circuit 8 matchday 2 : what they said

Pahang Rangers coach Eloy Alonso after matchday 2’s 6-1 win over PFA Odin

Yeah, thank you so much. The team improved a lot during the game. The first half we needed to improve different things, to fit different things, but in the second half, very good, very good. So much better in defence, so much better in attack. And finally, good three points for us, for recovery feelings and thinking in the next games.

In attack we need to have more patience, because we have many options, but we need to read the game better. And in defence, like in the second half, more intense and focusing in defence, and not concede a chance for the other team.

USM head coach Yuzmuhaimizee Yaacob after his sides 4-1 win over Wipers

First, alhamdulillah, because USM managed to take, to steal, three points in this eighth circuit. What we planned came off. For the first half, we felt the lads had not settled down yet. Because of our players' mistakes, we ended up handing a goal to the opposition. So the only thing I put to the players was patience. Be patient, insyaAllah the goal will come, but the timing decides it.

In the second half I knew Wipers had only eight players available, so I applied the tactics for the second half: high press, full, go full, because I knew the quality of their players, they lack experience. So I tried to apply pressure to the opponent. In the end we managed to get two goals.

Terengganu head coach Shafily Jusoh after the 5-1 win over KL City

First, I want to give credit and thanks to my players, who came through and played as well as they possibly could this evening, and took three points this evening.

I told my players: this evening we go out on a mission to win, so that we secure a top-five place in our league, because we want to get into the quarter-finals. And we may well meet this KL City side again in the quarter-final round of the playoffs.

I want to thank my players for following our strategy and our tactics, especially on the defending side. What I drilled into them today was defending: you have to defend properly, so that the KL City players cannot get into our area easily.

KL City assistant coach Taufik Yaiyah after their 5-1 defeat to Terengganu

First of all, I want to congratulate Terengganu. They deserved to win today's match. Our players started reasonably well in the first half. However, in the second half we made a few small mistakes that Terengganu punished straight away. That is normal in any match. So, congratulations to Terengganu.

We tried to chase the game back after going 2-1 down. We tried to experiment with our power play system, because we understand we have already qualified for the playoff round, and we felt this was the right moment for us to try it. And I admit our power play made a lot of mistakes and gave away a lot of goals to Terengganu in those power play

Johor Darul Ta’zim head ciach Joao Almeida as they returned to winning ways with  9-0 win over ATM

I'm satisfied because, first, it's a reaction from our side. It's important to react after yesterday. We need to go together until the end, fight a lot. And today we fixed some things that yesterday we showed some limitations. The defensive transition today is much better, the team is compact. This is what we need, step by step work in these things to become stronger.

I trust a lot in my team, in the players, in their spirit. It's a question of they trust in themselves. We have six points to win and I don't care about who we play against, who we play. I don't care about the momentum. All the games are to win in JDT and that's the mentality we have to have. So we have six points to win and then we have the playoffs. We are here alive and until the end we have to fight with everything we have.