Selangor losing on the night wasn’t a surprise.
In fact, my colleagues and I had a lengthy discussion on the Red Giants, a few hours prior to kick-off. While we had different predictions for the game, all of us agreed on one thing – Selangor were going to concede on the night. The Red Giants have conceded in five out of their seven games this season, and their impeccable momentum was destroyed last week, when they were sent packing from the FA Cup after a 2-1 defeat to PDRM – ironically inspired by Singaporean defender Safuwan Baharuddin.
But the real surprise was the manner in which they lost the game. Our predictions were pinned on bigger reasons. Tampines’ attacking trio of Billy Mehmet, Jermaine Pennant and Jordan Webb were more than capable of being a major threat and we presumed that Sundramoorthy was going to unleash them in a fixture that’s as big as this. We were wrong.
Sundramoorthy opted to bench his talismanic duo – Billy Mehmet and Jermaine Pennant – while opting to start with Jordan Webb and Fazrul Nawaz upfront. More importantly though, he employed a back-three of Afiq Yunos, Kwon Jun as well as Mustafic Fahrudin in a bid to curb the threat posed by Selangor’s Patrick Ronaldinho. Underestimating Selangor? Or playing for a draw? At that point, it was relatively unsure.
You’d expect Zainal’s side to be different though right? It’s an AFC Cup fixture at home, and they’re desperately in need of a win to get back to winning ways, following last week’s disaster in Malacca. What we got instead, was a substandard first eleven – from which glaring tactical errors could be spotted, within minutes into the game. What we could for the remaining 90 minutes was a result.
Logically, you’re looking at a side that’s got plenty of pace upfront. You’d want equally pacey defenders to keep a close eye on them and help the side launch breakaway attacks during the game. Selangor have the necessary ammunition as well. Azrif Nasrulhaq and Raimi Nor are both quick with their feet and they certainly have pace. Offensively, Selangor have Andik and Gopi – two men that can work wonders, provided they’re given the necessary assistance from midfield and defence.
As always, squad rotation is pretty reasonable. But shouldn’t it also be applied diligently? While the Malaysian fixture is understandably clamped up, coaches have the responsibility to pick and choose their battles carefully. The AFC Cup is a major continental fixture that teams work incredibly hard to participate in, and the element of prestige is evidently bigger in this competition. But Zainal’s decision to ring the changes and drop the likes of Nazmi Faiz, S. Veenod, Gopinathan, Azrif Nasrulhaq and even Raimi Nor, for a match against Singapore’s premier side, ultimately backfired.
Tampines did the smart thing by employing a 3-4-3 formation, which occassionally transformed into a 3-5-2. The back-three of Mustafic, Afiq and Kwon suffocated Patrick Ronaldinho, and packing more men into midfield also allowed them outnumber Selangor in the middle of the park. But here’s the weakness of a system that featured a back-three; Tampines only had one man as an auxiliary fullback on each flank. Within minutes into the game, it was evident that Selangor had to push through the flanks as they were being clearly outnumbered in midfield. With a fullback and a winger on each flank, it could have been 2 vs 1 going forward, in favour of Selangor.
10 minutes into the game, the alarm bells started ringing. Azmi Muslim and Bunyamin Omar severely lacked attacking instincts and they were struggling to make any forward runs – leaving Selangor’s wingers to fight their battle alone against Tampines’ wingback. It also didn’t help that Hadi Yahya and Mauro Olivi kept taking turns moving to the flanks, when it relatively obvious that neither men looked comfortable in the position, nor had the ability to be a threat from that position.
With Selangor’s fullback failing to push forward, Tampines had an easy job at containing Selangor’s only outlet of being dangerous and Ronaldinho’s inability to breakaway from Mustafic Fahrudin’s clutches also left the Red Giants toothless upfront. While it was evident that Nazmi and Gopi’s presence were sorely missed, the bigger issue was the absence of Azrif Nasrulhaq and Raimi Nor – Selangor’s attacking fullbacks.
There was a temporary shade of hope at the beginning of the second half, when Gopi and Nazmi were introduced in place of Saiful and Hadi Yahya. It did inject much needed impetus into the Red Giants – culminating in several chances merely minutes after the restart. But as every minute passed, Selangor kept getting back to square one, with Azmi and Bunyamin continuously failing to assist their wingers.
Zainal did not have the liberty of bringing on Raimi as he wasn’t included in the squad. But he did have Azrif on the bench, who could have come on for Bunyamin at any point. But he didn’t. Instead, the ex-Pahang boss opted to watch his side struggle in their pursuit of dismantling a highly organized Tampines side, before making a late decision to bring on S. Veenod. Evidently, there was barely any time for the midfielder to make an impact, as Selangor’s hopes vanished into the thin air at the end of 90 minutes.
I won’t deny – there were several questionable calls from the referee. Due credit must be given to Tampines and Sundramoorthy as well – the Stags were tactically solid and hard to break down. But a large chunk of this defeat resulted in Selangor’s inability to maximize the usage of talent at their disposal. It could have been a winnable game, it should have been a winnable game. Thanks to Zainal’s squad rotation policy as well as tactical errors, Selangor have picked up their second defeat on the trot.
But of course, Selangor’s AFC Cup campaign is still well and alive. There’s four games to go and there’s plenty of time to bounce back and seal a spot in the knockout stages. But judging by Zainal’s squad selection tonight, you’ve got to really wonder if Selangor are even keen on making an impact in the AFC Cup this year. Now that’s something the Red Giants need to clarify, instead of saying ‘we tried our best’ when that was clearly not the case.
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