Two 1-1 draws in a row against Young Lions. That was the record we had going into this game. Completely unacceptable for a club of our stature, no matter how well the Young Lions played, especially if you take into account the constraints they have. I had an interesting discussion with someone in our SFT Telegram chat after the preview was released. A concerned group member asked if I was perhaps being a little too dismissive towards Young Lions’ chances, given that they had scored more goals recently (actually just in one game, they fired blanks before that game for consecutive games), the Sailors were playing back-to-back games and may thus turn to their depth on the bench, Súper was injured, etc etc.
I love it when readers give feedback on the Telegram chat – it shows me someone is reading, and it also makes it less of a one-way process? It is good I think to hear back from readers on what they feel. It allows me to ponder the articles I write, and what kind of information they would like to see. “Insider information” has been suggested by many readers and friends, but I always assure them that even if I ever had insider information (which I don’t), it’s always club over self – I’d never put something out to generate clicks if it was not information meant to be public knowledge. But yeah please keep the feedback coming in the telegram chats, Instagram DMs, or whatever floats your boat!
Back to the question posed by the reader – was I underestimating the Young Lions? My answer was quite simple – you can see it below –
The reason for the confidence was really because despite the two 1-1 draws, there should be no excuses for our Sailors. Short turnaround time? Well the Young Lions played one day before us, additional 24 hours rest does make a difference, of course, but we have bench players who would be key players for their first team. If Rusyaidi Salime, Bill Mahmadou and Haiqal Pashia were available for the Young Lions, they’d play every minute of every game. Arshad Shamim is the starkest illustration – I really like him, but he came on for 2min, and just last season he was a mainstay in the Young Lions team. These players came on for a total of 42 min in the game – Bill didn’t even see the pitch.
The strength in depth is just simply incomparable – just look at the two benches and you’ll see that they couldn’t even get 9 subs.
I am not shitting on Young Lions, and I always sympathise with them because alot of factors are out of their control, such as whether they can train with certain players due to NS obligations, whether certain players can be released for games, what is the condition of the players when they do turn up for training and games, the fact that they play with 2 foreigners and no senior players while other teams have veterans and foreign players – it will take a whole article or even a novella to cover the problems Young Lions face. Perhaps you can take a look at an excerpt from this excellent Straits Times article about Daniel Goh, when he mentions his stint during NS. How to excel for Young Lions like that? It is no wonder that Daniel Goh’s form now is so much better than it was last time.
Second Gear – Finally Some Control
Back to the game, the Sailors did not even have to exit second gear to win this game. They were off to the races early and by half-time had a 3-goal lead. While the first goal was unlucky for the Young Lions, the next 2 goals came because the Sailors were hungry and a lot less cautious than they were in the previous 2 games, actively trying to force mistakes from the Young Lions.
The second half honestly just seemed like a damage limitation exercise from the Young Lions while the Sailors seemed to ease off considerably once we got the 4th goal. A well-taken volley by Kobayashi in the final minutes meant there was a bit of angst at the lack of a clean sheet, but it was still a commanding win, and for the first time in a while, we were not anxious moving into the final minutes. In fact, it was our first comfortable victory (victory by more than a 1-goal margin) since the beginning of April, when we comfortably beat Hougang 5-0. I had previously bemoaned the lack of control we have in our games, even in our wins, as compared to Tampines, for example, who seem to pass the game to a slow death once they have the lead (unless of course Yasir Hanapi decides to get himself sent off wheeeee) – so to essentially play the whole second half as a training session was good for my nerves honestly.
On an unrelated note – can you imagine how fricking exciting it is to be a Balestier Khalsa fan? 77 goals in 14 games. 34 scored, 43 conceded. That’s 5.5 goals a match to watch. Absolute value for money I tell you. The Sailors are close behind by the way – just that of course Sailors conceding goals doesn’t make me excited, it just makes me sad. Sailors have scored 39 and conceded 23 for a total of 62 goals in 14 games. 4.43 goals a game. Sailors, please make it less exciting, please please concede fewer goals.
No Clean Sheet
I don’t know if it annoyed you – but it certainly annoyed me that we didn’t keep a clean sheet against Young Lions. I referenced the 5-0 win against Hougang at the start of April as our last comfortable victory. That was also the last time we kept a clean sheet. It’s been more than 2 months. I posed the question to Anu post-match to see if he shared some of my frustrations – you can see for yourself what he says.
I love Anu, and I think he’s had a great last couple of games, but I have to say that I am not so sure the lack of a clean sheet didn’t irk him. I think he’s just way too media-savvy / media-trained to give anything away. Probably worried that some unscrupulous people might misconstrue what he says, and turn it into a nasty headline or take things out of context. “ANU HITS OUT AT LEAKY DEFENCE” or “ANU BLAMES DEFENSIVE ERRORS FOR LACK OF CLEAN SHEETS” – that kinda stuff, and then there will need to be some form of damage control.
Or maybe I am just over-thinking and he really meant it – that it would be nice to get a clean sheet, but if we can’t, then let’s just get more goals. Whatever it is, I will be rooting for the boys to get their clean sheet, sooner rather than later. I think a run of clean sheets can really make a team feel invincible – and in turn this will lead to a more flowing attack.
Conclusion
Some of you might be thinking – hey Eddy, for a post-match thoughts piece, you didn’t actually spend that much time talking about the match. Well, for one, you can watch Youtube for highlights, but also….I don’t think there was much we can learn from this. It was a routine win against Young Lions, who we should be beating every time. That it took us three tries should make us feel a little bit embarrassed, frankly. (FAS please give Young Lions more to fight with next season…maybe add some experienced campaigners like Khairul Amri and another foreigner in there to guide them and give them more of a fighting chance?)
Second – I guess these were indeed my post-match thoughts haha – and my thoughts can be all over the place sometimes – consider this a tour into the messy mind of Eddy.
Well anyway I hope it was a worthwhile read – as always, pop into the Telegram chat if you have any comments, or you know, leave it in the comments box below. I’ve had quite enough of spam bots telling me that they love my work and asking hi Sir would you like some cheap Viagra pills, so yes real comments would be appreciated.
And…it’s international break, so I won’t be writing any match-related articles for a bit. Phew, finally a break. But that doesn’t mean no articles. One will be coming soon, in the next 4-7 days maybe. Here’s a sneak peek!
Catch you real soon, fellas.
Written by Eddy Hirono
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