BY NIK AFIQ Follow on Twitter
The Red Giants may have faced myriad problems off the pitch in the pre-season but on the field, the team are in good spirits as they search for a second consecutive victory of the season.
Internal disputes and the departure of key players did not seem to trouble Selangor when their impressive performance, especially from their youngsters, gave them a 2-0 victory over Pulau Pinang in round one of the Super League last weekend.
Facing Melaka United FC at the Selayang Municipal Stadium this Friday, P. Maniam and his men surely will not be short of confidence in gunning for another victory.
Maniam’s 3-4-3 system in the win against the Panthers received plenty of positive feedbacks from many, but he quickly gave credit to the players after the win.
Maniam will surely turn to his youngsters once again against Melaka, after singling out Adam Nor Azlin and Syahmi Safari for praise following the victory.
However, it would also be interesting to see whether their two very-recent new foreign signings, Victor Astafei and Juliano Mineiro will take any part in this fixture, with Indonesia star Andik Vermansah taken off the squad until the June registration period to recuperate from his injury.
But Selangor's other new signing, forward Nurshamil Abdul Ghani will not be eligible to play in this match, as his season-long loan deal from Melaka bars him from playing against them.
Selangor's announcement of Nurshamil's ineligibility to play against Melaka
For Melaka United, match fitness could be the main issue for their players when they travel to Selayang for their first game of the season.
With their game against Kelantan last weekend postponed due to bad weather, new head coach Eric Williams will have to do extra work in order to get his players to be match-ready against Selangor.
It will also be interesting to see who will make the cut for Williams’ first eleven later on, as Melaka have brought in no less than seven players to the squad, including veteran former Selangor striker Amri Yahyah and Argentinian forward Sergio Aguero.
However, their biggest pre-season achievement has definitely been the success of extending star striker Ilija Spasojevic's contract, and fans around the country will be looking forward to his performance in the MSL, after he topped the goalscoring chart in the Premier League last year.
This would also be Williams first competitive test after replacing Mat Zan Mat Aris, the coach who won the FAM League and the Premier League back-to-back for the Mousedeers.
Melaka’s long absence from top flight football means the last time the two sides met was nine years ago in the Malaysia Cup, with the Red Giants hammering them in 5-2 and 4-2 in the group stage.
Their last meeting in the league was the year before that, with Selangor also recording victories in both fixtures.