TOO many midfielders and too few strikers on form. It’s no wonder Dollah Salleh has no clue as to who to pick for the AFF Cup which begins in two weeks.
The national coach is nowhere near selecting his final 22-man squad who are training in Johor Baru and Kluang ahead of the AFF Cup Group B campaign which starts in Singapore on Nov 23.
Dollah admitted as much as he mulls over his options, especially in the forward department, where the preference of M-League teams for foreign strikers has severely restricted his options.
There are four strikers in the 26-man training squad though midfielders Baddrol Bakhtiar and Indra Putra Mahayuddin can also play in the forward line if needed.
But what Dollah is most concerned with is where the goals are going to come from as the quartet of Safee Sali, Norshahrul Idlan Talaha, Manaf Mamat and Amri Yahyah did not quite set the domestic league alight this season.
Dollah has to reduce his squad to 22 players and will drop one goalkeeper and three outfield players.
“Until now I still have no idea who to drop,” Dollah told Astro Arena’s Formasi programme.
“I have discussed it with my assistants and they, too, are not quite sure.
“It is going to be difficult to make a decision, especially in midfield which is going to be the biggest problem.
“In attack, our strikers have mostly been reserves for their club teams and that also makes things difficult.
“I will have to look at their form in training, especially Safee and Norshahrul. Amri and Manaf, I am not too concerned about as they have been playing more regularly.”
The other midfielders currently in training are Shukor Adan, Gary Steven Robbat, Badhri Radzi, Safiq Rahim and Hafiz Kamal while the wingers are S. Kunanlan, R. Gopinathan, Wan Zaharulnizam Wan Zakaria and Farhan Roslan.
Dollah will get a better idea of who to cut when the national team play Syria on Wednesday at a venue to be decided before travelling to Hanoi to face Vietnam on Nov 16 in two friendly matches.
“Syria are not a team to be underestimated, their standard is higher than ours,” said Dollah.
“For sure, this match will show me the ability of our players.
“I believe with the experience of those in our squad, and given the short preparation time we have, we can give them a good game. This will be the start of our journey.”
Meanwhile, the national team had their first training session on an artificial pitch in Kluang on Wednesday with defender Fadhli Shas saying the players are adapting well.
Malaysia play Myanmar and Thailand in their first two matches at the Jalan Besar Stadium's synthetic pitch but Fadhli said the players have had experience, playing at the venue.
“This is part of the coach's plan to get us used to playing on the artificial pitch,” said Fadhli, part of Malaysia's 2010 AFF Cup-winning squad.
“It is not too difficult to get used to as we have all played there in the league (against LionsXII).”