June 20, 2023

The first thing I’ll say is that this was a bolt from the blue. COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE! I apologise, that was a reflex, an involuntary reaction once I heard “blue”. That chant came from nowhere – and that’s exactly how all the fans felt yesterday I suppose. We were just minding our own business, hard at work, when suddenly, our Telegram and Whatsapp chats started going off around 5:30pm. The news came out of nowhere, and noone saw it coming. “Lion City Sailors have reached a mutual agreement with Risto Vidaković to go our separate ways”. We all know what that means, it means Risto was sacked. First reaction was one of sadness for sure. It’s never nice seeing anybody go out of a job, particularly when Risto has been so nice and humble whenever we spoke to him post-game. Never one for many words of course, but when he did speak, he showed appreciation for us as fans. On a human level, it stings I guess, seeing someone put out of a job. That’s now two head coaches gone, both in mid-season. Just 6 months ago, regular readers will know that I released a piece about how affected I was that the club seemed to be letting so many people go. After feeling the sadness on a very human level for Risto, I decided to take a look at his tenure, and so these are some of my thoughts. Weak Defence I’ve said this again and again in my matchday previews, post-match thoughts articles, etc. Our defending this season is weak. We have conceded 23 goals this year. Albirex has conceded 8, while Tampines have conceded 10. We are conceding at a rate of 1.64 goals allowed per game. That’s cause for concern. Let me bang the “How is Zharfan making so many saves” drum again. Look, I am happy whenever any of our Sailors tops a chart, be it in goals, assists, chances created, etc, but this is a list where topping it is a double-edged sword. Or shall I say a triple-pronged sword, where one blade is pointing away, but two blades are pointing at you. It’s definitely more bad than good to be top of this list. Good on Zharfan to be making those saves, but no title contender should be conceding so many shots, and so many goals. Is that all down to the coach though? I don’t think so. I think it’s unfair to blame it all on the coach. We’ve had to deal with Pedro Henrique’s absence, and I don’t think we’ve really had a settled back four all season. The quality of our depth, however, should mean that we deal with it a bit better than we have, but it is what it is. Comparisons It’s never so straightforward, just to compare last season to the seasons that came before this, but let’s see if we can glean anything from here as to why Risto may have been sacked. Interestingly, despite only having been here half a year, he has managed to guide us to roughly the same number of points per game achieved last season. Although 2.79 goals per game was a stat picked out by the club in their farewell post, it is actually our lowest in 3 seasons, and it comes along with a worrying 1.64 goals conceded per game. For me, there’s nothing in the stats that’s truly conclusive, and I think it’s also unfair to judge a coach just based on 14 games. Especially when his star striker was injured almost immediately after he took over, and he also does not have his first-choice central defender available. The Timing of the Sacking On this site, I have often bemoaned a lack of control in games. See for example, my post-match thoughts after we beat Balestier Khalsa 5-4, or my post-match thoughts after the 3-3 draw with DPMM. In fact, on one occasion, I think I directly mentioned Risto. When Coach Risto first joined, he also spoke about wanting to play with a focus on “offensive football”. Has he delivered that? I think what really gets me is not just the fact that he has been sacked, but how early the sacking comes. 14 games into a season, is it fair for a coach to be judged just 6 mths and 14 games into his tenure? I felt he also showed signs of being able to adapt – and it was very impressive how we limited Tampines even before the sending-off, to nothing but a hopeful strike from range. They created nothing that game – and this was a direct response to the utter chaos that descended on Bishan Stadium when we beat Balestier Khalsa in that 5-4 game. So there were signs that this was a coach who may not have gotten everything right from the get-go, but was able to adapt, and maybe overcome if given a chance. Then there’s also the fear that the timing of the sacking calls to mind last year’s disaster as well, where the team was in disarray and looked directionless after the mid-season sacking of Coach Kim Do Hoon. When the new coach comes in, will he be able to implement any new philosophies? Will there be a bedding-in period? Is he someone already familiar with the players such that he doesn’t need to trial and error while our season is very much in progress? Conclusion and Possible Replacements I think given how early it is in Risto’s stint, it is definitely a risk getting rid of him. We have no insider information, but my pure speculation is that there was either some internal strife between him and his players, or him and the board, which made his position untenable. I do not think results and performances alone warranted such an early sacking. The other possibility of course, is that the board is so confident that his replacement will be better, and thus it’s worth it