Satia urges Pan Gon to ‘kick out’ negative social media comments

National coach Kim Pan Gon should ignore negative social media comments about Harimau Malaya and make his own judgments.

This was stated by Football Coaches Association of Malaysia (FCAM) president B. Satiananthan yesterday.

Satiananthan said the newly appointed South Korean coach should not give too much thought to what is being said on social media, and focus on the task on hand.

“Make your own judgment on who is to play. It is still early and with a new coach, every player is motivated. We will see after four to five games.”

Satiananthan also commented on Dion Cools, Aidil Zafuan Radzak and Mohamadou Sumareh who were slammed by the fans.

“They are all humans, not computers and if they were (computers), then play Fifa online but this is human,” said Satiananthan.

“We should look at how many times the players did right as compared to making one-two mistakes. They were criticised for mistakes but when they did right, they were not commended for it.”

In the recent international friendlies in Singapore, Malaysia beat the Philippines 2-0 but lost 2-1 to Singapore.

Satiananthan said Pan Gon took several “quality” players (who did not play in the AFF Cup last December) to Singapore for the friendlies.

Satiananthan said he was impressed with what Pan Gon has done as the Korean had only 10 days with the team before the friendly matches.

“I was impressed by how comfortable the players were with the ball. They pressed well, collected the second ball, were compact and had a lot of movement off the ball.

“I think it is too early to say much but I think Pan Gon prepared the players well mentally and he did it for them to be confident.”

NST