Red Giants told not to be complacent against stragglers Negri

PETALING JAYA: Selangor coach Nazliazmi Nasir has warned his players not to underestimate relegation battlers Negri Sembilan in their Super League clash at the Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadium in Paroi tonight.

The Red Giants were stunned by Kelantan – another side trying to escape the drop zone –2-1 in Kota Baru last Wednesday and Nazliazmi hopes his boys will not their guard down against Negri.

“We’re playing against another team from the relegation zone and I don’t want to suffer the same fate. We can’t make the same mistakes,” said the rookie coach.

“Teams in the relegation zone are desperate for points, so they will throw everything against us to get the points. Remember, we are playing away.”

The Red Giants are ninth in the 12-team Super League with 21 points with four matches to play but they’re still not out of danger yet. Negri are 12th with 12 points and Kelantan 11th with 15 points.

The Klang Valley giants are winless in their last five matches – including their 2-0 loss to Pahang in the FA Cup final on July 7.

The only good news for Selangor is that Spanish hitman Rufino Segovia is on a hot streak having scored 17 goals in the league including a hattrick in the 3-3 draw with Kuala Lumpur in the Super League last Sunday.

Nazliazmi added that the team’s recent slump in form is due to several reasons and he is working hard with the coaching staff to fix the problem.

“Seventy per cent of the team are made up of youngsters and they lack experience. On top of that, we couldn’t change our under-performing imports in the second transfer window due to our budget constraints,” said Nazliazmi.

“We’re Selangor and there’re high expectations on us to win all our matches but we have to be realistic.

“I’m not giving reasons but we’ll work on our tactics to get the best out of the players,” he said.