As the title suggests, this is a must-win game, especially after we dropped points in our opener against Balestier Khalsa. A draw here would leave us needing to win against Albirex Niigata, and we don’t want to be in that situation.
In all our league fixtures against the Young Lions, we’ve won every single one, and that should be the expectation. Here’s where we address the question that might be in your head – “Hey Eddy why’d you pick a picture of Patrice Evra to headline this post?”
The older fans among us may remember in 2009, after Manchester United defeated Arsenal to qualify for the UEFA Champions League final, Patrice Evra boasted to the press that it was 11 men v 11 babies. Even as an Arsenal fan, I can admit how clearly they dominated the two legs of that semi-final and eventually won 4-1 on aggregate. How is this linked to the Sailors?
Well, if you monitor the online chat before every game against the Young Lions, or if you’re a betting man, you monitor the bookmakers’ odds, you’ll realise that everyone thinks the Sailors are going to win big everytime. “Men v babies” – except this time it’s quite literal because the Young Lions are a young developmental side and we’ve literally got the National Team playing for us, with a sprinkling of foreign professionals who’ve played at the highest levels of this game. It may then surprise you to note that while we have thumped the Young Lions 10-1 and 5-1 this season, the other 2 outings against them have been pretty tense and settled by 1-goal margins. Even last season, we needed a red card and a Jorge Fellipe masterclass to finally break them down on our way to the title.
Soooooo all that’s to say it’s not a foregone conclusion and our Sailors should not turn up expecting a walk in the park. At the same time, if we cannot win the Young Lions, then our problems are deeper than they already seem to be. Raoul Suhaimi has had a very promising season with the Young Lions (future Sailor, anyone?) but he sits out this one because of suspension. Hopefully Song Ui-Yong come back from Covid-19 and is able to play some role in this game as well. It would be very useful for him to get some minutes under his belt because if we go deep in this competition we will need his goals and drive from midfield.
Arrogance?
There has been a lot of talk about whether Luka Lalic is arrogant. From his comments after the first game he took charge where he not very subtly hinted that the players were not having fun under Coach Kim, to his sarcastic comments last week about Balestier Khalsa’s players feigning cramps to see out the time, he has not been a popular guy with neutral fans.
I wasn’t a fan of the shade thrown at Coach Kim, but I was a lot more OK with my coach being sarcastic about the opponents’ time-wasting tactics. Look, I get it – the smaller team is always going to want to cling on to a result against a side like the Sailors. In my books, a little gamesmanship is totally fine. If the Sailors were playing in the AFC Champions League and were leading say, Urawa Red Diamonds 2-1 – I’d totally want us to be time-wasting at every opportunity to bring home the win. But I’d also accept it if the opponents were slightly annoyed. I don’t think you should engage in gamesmanship and then expect that nobody is going to say anything about it. It’s all part of the game – both ways. You get to do what you want, we get to say what we want (within reason).
But to end off this post, let me go back to Patrice Evra. When he boasted that United playing Arsenal was like men v babies, many neutrals turned on him because they felt it was too arrogant and disrespectful. I remember thinking to myself – I hope they get humiliated in the final. And they did. They were thoroughly outplayed in the final by a great Barcelona side, and Messi even managed to score a header (he only has 24 headed goals in his long career).
Pride comes before a fall – I certainly hope Lalic and the players remember this, and take the Young Lions seriously if we are to avoid another early cup upset (a Cupset, if you will). Come on you boys in blue.
