Selangor coach Irfan Bakti worried about team's poor form

Irfan Bakti Abu Salim is facing up to the size of his task as he prepares an erratic Selangor side for their Klang Valley derby  against bottom-placed Kuala Lumpur in a Super League match on Saturday.  

Selangor are also having some pressing  issues that need to be solved immediately, as revealed  by Irfan.

"My boys need to be together. They need to do that if they want to win the league. I am, however, optimistic that we can do it," said Irfan yesterday.

"Some of them are selfish especially in the box and I am losing patience. They must start playing as a team."

On the KL match, Irfan said: "KL are peaking and they have some very good young players. We must show them respect."

Selangor, eighth in the league with 12 points from nine matches, were dumped from the  FA Cup last weekend after going down to 10-man Johor FC on penalties in Johor Baru.

Selangor were leading  2-0 but mistakes by their defenders and goalkeeper Norazlan Razali allowed Johor FC to draw level and force penalties.

"I will make changes but not major ones as several core players are  unavailable. Midfielder K. Gurusamy and Bunyamin Umar are both injured while Lebanese centre-back Ramez Dayoub is serving a suspension.

"As I am still very angry with Norazlan, I may opt to replace him with keeper G. Jeevananthan. We had no business losing to Johor FC, who played with 10 men  for about 60 minutes, so  I expect everyone in the team to show some urgency against KL," said Irfan.

As for KL, the Razip Ismail-coached side are languishing at the bottom of the table  with just one point but recent signs indicate  they are slowly gaining confidence.

The former Malaysia Cup champions earned their first victory of the season by thrashing Muar MC 3-0 in the FA Cup first round earlier this month before going down 3-2 to Kelantan in Kota Baru. Selangor, however, may have the slight edge, having won six of their 10 encounters against KL since 2007.

"It is a derby match and we must be at our best. My players must show progress or I may have no choice but replace them," Irfan added.