Angry Persija Players During Pause Despite Finally Winning PSIS, Alessio: If I Can Change 8 Players, I'll Change At Once

JAKARTA - Persija coach Angelo Alessio was angry with his players who he considered played poorly in the first half against PSIS before finally defeating his opponent with a score of 2-1 in the continuation of the 2021-2022 Indonesian League 1, Thursday.

"I was angry at half-time. If I could replace eight players, I would replace eight at once. We played badly, couldn't control the game, and conceded goals in an unusual way," Alessio said in a virtual press conference after the match, quoted from Antara, Friday.

Persija Jakarta actually took a 1-0 lead from PSIS in the 14th minute thanks to Marko Simic's header.

However, a backline error meant that the Kemayoran Tigers conceded five minutes later through PSIS midfielder Eka Febri's strike.

Eka successfully continued the ball into the goal even though three Persija players had tried to block it.

At the beginning of the second half, Angelo Alessio made two substitutions, Taufik Hidayat came on to replace Braif Fatari and Alfriyanto Nico took Osvaldo Haay's place. Then, the new midfielder Ahmad Bustomi played starting in the 66th minute after Adrianus Dwiki was pulled out.

As a result, Persija looked more comfortable with the ball and scored the winning goal in the 68th minute, also contributed by Marko Simic.

"In the second half, our performance was better and we were able to control the game. I am happy with these three points but we have to improve on our shortcomings to face the next game," said Alessio.

Persija defender Maman Abdurahman also admitted that his team's performance was not optimal in the first 45 minutes against PSIS.

The opponent's goal, according to Maman, occurred because the squad was not focused.

"We fell asleep in the first half. But, thank God, we were able to win. Next, my friends and I have to be more focused. There is a lot of homework for the game after this," said the 39-year-old footballer.

Three points from the match against PSIS, which was held at the Captain I Wayan Dipta Stadium, Bali, made Persija move up to sixth place in the 2021-2022 Indonesian Liga 1 standings with 28 points. The "Tiger Kemayoran" squad is unbeaten in their last four matches.

Meanwhile, PSIS is in seventh place with 27 points.