goal, Buff hit the crossbar from a free-kick and even before that, missed a golden chance to score when he hesitantly pulled the trigger with just the keeper to beat and also saw an effort early in the match well saved by Mendoza. All in all, it was a lively match for the Swiss.

As for the others, Sharul Nazeem once again showed his courage by keeping close to Nwabueze, Jordan Ayimbila once again was a menace as a left-back although his decision-making was a little off while Ifedayo Olusegun, ever the reliable one incredibly missed a last-minute point-blank effort following incredible work from substitute Danial Asri that would’ve given Selangor the victory. Once again, Selangor didn’t make use of whatever few golden chances they had.

Missing Midfield Generals

KL & Selangor started the match missing their respective key midfielders that perhaps would’ve given that extra push to their respective teams over the finish line called ‘three points’. KL City lost Akram Mahinan due to a calf injury as stated by the player himself while the reason for Brendan Gan’s absence from Selangor’s line-up is currently unknown at this time of writing.

With Selangor dominating possession, KL could’ve used Akram’s destroyer abilities to win the ball back in midfield and set KL on the way with the counter-attacks while Brendan’s dynamism would’ve upped the tempo of Selangor’s offence by driving forward into the opponent’s final third.

Despite the absences, both teams did have adequate replacements with Kenny Pallraj making his debut as a new KL player while Selangor did adapt well in the midfield without Brendan. But it just doesn’t seem right without these two crucial players.