Once fancied Kedah side comes in to Group D less illustrious than their former glory days as the look to be the least impressive among the four teams, if statistics were to be used. The team is having some managerial issues with head coach Majiro Tot leaving his post last month, putting the Canaries under interim coach Datuk Ahmad Shafie. Under Majiro, Kedah suffer from inconsistency during the Premier League, and we can only see this continuing during the more elite Malaysia Cup under the Ahmad despite the former having quite a credential.
TACTICS
Ahmad is believed to play on with Majiro’s tactics who prefers a 4-4-2 formation. The team knocks in crosses from the flanks with hope their experienced strikers can find means to pounce it into the net.
ATTACK
Kedah has no problem up-front with good striking options available in the likes of either Mohd Khyril Muhymeen or Akhmal Rizal partnering Alan Guc up-front. Either partnership has proven very lethal for the Canaries showing off 38 goals in this years’ Premier League. Teams up against Kedah will need to be extra wary of these experienced local strikers whom are known to seize opportunities presented to them. 26-year-old Khyril in particular is not only skillful, but tends to be very deadly if left unmarked due to his speed.
MIDFIELD
There are a few national household names in the Kedah midfield, and this makes their engine room quite impressive on paper. The likes of Badrul Bakhtiar (image) are maestros at their task and looks keen to power long deadly shot on goal, while Nelson Marcelo pulls strings together as the main playmaker of the team. At the flanks, Shazuan Ashraf and Syazwan Zainon are very speedy flankers with exceptional accurate passing abilities. The strong midfield allows the team to revert to either 4-4-2 or 4-1-3-2 with ease as attacks can be generated from both the middle and flanks, much to the dismay of a team which is not adaptable enough to in-game changes.
DEFENSE
Kedah is not defensively gifted, but conceding only 19 goals in 22 matches does ring something about their defense line. The defense line prefers to play with an offside trap, in order to complement their lack of height among players, and utilize their speedy wingers. The strength of Kedah’s defense lies in their goalkeeper Abdul Hadi whom has been able to keep 8 clean sheets during the Premier League.
OUR VERDICT
Although Kedah looks very strong on paper, the team is troubled by inconsistency hence giving them a disadvantage when it comes to the Malaysia Cup group stages. Nonetheless, with a little of luck, and also better consistency, we feel that Kedah may just sneak through the quarter finals with games against Perak and Sarawak most probably playing huge roles in securing them the spot.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Khyril Muhymeen, Baddrol Bakhtiar, Shazuan Ashraf & Syazwan Zainon, Alan Guc, Khyril Muhymeen & Akhmal Rizal
