KUALA LUMPUR: Kamarul Effendi Abdul Rahim retains the trust of his coach Fabio Maciel despite the goalkeeper making a horrendous error in Kuala Lumpur's 2-0 Super League defeat to Negri Sembilan on Wednesday.
After straying from his goal area, Kamarul was caught out by a long ball which bounced over him and allowed Nicolas Velez to sprint past the goalkeeper and score into an empty net.
Velez doubled Negri's lead at the Paroi Stadium when he beat Kamarul at the near post 20 minutes later but Maciel said he has no problem with his goalkeeper playing as a libero.
Kamarul, 30, will remain bottom-side KL’s first-choice goalkeeper, ahead of Ahmad Solehin Mamat and President's Cup goalkeeper Khatul Anuar Jalil, when facing champions Johor Darul Ta'zim at the Kuala Lumpur Football Stadium on Saturday.
"I asked Kamarul to be a libero when we attack and have possession in the opponent's half," said Maciel as KL returned to training in Cheras on Thursday.
"He did make a mistake because the ball bounced over him but the mistake also happened earlier when we lost the ball in midfield.
"I will ask him to continue playing the same way because he has done it last year and in pre-season. He is one of those players who has the quality to do that and I trust him.
"This can happen to anyone but it's not his fault we lost the game. Now we have to recover, put our heads up and look forward to the next game."
Achmad Jufriyanto made his KL debut in midfield against Negri, on the same day he turned 30, with Maciel expressing his satisfaction with the Indonesian's performance.
Maciel is considering making changes for the JDT match after KL lost their opening two games 2-0 to Selangor and Negri.
"Our team is a quality team so maybe people think after losing two games we will be relegated but I am sure we will stay in the Super League," said Maciel who led KL to the 2017 Premier League title.
"Some clubs benefit from our mistakes, like Selangor did on Sunday, and when you have chances and don't score, sometimes football can be like that.
"We know JDT will be a tough game, we will try to stop them but it will be a good game. There will be space to play and it will be an open game."