Former Malaysia captain Shukor Adan was not impressed by Guilherme de Paula's performance against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in a FIFA World Cup/AFC Asian Cup qualifying match on Thursday.

Tan Cheng Hoe's side suffered a 4-0 loss at the Zabeel Stadium, with Ali Mabkhout grabbing a brace and Fabio Lima scoring the other two goals.

Tan opted to start the naturalised Brazilian, who made his official Harimau Malaya debut but was largely ineffective throughout the game.

Shukor said he expected more from the new Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) forward, one of Malaysia's naturalised players in the squad along with Mohamadou Sumareh and Liridon Krasniqi.

"For me, he disappeared in the second half. We did not see De Paula's contribution at all in the second half," said Shukor during a guest appearance alongside Nidzam Jamil for the match on Astro Arena.

"[It was better for Malaysia after] Syafiq Ahmad came on. A good thing about Syafiq is that he is a player full of commitment. He always tries his best and and as we could see, he was aggressive in his pressing."

Shukor also suggested the Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) naturalisation strategy would be questioned if the naturalised players' performances do not improve in upcoming games.

"When we talk about naturalisation [given to players such as De Paula], they carry the national flag and should know the responsibility and pride [in representing the country].

"When they are given the opportunity to be naturalised national players, I feel they need to give more efforts than the locals do.

"We are not punishing [De Paula] or any other national player here, but certain aspects shouldn't have happened today.

"We don't deny the fact that the UAE are a very good team, but when we do not concentrate in the game and lose by a huge margin, fans will start to ask questions," he added.

The defeat left the national team two points behind Group G leaders Vietnam, who have a game in hand.

Malaysia could still stand a chance of finishing second in the group if they beat Vietnam (June 12) and Thailand (June 16).