May 28, 2023

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. Having lost pace in the title race, LCS were licking their wounds. No harder opponent could have come in the form of Albirex. It was fight or flight and man did the boys in blue do the Crew and SailorFanTalk fans proud. [Editor’s note – in an earlier draft sent to me, Zach wrote “do us proud”, which goes to show that I think slowly but surely, we are converting him into a Sailors fan. All part of the masterplan.] First Half Albirex started an unchanged lineup while LCS brought in Hariss for Lionel and Mamat for Hafiz Nor. The first half was relatively uneventful from a tactical perspective. As a whole, it was quite scrappy, with constant turnovers and long balls. The game was quite even, with Albirex just being the more clinical side having a 2-goal lead heading into the break. Second Half (Long Balls and the Space in Behind) Coach Risto rang the bold changes, with Abdul Rasaq on for Bernie and Hafiz Nor on for Zulqarnaen who was far from his usual high standards. LCS changed up their approach from the first half too. In the first half, LCS were extremely slow to get the ball forward to their attackers, together with Bernie not being an especially mobile forward. The emphasis now was to get the ball forward quickly and to attack the channels, especially when Albirex had committed players forward. This could be seen for all the 3 goals that LCS scored. Here for the first goal, Anu plays a quick long ball forward, Abdul Rasaq brings the ball down (Haaland-esque?) for Diego who plays it to the onrushing Shawal into space who then cuts back the ball for Diego to finish. Here for the second, Hariss wins the ball who then plays it wide to Max, playing a cross across the box which misses everyone bar Shawal who finishes clinically past Hassan. For the winner, an innocuous Shawal clearance turns out to be a brilliant ball for Max who exchanges a quick 1-2 with Diego, before crossing to the backpost for Abdul Rasaq to finish first-time. This was classic counter attacking football, a long ball forward and exploiting the space beyond the tiring Albirex backline. LCS executed it to the highest order against this Albirex team. Plaudits must also go out to Abdul Rasaq who added extra fluidity into the attack with his superb holdup play and Hariss (much maligned of late) with a brilliant switch for the second goal that caught out the Albirex defence. A Rare Yoshinaga Mistake? One thing that helped LCS was Kaisei Ogawa, Albirex’s #8 going off with an injury just after LCS’s equaliser. He is Albirex’s more defensive midfielder in their midfield duo and screens the backline for Albirex. With his injury, Yoshinaga played Masaya Watanabe (a centre midfielder who can play wide) and Shodai Yokoyama (usually the more offensive Albirex centre midfielder) as a central midfield pairing. This, in my opinion, was Yoshinaga’s mistake. He was now playing 2 very forward-thinking, offensive-minded players in a drawn game (when Kaisei Ogawa went off) against the best counter-attacking side in the league. Just before the third goal, both #14 Shodai Yokoyama and #13 Masaya Watanabe (yellow) were caught high up the pitch while Albirex were trying to score their own winner. That midfield pivot was way too offensive at that game state of being a level game. Instead, he should have brought on #2 Ryo Takahashi, the fullback who had a goal and assist in the reverse 4-0 thumping while shifting captain #6 Asahi Yokokawa into midfield to pair with #14 Shodai Yokoyama. Not only would the midfield have been more secure with Yokokawa anchoring the midfield, but also Takahashi, a tall strong powerful fullback, would have been better equipped to deal with the threat of Lestienne who assisted the winner. Of course, this is just my opinion and Yoshinaga is still a brilliant tactician, but I believe here he made a tactical mistake that cost Albirex the game. Conclusion It was a long time coming, but the Sailors have finally won a league game against Albirex. It must be a big relief to LCS that they have finally overcome their mental block of beating Albirex (in the league). LCS played to their strengths and their gaffer made the right changes to really unleash the counter-attacking potential of the Sailors offensive line. The call to sub off a big-name foreigner in Bernie for the green Abdul Rasaq (for greater mobility) also paid off, and him scoring the winner was the cherry on top of the cake. Going forward, especially with Super’s injury, Hariss has to start in defense. He offers leadership, a superb ping on his right foot and is not any worse defensively than Anu or Lionel at the back. However, against lesser sides, LCS have to have a better gameplan to deal with deeper blocks and be consistent against them. Even if LCS can beat Albirex again for the third round of fixtures, it will all be for nought if they do not keep up with Albirex (if they fail to beat the lesser teams). Written by Zach Wu Edited by Eddy Hirono If you’d like to support the work we do here at SailorFanTalk, you may want to visit https://ko-fi.com/sailorfantalk and leave us a tip!