Anyone heard anything about this? http://www.goal.com/en/news/14/asia...aptain-safiq-rahim-set-for-cardiff-city-trial
WoL (I know, I know) are now 'reporting' its a guy called Safee Sali not Safiq Rahim like they initially said? http://www.walesonline.co.uk/footba...-david-beckham-his-big-chance-91466-29416739/ Siam, Thai...this one is entirely over to you
This was on the boards before, He is, as stated probably a L1 player or maybe a squad player at best, how ever if this is as I suspect a PR exercise to help raise the profile of the club in Malaysia, then it shows someone is thinking outside the box, apparently there is massive interest in this guy in Malaysia, where he is a Beckham type character and he would raise the clubs profile considerably should he sign for us, he may be good enough to sit on the bench and get a run out in League cup games and stuff, and with the benefit of full time professional coaching who knows how good (or bad) he could turn out to be? I suspect the value of this guy is what he brings to the club OFF the pitch rather than what he would give us on it
Well until we see players actually playing for the team how would anyone know if they are any good? Somewhere along the line we could pick up someone real special.
There was a video of Safee in WoL this morning. He is a striker who knows where the back of the net is but keepers and defenders in Malaysia look dire. Also he admits to having a dodgy knee and if he was to do well with us he sees us as a stepping stone to a European League. Best book him imto Travelodge or Premier Inn as he won't be around long either way.
i think if we are to have any following in malaysia then we need to have a player or two in the squad who are malaysian. i wouldnt give a damn about the best baseball team in the USA (whoever they are ) , let alone some rubbish team owned by an englishman in the second division over in the states. i only think its possible to be big in malaysia if you are in the top 4 of the premiership to be honest and anyway as someone has said here before, tony fernandes at QPR is malaysian and they're miles ahead of us in terms of league position and standing in the game now that they have crowd pleasers like SWP and taarabt! back to the thread, MM will only sign him up if he's good enough, that goes without saying (though fergie did sign dong fang zhou a couple of years ago <laugh< )
Well, i am basing it on watching him in the Tiger Cup and other games. I am also basing it on the standard of the leagues etc.. The killer for him would be the pressure on the ball. The leagues here allow players to do as they want and even at the national level they are not that defensively minded. I think you would find he would either lose the ball a lot or turn it over at Champ level. In saying this there is some real skill there without a doubt. I think we would need to get them over at about 16 or 17 and get them up to speed with the speed of the game, the pressure on the ball, and the body contact here for them to succeed.
I know very little about Thai football. Suffice to say it is not of an especially high standard. I guess there are some better players in the Thai leagues but not many. A Chelsea XI beat Thailand 4-0 not so long ago (July I think). That might give an idea of how good they are.
and as Siam says, they are allowed time on the ball.....................not sure how they would cope with Championship football. The national team never do much good in World Cup qualifiers either but they are not the worst in Asia by any means.
I spotted the 'dodgy knee' reference as well BfB. A bit naive of him to say that and a little worrying.
Agree with that. I think, apart from the best, best players, it's just too hard to change ingrained styles etc. Much better to get someone young and train them up...but then, if it is the "marketing in Malaysia" side of things he's being signed for, he wouldn't have had time to build a following over there. Strange one...
