[Preview] Sailors v Tampines Rovers – Chance to Put Things Right

The last time we faced Tampines, it was a shitshow. I felt the 4-3 scoreline flattered the Sailors, and my post-match report was particularly depressing to write, and perhaps more depressing to read. If you don’t wanna relive that nightmare of a performance in full, just take a look at some of the stats from that night.

Outpassed, outshot and ultimately outplayed. I think being in the stands felt even worse than the stats suggest. We seemed to be second to many balls, and looked super susceptible to the counter. Of the 3 goals scored, 1 was a fortuitous own goal by Glenn Kweh – which brings me nicely to my first point in this preview.

Glenn Kweh

In the previous game, it felt a little strange to me that we did not target Glenn Kweh more. This is his first season playing in the left-back position, and while I don’t think he has been a disaster, he has had uncomfortable moments for sure. We have to be ruthless and we have to target him more. Switch it up and really torment him with a mixture of Shawal’s pace and directness, and Maxime’s superior pedigree.

If you look at Maxime’s heatmap against Tampines in the last game, we did not target Glenn enough. I can imagine there is nothing more scary than the sight of Maxime running down your wing, so Glenn will have his work cut out for him. The other added benefit of doing this will be that Tampines may have to commit one or two men back to aid Glenn, which will reduce their threat on counter-attacks.

Tampines Defence

So why so much focus on Glenn Kweh as a possible way to breach the Tampines backline? The answer is simple – they have been rock solid at the back, and it will not be easy to score past them. Tampines have the second-best defence in the league, conceding only 9 goals with 12 games played. In comparison, our Sailors have conceded a whopping 21 goals. A large part of this has been the addition of Milos Zlatkovic this season, whose calm presence in the backline has seemed to stop Tampines’ old habit of passing themselves into trouble. His partnership with Shuya has been a solid one. In transition, Irfan Najeeb also tucks in to play almost like a third centre-back in the backline, and this has worked pretty well for them all season.

But it isn’t just their defence. When you watch Tampines, you always feel like they are in control. This is because when they attack, they have Irfan, Shuya, and Milos stroking the ball around at the back, and of course, Kyoga Nakamura as their deep-lying playmaker. He is obviously a very good player, and his calmness fills the defence with confidence because they know if they pass the ball to him, he will retain it well and allow the team to advance. They are a very very patient team – to the point that some of my friends call them a very boring/conservative team, because they do not take many risks with the ball. This has undoubtedly been a reason for their good defensive numbers – if their opponent doesn’t have the ball, they can’t score.

Our Sailors attack will have to be on top form to take advantage of the few chances they will have against this Tampines defence.

Hami’s Unavailability

Hami sits this match out serving a suspension, and it will be interesting to see how Coach Risto shuffles the pack around to deal with his absence. Hami has been quite an integral part of the team, keeping things ticking in midfield with his short but effective passing. My suspicion is that Hariss is brought into midfield, and one of Lionel Tan and Super will be played at the back with Anu. Hariss is defensively a bit more solid than Hami, but perhaps a little less mobile, so it will be interesting to see if we can cope with the hard running and movement of the Tampines midfield.

As to how removing Hariss from central defence will affect the team, I think it won’t have a huge impact. All season long I think we’ve seen our Sailors lineup with different central defensive partnerships, and even the most ardent Sailors fan will be hard-pressed to choose the best partnership – we have somehow always looked unconvincing. Of course, I am gonna bring up again the stat that I hate the most – Zharfan has made the most number of saves in the league. This is unsustainable – we cannot keep conceding shots on target. I do not know of any title-contending team in any league where this occurs. Let’s just look at the English Premier League for example.

In build-up is where I fear Hami’s absence might be keenly felt – all season long we have benefited from his metronomic quality to pick up the ball and pass it to a teammate. Build-up may feel drastically different, but I think with Hariss and Adam Swandi, hopefully their combined experience and skill will be able to make up for his absence.

Abdul Rasaq

Abdul Rasaq, I feel will be key in this game. Not just his attacking exploits, which we are all quite used to by now – I believe that defensively he will play a big part. As mentioned above, Kyoga is vital to the Tampines build-up – he picks the ball up in his own half, and often starts orchestrating play, slowly moving Tampines up the pitch. We cannot allow that. We must force Tampines to try to playmake using other players who are less assured on the ball. I hope Rasaq will be detailed to drop in defensive phases to really try to unsettle Kyoga with his superior physique and explosiveness. He is not shy of doing some defensive work, and is a very hard worker off the ball. Just take a look at an excerpt from my post-match thoughts earlier this season when our Sailors stopped Balestier’s free-flowing attack from scoring in a 3-0 win.

If we are to limit Tampines’ effectiveness, we will need Rasaq to put in a monster defensive shift, on top of his forward duties.

Conclusion

Tampines have been good this season, and are deservedly ahead of us in the table. However, tonight’s game represents the best opportunity for us to leapfrog them in the table. Any sort of win will send us above them (on goals scored/goal difference) and I cannot think of a better incentive for our players. We have had an unconvincing first half of the season, now is the time for us to really stamp our class all over Tampines. Our defence may be unconvincing, but at least we are scoring many goals. Let’s turn the mighty stags into the little toy deer you see in the picture.

COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE.

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: Sailors 3 Tampines 1

Joseph’s prediction: Sailors 1 Tampines 0

Ethan’s prediction: Sailors 1 Tampines 0

Written by Eddy Hirono 

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