Maniam ready to steer PJ City with full local firepower

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 -- Petaling Jaya (PJ) City FC want to take the bold step of fielding 100 per cent local players in the 2021 Super League, with more young blood expected to be given a chance in the team.

The Phoenix squad’s newly appointed head coach P. Maniam said it was time for young local players to step up their game and prove their mettle, especially in crucial positions such as centre-forward and centre-back usually dominated by import players.

The former Selangor and under-16 national team tactician foresee that about 60 per cent of the players from the 2020 season will remain in the line-up for the next season, while he had also signed former national striker Darren Lok from Terengganu.

Maniam, who was promoted from assistant coach to replace K. Devan, is also expected to call-up few of the club’s President Cup players into the main squad for a possible promotion.

“Not impossible to play without import players…Now our locals have the chance to prove their worth. This means they cannot think about playing individually but must play as a team and increase their work rate to achieve results. 

“Our strikers need to work hard, show that they are ready to play games at a high level, especially the young ones. We are now in the hunt for good quality players to fill up the centre-back position, who must be reliable and good in one to one situations; a defensive midfielder and two strikers.

“We want a number nine player (main striker) who can hold the ball and score in crucial situations. We have Darren who wanted to have more playing minutes as he is eying a return to the national team, besides retaining M. Kogileswaran Raj and P. Yugan,” the 52-year-old coach told Bernama in his first interview after named head coach.

The club based at the Petaling Jaya City Council Stadium would retain the likes of defender Jeremy Lim Wei Shen; experienced midfielders Mahali Jasuli, D. Christie Jayaseelan and K. Gurusamy, but the full squad is expected to be finalised in the coming weeks as negotiations are in progress.

Maniam, a former Selangor striker in the 90’s, hopes to start the preseason early ahead of the Malaysian League scheduled to kick off in late February.

“We have not decided the preseason dates, but want to start early as we are going to have full local team, the players need time to gel and more training time to challenge more superior teams in the league.

“We have some senior players like Gurusamy, who can guide the youngsters. I think this season we did well in defence, did not concede much, but we need to improve a lot in attack,” he added.

PJ City FC finished seventh among 12 teams in the shortened Super League this season but were eliminated early in the first round of the Malaysia Cup with a narrow 1-0 defeat to Terengganu, before the prestigious tournament was called off due to a surge in COVID-19 cases in the country.

-- BERNAMA