KUALA LUMPUR: Former national captain Safiq Rahim has told Selangor to stop making excuses and take responsibility for their FA Cup semi-final collapse against Kuching City.
He also questioned Selangor head coach Kim Pan Gon’s tactics and conduct.
The former Selangor and Johor Darul Ta’zim midfielder said Pan Gon must look at his own shortcomings instead of directing criticism at others.
“Selangor’s failure to reach the FA Cup final after losing to Kuching City should be something Pan Gon reflects on and reassesses,” Safiq wrote in a social media post on Monday.
“As head coach, he naturally must take full responsibility for what happened to his team. If you look at the way Selangor played, they were overly defensive, and the tactical approach used can be questioned. Interestingly, the own goal that contributed to the defeat was scored by a substitute.”
Safiq also said there is a tendency to blame match officials, the FA of Malaysia (FAM) and the Malaysian Football League (MFL) whenever Selangor fall short.
“Another glaring issue is that every time there is a problem or failure, issues surrounding referees, FAM, and MFL are raised. It is the same story playing out season after season. How long do you want to keep finding fault in others? Is there really no weakness within your own team that you need to acknowledge?” he said.
“In football, we must have the courage to admit when the team simply played poorly. If the tactics do not work, players do not perform as expected, or poor decisions are made, accept reality and fix it.”
He also questioned Kuching City midfielder Nazmi Faiz Mansor’s involvement in the touchline confrontation that marred Sunday’s second-leg encounter.
“The incident involving Nazmi also raises serious questions. What actually happened that caused him to head towards the opponents’ bench and spark an incident that saw two red cards shown?
“The same goes for the hand gesture linked to insinuations about money directed at certain quarters,” he said.
Safiq said Selangor fans deserved results rather than repeated explanations for the team’s failures.
His criticism followed Selangor’s 2-0 defeat to Kuching City at Taha Arifin Stadium on Sunday.