Sarawak’s Opponent Preview: PQP The Red Warriors

What should we know about our opponent?
Pamoga Qu Puteh The Red Warriors (PQPTRW) is coached by K Devan, who was appointed early this season to take over from Zahasmi Ismail who was relieved from duty. Out of 29 registered players in our list, 16 players retained from last season.  Most of these new additions are from the various team, their own youth setup & the disbanded Harimau Muda with Kelantan origin.

Key players?
Badhri Radzi, Dramane Traoré, Khairul Fahmi Che Mat

Strength?
Defence: K Devan is quite conservative as a coach and he adopts conservative tactics. He will make sure the team will focus on not conceding before improving the attack. We are not saying he has a very defensive type of play, but he would wants the team to play it safe. Kelantan is currently the only team in the league that has not conceded any goals after 2 league games. Devan will be deploying two defensive midfielders to lock the midfield and build up play from this.

Counter-attack: Apart from being defensive, Kelantan will rely on the two speedy wingers on both flanks, especially the National wingers, Wan Zack & Wan Zaharul.

Set-Pieces: With Badhri Radzi on the team, expect goals to come from dead ball situations such as free-kicks or corners.

Squad Depth: Kelantan has sufficient depth in every department which makes them one of the contender for top 3 finish this season.

Weakness?
External disturbance: This team is well known to have interference from third parties, either the President himself or the current title sponsors. These interferences will play a huge role in dictating the team’s progress, despite the luxury of sponsorship they have. Expect some players to be distracted by off field dramas caused by both disturbances.

Attack: Even though they have snapped up PDRM’s top scorer Dramane Traoré & Macedonia international striker Baže Ilijoski to bolster their attack, results have yet to be produced.  This might be due to the lack of chemistry upfront between both of them as both players are playing similar roles, as the target man. With two target man, PQPTRW needs quality supply from their midfield or flanks. In recent matches, it was noticed that both strikers struggled to score despite their stature.

Tactical?
K Devan lines up a conservative 4-4-2. Team will be playing direct football due to the pitch condition at Kota Bharu.

Injuries & Suspension?
Injuries: Daudsu Jamaluddin (doubtful)
Suspension: No suspension

Key player’s role?
Badhri Radzi will be key to spray those passes, if they opt to play that direct kind of football. With Lucca doing all the dirty job in the midfield, Badhri will have the freedom to roam and make those important passes forward. Also watch-out for his direct free-kicks.
Strength: Influential, Passing, Free-kick specialist.
Weakness: Defensive

Dramane Traoré is a typical target man who will lurk inside the box waiting for the opportunity to score. The former top scorer for PDRM last season, netting 19 goals out of 15 appearance.
Strength: Physical strength, composed, clinical, positioning.
Weakness: Slow

Khairul Fahmi as the last wall of defence for PQPTRW, he has not conceded any goals yet for the past 3 games. His commanding trait and his reliability between the post give PQPTRW a boost of confidence at the back.
Strength: Reflex, command, handling.
Weakness: Can be clumsy at times

Form?
3 games played, drew one & won two.

Expectation?
Both sides of the fence will want to win this but it will be harder for Sarawak as they are playing away, .  We expect both team to be cautious. A draw is possible for both sides. Sarawak should stop making it a habit for Dramane to score against Sarawak.

Miscellaneous?
K Devan complaint about the pitch in the recent match against UKM and blamed it for the poor display. Datuk Rajagobal is not expected to employ short passes at this venue.

Past meeting?
Sarawak last won in Kota Bharu was in 2014 with the help of a goal from Ryan Griffiths.
In the last 3 meetings against Kelantan in the Liga Super, Sarawak only won once. Away form: L-W-L
2012: Kelantan 3-1 Sarawak
2014: Kelantan 0-1 Sarawak
2015: Kelantan 4-3 Sarawak

Prediction against Sarawak?
Taking into account the following factors:
1. The squad will be travelling to Kota Bharu on Thursday, and take into account the transit in Kuala Lumpur before heading to Kota Bharu via plane.
2. Only morning walk & light training will be done in Kota Bharu on Friday.
3. Kelantan will have the advantage of preparation in the stadium & until today they already played 2 games in a row at home.
4. Syahrul will be ineligible for this match due to contract restriction.
5. Sarawak’s misfiring strikers.
6. Pitch factor
7. Current form
With the factors above, it is our believe at SarawakCrocs that the scoreline would favour Kelantan although our biased prediction would see us giving a scoreless draw for this match. We do hope the results will side Sarawak this time around however, with our strikers banging in those goals.

Trivia
Of all the past three meetings in the Liga Super, only Hairol Mokhtar & J Partiban are the remaining players still with Sarawak to have ever scored against PQPTRW.