BY ZULHILMI ZAINAL Follow on Twitter
Despite their come-from-behind 2-2 draw against the reserve side of China Super League's Guangzhou R&F, Malaysia U22 head coach Datuk Ong Kim Swee was not happy with the performance shown by his men.
When interviewed after the match on Tuesday evening, Kim Swee said that several players he fielded did not play as well as he wanted them to.
"I am not particularly happy with their performance. After making seven changes to the lineup that started against China U22 (a 1-0 defeat last Saturday), a number of players did not play at a satisfactory level.
"But what's important is they played positively to come back from two goals down, which is a good sign," said Kim Swee.
Another point of contention for the former Malaysia senior national team boss is the excessive respect shown by his boys towards Guangzhou R&F, which he set to right in his team talk at half time.
The home side had taken the lead at the Baining Football Training Base, Guangzhou through Deng Zhiyao and Zhu Di's goals in the 21st and 38th minute, but half time substitute Safawi Rasid's brace in the 47th and 53rd minute rescued the Young Tigers.
"They need to have belief in themselves, that they can play well. Even if the opposition are a Chinese Super League side, my boys showed too much respect and they kept making mistakes and lacked confidence.
"So I instructed them to play more aggresively, to play further up the pitch, and it worked when Safawi was brought on in the second half," revealed the 2011 SEA Games gold-winning coach.
In the match, Malaysia U22's Sean Eugene Selvaraj and Guangzhou R&F's Zeng Chao were both red carded just before halftime for an altercation.
Commenting on Sean's red card, Kim Swee rued the Negeri Sembilan youth player's carelessness, as the resulting sending off disrupted the gameplan.
"I did not get to see the incident clearly myself, I'll review the video afterwards and decide for myself whether the sending off was called for.
"In any case, it (the sending off) should not have happened. My players should know that when they are a man down, our gameplan and system will be disrupted, and our job will be harder.
"But (thankfully) today they proved that they can come back from behind," said Kim Swee.
Asked about his objective for their remaining friendly match in China, against Guangzhou Evergrande's reserve side before they return to Malaysia, Kim Swee said that he wants to see his boys display cohesion.
"I hope in the last friendly, those fielded will display good cohesion, before I decide whom to drop from the squad once we return home," he said.