[Tactical Analysis] Sailors the Manchester United of the SPL (Hougang 0 Sailors 5)

The following tactical analysis is from Zach Wu, who’s not a Sailors fan, but we just thought it would be good for someone without rose-tinted glasses to analyse the tactics of our games. We hope to make this a regular column so that we can better appreciate what is going on in our games from a tactical perspective.

Two of the league’s big budget teams clashed here, but the side with the bigger budget got an entirely lopsided result.

Hougang’s gameplan

In recent weeks, in the absence of Nazrul Nazari, Hougang had reverted slightly to an old formation. Instead of a 2-3-5 build up with the 2 fullbacks as halfbacks coming into the center of the pitch, they had reverted to a 3-2-5 instead.

For today’s 3-2-5 shape, it was Anders that joined the other 2 centrebacks in the first line of 3, Krajcek and Zulfahmi the midfield pivot in the two. Vestering would join the front line and play wide left, hugging the touchline.

On the ball they tried to switch the ball out to the wide players using Zulfahmi. This was somewhat effective with Gabriel getting in behind Chris van Huizen, the weakest link in the Sailors back line with Super having to deal with a few balls hit in behind. However, Hougang did not manage to switch the ball consistently out to Gabriel to target Chris and Chris had a decent game himself, rendering this not an extremely effective method for Hougang to penetrate the Sailors backline.

Vestering being so high up the pitch would prove to be important for LCS’s 2nd goal later as Lestienne was switched to the right wing and exploited the space behind Vestering. Vestering could not get back in time to stop Lestienne and Abdul Rasaq scored from the cutback Lestienne provided.

LCS’s game plan

Their game plan was the typical LCS big game gameplan. Set up in their 4-4-1-1 block, defend well and hit Hougang on the transitions.

Hougang punished

Hougang in the first half actually played well. They held onto the ball and stopped a lot of LCS counters. They themselves also created 0.52 xG (not great but not terrible) and even had a goal ruled out for offside. Sailors, in comparison, created 0.42 xG in the same period.

However, they shot themselves in the foot with 2 mistakes from the midfield pivot. For the first, Krajcek gave away an early free kick which Lestienne dispatched. For the second, Zulfhami miscontrolled a pass from Krajcek, gave away the ball and failed to track back in time to prevent Rasaq from scoring the cutback.

Second half

Having a comfortable lead, the Sailors sat back and let their opponents move the ball. They allowed Hougang to make the mistakes and finished their chances clinically. Sailors were pretty impressive, creating 5 shots having more than 0.2 xG each. They certainly can create good chances, especially on transitions.

As the game dragged on, with tired legs, Hougang got even more desperate to score a goal and left even more space for counters, allowing LCS to pick them off on counter attacking transitions and rack up the scoreline.

Conclusion

Against Hougang, it was an efficient performance at both ends of the pitch. Yes, this was vintage LCS. It was no surprise LCS would beat Hougang especially given their lack of confidence, form and a striker in particular. While Sailors did give up 25 shots to Hougang, Hougang clocked in at 0.08xG per shot taken, while the Sailors clocked in at 0.17xG per shot taken. While the Sailors could do better in restricting the number of shots taken by the opponent, The Sailors generally restricted Hougang to half chances.

Sailors are the Manchester United of the SPL. They can bully lesser opposition with their strong attack but are still too reliant on counter attacking to get results in big games. It is no surprise for both teams, they have been put to the sword when better teams can utilize the ball better and crowd out their counter-attacking threats.

Hougang however on the other hand have really hit rock bottom and will need to regroup quickly. It has been a shocking start for a club tipped to challenge for the title and Firdaus Kassim will definitely be looking over his shoulder in the coming weeks.

Written by Zach Wu

Edited by Eddy Hirono

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