The fact that this match is taking place later today at Jalan Besar Stadium is a bit of a bonus. This match was supposed to be played in Bandar Seri Begawan but they are still experiencing some stadium issues. spl.sg had a bit of a weird stat when they previewed this game – have a look yourself.
I mean….yes, but surely the circumstances are very different, considering that home games in 2019 for them involved an away team travelling to Brunei and playing in front of a crowd without their fans. Considering how many games the Sailors play at Jalan Besar Stadium, and how the Sailors fans are likely to turn up in numbers for this one – this is almost home advantage for us. Hopefully we capitalise. This preview is gonna be a short one cos it’s been a long work week and also because I think there’s not much to talk about facing DPMM. Let’s dive straight into some key points then –
Still no SEA Games boys
Nur Adam, Abdul Rasaq and Bill Mamadou will not be back in time for this one, despite Singapore getting dumped pretty unceremoniously from the SEA Games. They should be back for the next game, but this one just comes a bit too early. This might mean another start for Nathan Mao, who certainly didn’t look out of place when he played in the last game. (check out our comments in the previous article outlining our post-match thoughts against Geylang). I think many supporters would actually be very excited to see Nathan Mao start again, and hopefully this time, end up with a goal or an assist.
The other possibility of course, is Danish Qayyum, who was just a bit short for the last game. We Sailors fans have not seen much of him, and it would be nice for him to get a start here I think. He’s obviously abit more experienced than Nathan Mao, and it might be important for him to be re-integrated into the team, especially when facing the two DPMM dangermen.
Voronkov and Hakeme
Between the two of them, they have 12 goal contributions (goals and assists). To say that they are a vital part of the team would be an understatement. In the previous match at Bishan Stadium, Hakeme particularly, was a danger throughout. With a good shot and a quick turn of pace, our defenders are going to have a handful with them. Voronkov and Hakeme are also very trigger-happy, so Zharfan will need to be at his best. It must of course be said that even though DPMM is a trigger-happy side, they create much lower quality chances, which is why they outshoot the Sailors (111 shots v 107), but have ended up with 14 goals compared to our 23.
High Press
In recent matches, we have bemoaned the fact that the Sailors seem to stand off a bit too much from our opponents, and don’t look to dispossess them early in their half. Against DPMM, I hope this changes. We will not get a better chance than this – DPMM’s defenders are not good at playing out from the back. In fact, they have the lowest passing accuracy (73%) in the league by some margin. The next closest to them would be Young Lions’ 77% passing accuracy. In case you’re wondering, LCS’s passing accuracy is 85%.
DPMM also have the lowest average number of passes per game in the league.
This is not a team that is going to be able to play out of defence if we get our pressing right. I really hope Coach Risto is going to set up the team to press the shit out of DPMM, and force them into errors. In terms of a long ball to break out of defence should they choose to employ it, Voronkov is also not the paciest forward especially given his age, so we really shouldn’t show them that much respect.
Conclusion
In every metric that can be measured, we’re a much better team than DPMM. Goals scored, shots on target, conversion percentage, pass accuracy, etc etc etc. We simply have to win this game to temporarily leapfrog Tampines into second place.
COME ON YOU SAILORS!
Score Prediction
Joseph, Ethan, and myself predict the scores, and track our success in a table. Stay tuned to find out who is the prediction king!
3 points for exact scoreline predicted correctly, 2 points for predicting the winner and margin of victory correctly (but not the exact scoreline), and 1 point for predicting the outcome correctly (win, lose or draw).
Eddy’s prediction: DPMM 0 Sailors 4
Joseph’s prediction: DPMM 1 Sailors 3
Ethan’s prediction: DPMM 0 Sailors 4
Written by Eddy Hirono
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