It was a night to forget for national skipper Safiq Rahim at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Wednesday.
Playing against Arsenal, the national team put up a lacklustre performance and were duly whipped 4-0. Aaron Ramsey, Theo Walcott, Carlos Vela and Tomas Rosicky were on target for the Gunners.
“We did not play to our true strength and we made far too many errors. It was not our best performance and we all know it. We gave away sloppy goals ... one from the spot kick and the rest from defensive lapses,” said Safiq at a press conference yesterday.
Safiq, however, has vowed to make amends in the next match against Liverpool at 5.45pm at the National Stadium tomorrow.
He added that it was painful to see Malaysia being beaten so badly.
“It is difficult to play against a team which is of a different class. Arsenal were a better side and we did not have an answer.
“Now we hope to raise our game against Liverpool on Friday,” said Safiq.
National coach Datuk K. Rajagopal said the presence of another top class side would do the players a world of good in terms of gaining experience.
“They will learn from this experience,” said Rajagopal, who is preparing the team for the Asian Zone World Cup second round qualifying match against Singapore next week.
Malaysia play the first leg at the Jalan Besar Stadium on July 23 and the return leg match is at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on July 28.
Team manager Datuk Subahan Kamal hopes that Malaysia will get their act right in front of goal against Liverpool.
“We were unable to take a shot at goal against Arsenal. We have to work on the forwards’ finishing,” said Subahan.
Norshahrul Idlan Talaha, Ahmad Fakri Saarani, Abdul Hadi Yahaya and Baddrol Bakhtiar are the strikers in the squad while Mohd Safee Sali has yet to recover from a knee injury.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger also pointed out that the most glaring weakness of the Malaysian team was their toothless strikeforce.
Playing against Arsenal, the national team put up a lacklustre performance and were duly whipped 4-0. Aaron Ramsey, Theo Walcott, Carlos Vela and Tomas Rosicky were on target for the Gunners.
“We did not play to our true strength and we made far too many errors. It was not our best performance and we all know it. We gave away sloppy goals ... one from the spot kick and the rest from defensive lapses,” said Safiq at a press conference yesterday.
Safiq, however, has vowed to make amends in the next match against Liverpool at 5.45pm at the National Stadium tomorrow.
He added that it was painful to see Malaysia being beaten so badly.
“It is difficult to play against a team which is of a different class. Arsenal were a better side and we did not have an answer.
“Now we hope to raise our game against Liverpool on Friday,” said Safiq.
National coach Datuk K. Rajagopal said the presence of another top class side would do the players a world of good in terms of gaining experience.
“They will learn from this experience,” said Rajagopal, who is preparing the team for the Asian Zone World Cup second round qualifying match against Singapore next week.
Malaysia play the first leg at the Jalan Besar Stadium on July 23 and the return leg match is at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on July 28.
Team manager Datuk Subahan Kamal hopes that Malaysia will get their act right in front of goal against Liverpool.
“We were unable to take a shot at goal against Arsenal. We have to work on the forwards’ finishing,” said Subahan.
Norshahrul Idlan Talaha, Ahmad Fakri Saarani, Abdul Hadi Yahaya and Baddrol Bakhtiar are the strikers in the squad while Mohd Safee Sali has yet to recover from a knee injury.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger also pointed out that the most glaring weakness of the Malaysian team was their toothless strikeforce.
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