Ready for new season: Selangor players celebrating after winning the Selangor Asia Challenge title.
PETALING JAYA: Past reputations count for nothing as Selangor coach Nidzam Jamil wants to take a tougher approach in charting the Super League runners-up’s campaign for the new season starting this month.
Nidzam insisted that previous good records will not guarantee any player a place in the starting line-up and his charges will be judged from current performances.
“I don’t like to talk about past performances and we can’t talk about things that have passed,” said Nidzam.
“What is important is the current performance of the players.
“Football is about today, not about yesterday.
‘‘If everyone gives effort, works hard and pushes each other, we will be ready to play,” said Nidzam.
On Monday, the Red Giants showed they are on the right footing as far as the pre-season preparations are concerned after securing the Selangor Asia Challenge (SAC) title by finishing the campaign with two wins over Brunei’s DPMM FC and Laos’ Young Elephants.
The two consecutive 4-0 victories saw Selangor collect 14 points. The points were determined not just from victory as every goal scored also contributed a point.
Nidzam, the former assistant to previous coach Tan Cheng Hoe, was satisfied with the performance of the players with the Super League set to kick off in less than two weeks time.
“In the context of the SAC meet, I am satisfied because we didn’t concede. Football is also about defending goals apart from scoring them.
“But for the indicators in the Super League later, we have a standard that we have set.
‘‘Not only in the aspect of attacking but also in the defending,” he said.
For the new season, Selangor will not only be competing in the Super League but will also feature in the AFC Champions League (ACL 2) competition.
Selangor lost former national team captain Brendan Gan and Colombian Ayron Del Valle but they have recruited Chilean Ronnie Fernandez and Dutch player Alvin Fortes for the new season.
Del Valle helped Selangor to finish second in the Super League last season with 25 goals in 33 games but has decided to return to his country as he was home sick.
Brendan has signed for KL.
