Paulo Josue, the City Boys’ Captain marvel did not mince his words when describing Kuala Lumpur City’s performance following the unexpected 1-0 defeat at the hands of basement side Penang on Saturday in Georgetown.
“I think it was one of our worst games this season. I can’t say what happened, but we need to admit it and move forward. If we do not work more than 100%, we will not succeed. It was a good lesson learned and at the right time”, he said in reference to the upcoming AFC Cup 2022 Inter-Zone final (East Asia Region) where they travel to Uzbekistan to face PFC Sogdiana after the home tie against Sarawak United on September 28, 2022.
The loss to the Panthers broke the city slickers unbeaten run of 7 matches that began in early August 2022 with the 6-5 penalty shoot-out win over Vietnam’s Viettel in the AFC Cup 2022 ASEAN Zone, following a scoreless draw after extra time. Since that triumph, the Red and White’s registered victories over Negeri Sembilan, PSM Makassar, ATK Mohun Bagan and Sri Pahang with draws at Sabah and Melaka United on both domestic and continental fronts.
In the outing at the City Stadium, the City Boys had a tough time despite having more of the ball throughout the encounter with the Panthers constantly looking dangerous and threatening to score with their counter-attacks. Paulo Josue & Co. also created chances to break the deadlock but were eventually punished for their wastefulness in front of goal as they were during the 0-0 result at Melaka Utd last week. For the second straight fixture the City Boys have dropped points against sides in the bottom third of the table despite dominating.
The 33-year old Brazilian commented on their failure to rake in maximum points the past two matches.
“We always have something to improve as players, teams and human beings. In games we dominate, we need to make sure we score when the chances are created. Against Penang, we had a few chances in the first and second half, and we did not convert. So we got punished by them in their opportunity.”
Notwithstanding the disappointment of this reverse, Paulo Josue asked his troops to wipe this result out of their system and immediately get back into rhythm.
“Now is the time to forget and be ready for the next. Football life is like this. We always have the next game to bounce back and show we can do the job.”
To read the match report of Penang vs KL City on 24/9/2022 (Super League), please click COMING SOON
To watch the highlights of Penang vs KL City on 25/9/2022 (Super League), please click https://youtu.be/griPMsCSpF0
To watch the complete match of Penang vs KL City on 25/9/2022 (Super League), please click https://youtu.be/ebZJOGFP2Lc