What do you know about soccer formations?

I noticed that many Perak soccer fans have questioned Steve Darby’s tactical formations recently in Yob4ever Dot Com. Heck, I have done that ever since 2006 but then nobody gives a damn about it. Obviously Perak soccer fans at that time thought that Steve Darby is more or less equivalent to Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson and should know what to do. Yeah, right…

However, it is good to see them discussing such topic. I’m sure that Steve Darby would not like it one bit but maybe the fans can teach Steve a thing or two about soccer. You will never walk alone, Steve! :-)

I would like to recommend Perak soccer fans to get to know more about the history and principles of soccer formations. Surprisingly, such information can easily be found in the internet. Wikipedia Dot Org probably has the best reading material on this subject and Perak fans out there must go and read it first before attempting to teach Steve Darby a thing or two about soccer formations.

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Part I: How to beat Perak - Piss them off

A few weeks after the end of the Malaysia Cup soccer campaign last year, I had the opportunity to talk to a well known and highly successful local coach. I asked him about Perak’s soccer team and he was kind enough to provide me with his tactical analysis. He even highlighted some visible weaknesses about Perak’s soccer team and I will share one of them here today. I would have more for you in the future.

According to the great local coach, Perak has a good soccer team that plays team football under Steve Darby. Even though Perak has some players with good individual skills, Steve Darby prefers his players to play by the rule of team football; that is to work together as a team. Unfortunately, Perak is only good at playing team football when they have their first eleven players on the field. If any of the first eleven players is missing or failed to provide maximum contribution to the team, Perak would easily lose shape and direction.

To cut a long story short, to beat Perak, the opposing team must:
  • Break Perak’s rhythm by marking key players such as Keita Mandjou, Troare, Jamlus, Shahrul Azhar and some other midfielders (the tip was given last year while Keita, Troare and Kukoc were still around). Don’t give them any room to make and create chances. Perak would be a sinking boat without the full support of such key players.

By the way, the local coach who shared with me such tips even went a step further last year. He purposely asked his players to roughen up and piss off a few key Perak players. His objective is to make Perak players lose their cool, do stupid mistakes and ultimately break the team. His plan worked like a charm last year.

He’s a great coach, isn’t he? :-)

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Sheer arrogance!

I could not help but smile after reading Dato T’s post on Yob4ever Dot Com. It seems that some fans of our Perak soccer team have beginning to realize just who Steve Darby or Stephen David Darby really is.

I got to know Steve when he was coaching Singapore’s Home United team and he was larger than life then. Just imagine guys, an arrogant coach coaching a Singaporean team surrounded with arrogant Singaporean fans. What a combination! Yeah, Home United fans were not at all amused or thrilled with Steve Darby. They find him just as arrogant and conceited as some Perak soccer fans had discovered lately. :-)

I guess coaches who got the opportunity to talk about soccer on ESPN Star Sports think that they know everything under the sun about soccer. Yeah, right… Even Shebby Singh is a changed man nowadays. What the heck!

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Suggestions for Steve Darby

I sincerely hope that the current Perak football team head coach Steve Darby or Stephen David Darby is reading this post today. A few diehard supporters that I had the opportunity to meet earlier today have the following suggestions for you:

  1. Sit down with your team and have a good talk with them especially with those Chilean imports. Discuss what is best for the team. Find out ways to build the team around the new imports. The Chilean imports were supposed to be good and the rest of the players must familiarize themselves with their strengths.
  2. Be more adventurous and imaginative with your tactical formations. Look at Azrai Khor, Kedah’s head coach. He is full of tricks and never seems to run out of ideas. You have to be more daring and less persisting. Stubbornness would not benefit the team in the long run.
  3. Perak’s defense tends to give away soft goals. You have to drill your defenders, push them hard in training. Perak needs good defenders that can spot and mark threats on the fly.
  4. Please ask your goalkeepers to communicate more with the defenders. You were a goalkeeper once in your younger days; you should know that goalkeepers are in command at the back. Tell them to take charge.

I have given you the same suggestions last year but nobody really bothers to listen then. Now, everyone is saying the same thing. :-)