Persebaya Surabaya visited Arema FC on their eleventh match of the BRI Liga 1 season. The visitors lined up in a pretty unusual 4-3-2-1 formation against Arema’s more standard 4-3-3. Persabaya Surabaya quickly opened the score and even doubled their lead after half an hour, even though they didn’t have much off the ball. Arema FC dominated the rest of the half with success, as they found two goals of their own before the break. In the second half, the hosts were once again the dominant side, but Persebaya Surabaya was the most effective team as they found the back of the net for the third time. Arema FC tried to get at least on point but didn’t succeed as the game ended 2-3.
Ratings:
- A1 – Very good, could play higher
- A2 – Strong potential to play higher
- B1 – Good, strong player at level
- B2 – Potential to be a strong player at level
- C – Average for the level, rewatch
- D – Below average in this match
Marselino Ferdinan
Player Profile:
- Nationality: Indonesian
- Age: 18
- Date of birth: 09/09/2004
- Club: Persebaya Surabaya
- Career: Persebaya Surabaya
- Position: Attacking Midfielder
- Secondary Position: Central Midfielder
- Preferred foot: Right
As I said Persebaya Surabaya played in a bit of an unusual shape, the 4-3-2-1. Marselino Ferdinan started as the right central midfielder, later moved to the left and was moved one line forward in the last thirty minutes. Marselino showed some glimpses of potential, but it also became clear that he has a long way to go if he ever wants to succeed in Europe. For Indonesia Marselino is quite tall standing at 1.76m, as the average length is around 1.60m according to my Google search. The 18-year-old Indonesian international has a lean build and isn’t the strongest. He was barely pushed off the ball however, since he is very agile and showed good balance. Marselino was quite easily able to quickly turn away from his opponents and showed good pace on the first meters to get away from his opponent. It was really nice to see at times how easily he was able to glide past his opponents and drew a lot of fouls. He also worked really hard throughout the match, covering a lot of ground offensively but also defensively
The youngster was also very important for his team today with two assists. In the 8th minute, he picked up the ball on the right just over the halfway line and played a lovely through ball to their striker Sílvio Junior. In the second half, he also gave the assist for the winning goal with a cross that probably should’ve been cleared.
Technically he looked solid compared to the level of the rest of the players. He was a bit quiet at the start of the game, but really showed his abilities after a while. His first touches were very good, at times he only needed one touch to beat his opponent. He also had a good day in his offensive 1v1s. After around 20 minutes it seemed like he moved to the left and here he was able to cut inside to his favoured right foot. One moment in the 24th minute stood out, where he beat one opponent in the box by cutting outside towards his left foot, with some lovely ball control. After this he had the opportunity to put in a cross or play it back to the edge of the box but instead, he cut back to his right foot and saw his shot get blocked. He showed some real quality here with his great dribbling, but also some areas where he really has to improve.
First of all, he needs to stop overcomplicating things. Of course I want him to take risks and play with some flair at times, as it makes the game beautiful, but Marselino really seemed to overdo it at times. Taking on too many opponents at the same time, backheel passes or very slowly dribbling towards an opponent to lose the ball to someone coming from behind him. Also his decision-making could’ve been better at times but this should improve with more experience. Furthermore I really think he is better of as an attacking midfielder or even as a left winger, as he looked quite lost defensively. He put in a lot of intensity in his duels but defended very naive.
Rating – A2
It was really entertaining to watch Marselino at times, especially when he linked up with the Brazilian Higor Vidal, and I definitely think he has some potential. The step to Europe is huge and he has some flaws in his game, but if for instance a Belgian club picks him up and guides him well I could potentially see him play there. However, I think this would be as a left winger, as he would struggle too much defensively as a midfielder. Otherwise he should be able to play in some of the better Asian leagues.
Rizky Ridho Ramadhani
Player Profile:
- Nationality: Indonesian
- Age: 21
- Date of birth: 21/11/2001
- Club: Persebaya Surabaya
- Career: Persebaya Surabaya
- Position: Centre Back
- Preferred foot: Right
I was originally only going to write about Marselino, but Rizky Ridho Ramadhani caught my eye as well. Standing at 1.83m Ridho Ramadhani was an absolute beast in the air against Arema FC. According to Wyscout he only won one of his two aerial duels, but I don’t think I can count the amount of crosses he cleared on my two hands. In physical ground duels, he also did fine, also against Arema’s strong striker Camará It was hard to properly judge the 21-year-old’s pace as Persebaya Surabaya played a very low block most of the time and there were only a few sprints, where he seemed to do fine.
Defensively he clearly had some strong areas and weak areas. He was terrific in his 1v1 duels, defending patiently and making his tackle at the right time. I don’t think he got dribbled past once in the full 90 minutes. However, his defensive positioning looked very questionable when Persebaya moved forward a little bit. He stepped out of the defensive line a few times, but these all seemed poorly timed giving Arema a lot of space to attack.
In possession, Ridho Ramadhani did pretty well. He was barely pressed by his opponents but stayed calm when someone tried to take the ball off him. His passing was nearly flawless this match, but he didn’t really try anything too difficult. He played a couple of long passes which were fine and the rest of the passes were often quite safe.
Rating – A2
Rizky Ridho Ramadhani played a great game and I definitely see him make a step up in the future. He was great defensively but seemed to have a more difficult time if he had to play in a high line. I don’t think we will see him in one of the European leagues, but a step up in Asia should be doable for him.
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