There’s a special rivalry about this tie. If you’ve attended this particular fixture before, you’ll know what I’m talking about. But you just get the feel that it’s going to be a lot more ferocious on Tuesday night, judging the amount of fans that were present at Larkin as well as the Ipoh Stadium, over the weekend.
Both sides opened their Super League campaign with draws last weekend. Selangor turned on the style by holding JDT to a 1-1 draw in Larkin (though the Southern Tigers eventually won the Charity Shield on spot-kicks), while Perak silenced their critics by battling out a competitive 0-0 draw against Kelantan. So if there’s one thing you know for sure – both sides will be eager to claim their first win of the season on Tuesday.
THE PERAK VIEW
It’s not surprising to see Perak by touted as candidates for relegation. They’ve got a really young squad with a head coach that visibly lacks Super League experience. On the positive side though, there’s plenty of determination in this side – and sometimes, that’s all you need, really. The Seladangs came into their tie against Kelantan as underdogs, but went on to dominate a large part of the proceedings. Hafizul Hakim has been receiving plaudits throughout the Malaysian football fraternity for his impeccable performance and there were several other notable shining stars from the game as well (Beto, Thiago etc).
That being said, there are still causes for concern. Vokhid Shodiev looked sub-standard on Saturday. Perhaps it was the efficacy of Kelantan’s defensive strategy, but Shodiev’s first touches failed him throughout the game. Elias showed glimpses of his abilities, but lacked finishing touch. In fact, he was probably guilty of being a tad too selfish with the ball on several occassions. As of now, the only threat they pose comes through set-piece situations, where Nazirul Naim’s expertise are maximized.
While that could be used to their advantage on Tuesday, Shamsul Saad’s men need to move away from being one dimensional. Razman Roslan is likely to partner Shahrom Kalam – which comes across as a formidable partnership. Elias and Shodiev need to start getting into key positions as chances will be incredibly limited. Defensively, Thiago and Shahrul Saad have the upper body strength that’s required to deal with Patrick Wleh and Mauro Olivi. Question is, can they forge a strong understanding of one another, during the game?
THE SELANGOR VIEW
Talk about silencing your critics. Zainal is a good coach, but his arrival at Selangor was tainted by the manner in which his predecessor was kicked out. After last weekend though, Zainal is already attracting plenty of Selangor fans on his bandwagon. While JDT dominated possession on the day, Selangor displayed incredible focus throughout the pitch and took their chances when it mattered. Hafiz Kamal in particular, looks like a fantastic addition to that midield and his free-kick strike was sublime, to say the least.
But heading into this game, they have several injury concerns to deal with. Rob Cornthwaite, Hazwan Bakri and Nazmi Faiz are all out with hamstring injuries. Gopinathan is likely to come in a feature on the left flank, which should them a different dimension – one’s that all about pace and delivery. S. Veenod will most likely come in for Nazmi Faiz, while Razman Roslan will step in for Cornthwaite.
Nazmi’s presence will probably be missed the most. He was clinical with his wide array of passing arsenal over the weekend. Think about it – away game, tough nut to crack, misfiring forward. You need that creativity in the middle of the park. But his absence also means that Andik will have the shoulder the responsibility of injecting creativity into the team on Tuesday. Perak will keep it tight, like they always do. Unlike the JDT game, the onus will now be on Selangor to push for their first win of the season.
THE VERDICT?
This is 50-50 really. On paper, Selangor might come across as strong favourites, but as Perak proved on Saturday, they are not afraid to face big teams with big names. Shamsul Saad may be inexperienced, but he knows the club inside out. He commands respect from the players and judging by what some of the lads have been saying, he comes across as a great motivator too. More often than not, that’s all you need in football. A determined bunch of players, will always trump over skilled ones. Fortunately for Selangor, they have plenty of drive in this team as well. Can they get it up and running on Tuesday night?
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