April 13, 2023

Life is much easier, and writing is much easier when the Sailors win, and win in such fashion. If you thought that this game was a walk in the park (which was something we suggested in our preview), then you’d be both wrong and right. To help illustrate that, let’s take a look at the stats. Some very interesting stats. You would be forgiven for thinking that the Sailors were lucky to win the game if you look at the respective xG achieved by each team. However, that came down to two reasons – more patient chance creation, and better individual quality. More Patient Chance Creation 2.5 xG vs 2 xG suggests that Hougang created nearly as good chances as the Sailors did – however one look at the Shots stat changes that thought. Hougang took 25 shots, mostly speculative, while the Sailors were a bit more patient with their possession, and took only 15 shots. If you do some very basic back-of-the-napkin math, Hougang clocked in at 0.08xG per shot taken, while the Sailors clocked in at 0.17xG per shot taken – so each Sailors shot was twice as likely to make it into the back of the net. That probably accounts for the Sailors’ high passing stat as well. As much as Hougang are a possession-hungry team (this was only their 2nd out of 8 games where they have less possession than their opponents), the Sailors played more passes than Hougang, perhaps in a bid to fashion better chances for their forwards. I will now show you a comparison of Sailors shots against Hougang shots, with a particular emphasis on shots that are 0.20xG and above. Hougang’s shots above 0.20xG LCS’s shots above 0.20xG (Diego’s goal + 2 Abdul Rasaq goals) In fact, if you look at Hougang’s shot chart, 14 of their 25 shots came from non-threatening areas of the pitch. Of these 14 shots, only 4 made it on target. Perhaps with a little more patience, Hougang could have fashioned slightly better shooting opportunities. That being said – Coach Risto and his staff must be analysing the tape to see if they can limit the number of shots being taken. Even if these shots are from non-threatening range, how many times have we seen bad things happen just by virtue of the fact that the ball is in dangerous areas? A wicked deflection off a defender leaving a keeper stranded, an unsighted goalkeeper not seeing a shot till it’s too late because of the mass of bodies in front of him, an unlucky bounce off an uneven pitch (thank goodness TPY Stadium is no more), a save that is parried out to another attacker – the possibilities are endless. To achieve true domination and to allow for less variables in the game, we should be trying to limit our opponents from taking such shots. Looking at the graphic above, 11 of those shots were in a decent area, and 3 were on target. On another day, some of these will go in, or lead to major chaos. Better Individual Quality SPL Twitter, SPH, and the club’s official website all led with similar headlines – Maxime Lestienne stole the show. It’d take a real fool or contrarian to argue that Maxime didn’t have a good game. 2 goals, 2 assists, all of which where he looked a class apart from the rest on the pitch. He kicked things off with a stunning free kick, and wrapped things up with an unerring finish into the far corner after blitzing past the Hougang defence. In between, he was involved in what is becoming a trademark cutback for Abdul Rasaq to finish, and also a move straight from the futsal courts where Diego used him to hold up the ball and then release to him for an easy finish in the box. It’s now 5 goals, and 8 assists in 7 games for our Belgian superstar – the only game where he did not register a goal or an assist is the 4-0 defeat to Albirex where we were reduced to ten men for the majority of the game. Even opposition fans will concede that Maxime is a class apart, and this ties in to the point made earlier. I showed you the graphic with 3 of our goals being 0.20xG and above. Well, the other 2 goals were below 0.20xG and they were Maxime’s goals. One was the beautiful freekick that had Zaiful Nizam grasping at thin air, while the other was pretty underrated if you ask me. Media outlets described it as a “neat finish”, but I don’t think that does justice to the difficulty of the finish, especially given that Zaiful is a very accomplished keeper. Maxime basically put it into the only part of the goal where Zaiful would not be able to reach, and that finish, particularly while running at pace, is not an easy one. But the night wasn’t just about Maxime. Shoutout also to Zharfan, Abdul Rasaq, and maybe a surprise one in this list, Anu. Let me elaborate Zharfan In the post-match reactions, I spoke to a fan and assumed that he would name Maxime as Man of the Match, given he notched 2 goals and 2 assists. However, I was caught by surprise a little as he named Zharfan as his pick for Man of the Match. And that got me thinking – while the score was 5-0, games really can turn on moments. Hougang is a team low on confidence, but what would have happened if they managed to get one or two goals when the Sailors had not raced away to a 3-goal lead yet? That might have turned the game, and if you look back at the game, Zharfan did pull off some crucial saves, not least the double save from Sahil who absolutely thwacked the ball at goal from a narrow angle, which was followed up by a good parry when Gabriel Quak tried to curl