June 30, 2023

The last time we faced Tanjong Pagar, we were a little lucky that Sugic missed a penalty when the score was 1-0 to us. That was in the 67th minute and came as a result of a sloppy 15, 20 minutes of play in the second half. We managed to win the game 3-1 in the end, with a late Kodai brace (sigh), but it certainly wasn’t as comfortable as it should have been. Tomorrow’s game should be much easier, and is a must-win for us. I know I say that a lot, but I expect a lot from our Sailors, and also it is a good time to play Tanjong Pagar – let me explain why. Shakir Hamzah’s Suspension Old Home Utd boy Shakir Hamzah is one of my favourite players. Play him at LB, CB, and he always does the job. He also has a penchant for scoring memorable goals, so that probably contributes to why he is such a popular player. Tanjong Pagar will miss him because he is the most commanding presence in their backline. Faizal Roslan, Shahrin Saberin and Raihan are no slouches of course, and Shakir’s suspension will see Raihan slot in at the back, but this absence should weaken their defence on paper at least. The impact of his absence goes beyond that – Shakir is also joint top-scorer for Tanjong Pagar, with 4 goals. The other player on 4 goals is Marin Mudrazija – more on him later. If you dig into the stats a bit more, and try to ascertain if his 4 goals are just a result of his wonderstrikes from range, or whether he is actually one of the players charged with attacking responsibility, you will see this. It is no surprise really that he is one of the players on TPU’s roster who has had the most shots (17). He is a good striker of the ball, and also has decent ability in the air. In case you are still not convinced of his importance to TPU’s attack – here’s a list of their top-assist makers. He has 2 assists, and Blake is their top assist-maker with 3 assists. If you think these are very low numbers, you’re right – which brings me to my next point. Toothless Jaguars Even with Shakir Hamzah in the team, TPU is a toothless team. They are 2nd-bottom when it comes to number of shots on target, beaten only by Young Lions. They also have the 3rd-worst defence – only Young Lions and Balestier Khalsa have conceded more goals. Interestingly enough, some may point out that the last time Shakir Hamzah was missing from the team, Tanjong Pagar actually won the game, a 3-2 victory against Geylang International. However, one big difference that day was that they had Khairul Amri, who picked up a goal and an assist. While there is no official news about whether Khairul Amri will be playing in this game, his Instagram posts and stories suggest that he is in Zambia. This diminishes their already-small goal threat. Marin Mudrazija, their foreign striker, has been disappointing to say the least, with 4 goals this season. Even TPU fans have started calling him Mudrazihaha – which is perhaps a little cruel, but understandable. His performances in front of goal have been far from convincing, and with 4 goals, he has not been troubling the goalscoring charts. He did top the charts in soomething else, though! Enough said. Impact of the New Coach It will be Coach Rankovic’s first game in charge officially, and I think we as fans can be excited about what is to come. Our tactical approach against Hougang was not something we’d seen before this season, and it really seemed to work for us as we dominated the game from start to finish. Control was something we’ve lacked all season, even in our victories, and if rumours are true that Coach Rankovic did have some input into our tactical set-up for the Hougang game, then I guess we will see more of the same toomorrow, and that is a good thing. He has said in his interview that he describes his philosophy as “very attacking”, and says that he likes his team to “dominate” and create a lot of chances. He has said all the right things, but I guess the proof is in the pudding, and we will see come the end of the next 10 matches if the pudding is a nice mango pudding topped with sweet mango flesh and some lemon drizzle, or a black pudding (sorry Brit readers). New Players? Another thing for us fans to consider is this – are there gonna be any new signings lining up for us tomorrow? I highly doubt it considering it’s Friday afternoon, and we have not heard any announcement from the club as to who is joining us. For those out of the loop, you may be wondering – wait, what signings? Please read this article from the Straits Times, where not 1, not 2, but 3 new signings were teased. How that is gonna work for our foreign player quota, I have no idea. Are some of the signings going to be kept just for our upcoming AFC Champions League campaign (where more foreign players can be registered)? The Straits Times article suggests that Super and Bernie may be deregistered. Which is kinda harsh on Super, but Bailey Wright’s experience I guess wins out. Super came in as Risto’s lieutenant and I did fear for his place when Risto left – but I think he has earned his place on merit, so I am a little sad. As for speculation as to who these players mentioned in the article may be, the Internet has done its homework, and while the identity of the Portuguese central midfielder remains a bit of a mystery, the other two players seem to be Richairo Zivkovic and Bailey Wright. Bailey Wright, in particular was spotted at Our Tampines