The new Malaysian Super League (MSL) season is upon us and for the preview this year, Goal will be breaking it up to four parts Title Challengers, Mid Table Security, Staying Up and Relegation Battlers. And here's the third part, the three teams that will be able to fight for their place in the 2020 Super League but only just about.
PKNS FC
Predicted finish in 2019: 7th
2018 season: 3rd
Head coach: K. Rajagopal
Notable transfers in: Tamirlan Kozubaev, Gabriel Guerra, Chan Vathanaka
Notable transfers out: Zachary Anderson, Faris Ramli, Safee Sali
Haizal Zainal / CSNSportsTalk
Rajagopal guided The Red Ants to a very impressive third place finish in his first season back with the club. It was a show of the tremendous quality that the experienced head coach has in moulding a team with few stars into one of the more consistent teams in the Super League last season.
For the new season, they have brought in familiar faces with Guerra and Vathanaka returning to Malaysian football but at the same time has snapped up Kpah Sherman from MIFA and the Liberian's efficiency in front of goal is one to watch.
Felcra FC
The former Malaysia head coach will have to work his magic once again as PKNS has a lot of new players on their books. The capture of Asian Cup star Kozubaev will also mean that Rajagopal can have a steadying influence at the back either alongside Rodney Celvin Akwensivie or Shahrom Kalam.
It would be hard to expect PKNS to be as high up the table as they did last season. The improvements of the other teams means that PKNS could return to the mean but in the context of this season, could mean lower down the pecking order.
Kedah
Predited finish in 2019: 8th
2018 season: 6th
Head coach: Aidil Shahrin
Notable transfers in: Fernando Rodriguez, Zaquan Adha, Renan Alves
Notable transfers out: Syazwan Zainon, Liridon Krasniqi, Akhyar Rashid
Kedah FA
The fact that Kedah changed head coach twice last season put paid to their hopes of challenging for trophies. The recuitment of Pablo Pallares also did not turn out well for The Red Eagles. This time around with a new head coach in charge and departures of some key individuals, the task looks much harder.
Singaporean Aidil takes on his first job in Malaysia and he will be busy trying to implement his ways and for the first time, it could see Kedah move away from the short passing routine honed by Tan Cheng Hoe. The departure of the key man in the middle in Liridon Krasniqi will also neccesitate such change of style.
Yet, there could be reason to be optimistic. In Rodriguez, they have a player who has shown that he can score goals in this part of the world and his physical presence will be handy for his new team. National captain Zaquan is another who made the move to Kedah and it will be interesting to see if he can dislodge the imports for game time.
Expect a slight drop in results for Kedah who has invested in the coach rather than the squad but Aidil has more than proved his way work with Home United and fans should be patient with him as he works to rebuild the team once again.
PKNP FC
Predicted finish in 2019: 9th
2019 season: 9th
Head coach: Abu Bakar Fadzim
Notable transfers in: Thomas Abbey, Yashir Pinto, Hafiz Kamal
Notable transfers out: Shahrel Fikri, Raffi Nargoorgani
It was an unexpected debut in the top flight for PKNP last season after they gained their place following Felda United's forced demotion. Finishing ninth was massive vindication of the work that Abu Bakar and his team put in, well clear of the relegation zone.
A team that does not have the big budget as other teams in the same division, PKNP punches well above their weight thanks to Abu Bakar's ability to coax the best of out his group of unknown players with the likes of Hafiz Ramdan and Fadhil Idris leading the group.
Having survived the first season, PKNP are looking to improve and have brought in more experienced players like Hafiz Kamal and Fazrul Hazli into the team. The loss of Shahrel Fikri will impact the team but they already had half a year of practicing coping without the star forward.
There's no doubt that it will be another big season for Abu Bakar and PKNP as they will have to be on their consistent best to avoid the drop but it does appear that they will have enough to do so.
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