[Post-Match Thoughts] Suspensions, Seven, Superb (Tanjong Pagar 1 LCS 7)

1-7 on 1 July. Can’t make this up.

We mentioned in the preview that Tanjong Pagar United (TPU) would be there for the taking because of Shakir’s suspension, and how important he was both to TPU’s attack and defence. What came as a bit of a surprise was that Blake Ricciuto was also suspended – which is strange cos the SPL website listed him as only having accumulated 3 yellow cards. For those not super clear about the rules, you need to accumulate 4 yellow cards before being suspended for a game – this is why Shakir was suspended. I guess the SPL website made an error. If anyone knows any other reason why Blake was suspended, drop us a DM!

An Intense Start – Pressing TPU High

Had I known that Blake was also suspended for this game, I would have been even more bullish in my appraisal of the Sailors’ chances of getting a handsome victory. TPU without Blake and without Shakir – that’s basically half their attacking threat gone. The Sailors definitely smelled blood, and in the first few minutes alone, the pressing was relentless in TPU’s defensive third, which led to chances for us. As early as 9 seconds in, Hami wins the ball here after a soft pass is played into midfield. From here, Maxime is presented with a great chance he should have scored from – we would have been ahead in 14 seconds.

At the 1min 31 second mark, look at how intent on pressing TPU we are here, and how high we are.

This was a pattern that continued, and ultimately resulted in Anu doing superbly well on the 9min mark to intercept a slow pass and his touch broke for Lestienne to slam home right-footed. It was a superb reward for an absolutely dominant first 10min of the game where we smelled blood, and kept going for it. Anu was very impressive all game, and his intensity was matched by his teammates.

The rest of the game was much the same – as we looked to keep up the intensity and press TPU high. Instead of breaking down every single goal, I will try to summarise some of my thoughts.

Local Boys Stepping Up

Back in the preview to the Albirex game, I wrote about how the team was a little too reliant on Diego Lopes and Maxime Lestienne. Here is an excerpt of what I wrote –

In the last 2 games, you have seen how Adam Swandi’s advanced position has allowed us to reap dividends. 2 goals, 1 assist against Hougang, and now 2 assists against Tanjong Pagar. 5 goal contributions in 2 games is not to be sniffed at.

Perhaps another stat that has gone unnoticed is that of the 10 goals scored in the last 2 games, 7 were scored by our local boys. Of the 9 assists recorded (winning a penalty doesn’t count as an assist), 7 were from our local boys. No prizes for guessing who supplied the remaining 2 assists.

This is vital for our play to progress, and for us to become harder to neutralise. The Sailors are not a two-man team, and there is no excuse for us to be reliant on the magic of two players to bail us out.

Lionel Tan and Hami Syahin also got their first goals of the season. Much, much needed. It is funny because we interviewed Lionel last week after the Hougang game and jokingly talked about his goalscoring threat – he said he hoped to contribute his first goal for the team soon. Bang, right on cue, 7 days later, he delivered. We spoke to Hami after the game too and he shared with us about how he was so scared that his one and only goal was going to be chalked off by the VAR. It was funny but ultimately he got the goal. More to come from the both of them, hopefully!

Oh, and shout-out to Nur Adam Abdullah for handling his defensive duties well and still being able to get 2 assists in 2 games!

Diego Lopes – The Secondary Assister

If you look purely at goals and assists, Diego’s influence this season has not been as obvious as Maxime Lestienne’s.

Of course, it looks like I am being incredibly harsh here considering that Maxime is top of both goals and assists in the charts. Diego isn’t far behind when it comes to assists, but in terms of goalscoring threat, there is no doubt that Maxime is the man who you usually count on to deliver. But this ignores something else that Diego is very good at. Much like Ozil and Hleb (yes, my Arsenal upbringing is really coming through here), Diego is the king of the “pass-before-the-assist“.

As seen above in a chart ranking players on the “secondary assist” (an ice hockey concept crediting the player who made a pass for the assister to pass to the goalscorer), he has done it 7 times this season. The last memorable one was his outside-of-the-boot flick to set Maxime free down the left wing to cross for Abdul Rasaq in the 3-2 victory over Albirex – it was truly sumptuous. His through pass on Saturday night to allow the Maxime-Rasaq combination to happen again was no less delicious, and it was played with such precision that it allowed Maxime to cross the ball without breaking stride, and of course, Abdul Rasaq was there to finish.

The secondary assist is sometimes harder to accomplish than the actual assist itself. Especially against packed defences, sometimes unlocking the defence by putting a player in behind the back four/five is more difficult because it requires precision and bravery to make the pass between covering defenders. If you look at the situation below, it is not immediately apparent what Diego should do, but he has the presence of mind to spot Maxime’s run and weight the pass perfectly (too much power and it allows the keeper to come out and sweep). The rest is Maxime doing what Maxime does, laying it on a plate for Abdul Rasaq right in front of goal. And that brings us to our next point.

Abdul Rasaq – Surprise Saviour

Where would we be without Abdul Rasaq’s goals? When Kodai went down injured, I think we all feared the worst. Fans were speculating that Abdul Rasaq would be thrown into the deep end, and maybe he would be part of a job-share with players such as Shawal Anuar, or even Maxime Lestienne, who would be used in the CF position not by choice, but out of necessity. There was a fear that this young player, though talented, would still need time to learn on the job. (Some fans were optimistic – shout out to you, Kieran)

However, he has exceeded all expectations. He has 9 goals at this stage of the season, and there’s some remarkable numbers coming up for you. He has 8 starts and 5 substitute appearances, totalling 737 minutes played. That works out to a fantastic average of a goal every 82 minutes. A goal a game for a striker who started the season only meant to be a back-up to Kodai Tanaka, that’s very impressive. In fact, if you’re wondering about comparisons with other goalscorers, take a look at the table below.

Of course, the list above includes some players who are also tasked with getting assists, such as Diego Lopes and Vincent Bezecourt, but to see Abdul Rasaq rank so high in terms of minutes per goal is indeed a very encouraging sign.

In December when Kodai’s signing was announced, we licked our lips in anticipation of what a fox-in-the-box like Kodai would do given the service LCS is capable of providing. We had this to say in our article –

It is very heartening to say that despite Kodai’s horrific injury, we nevertheless did end up getting our fox-in-the-box. All of Abdul Rasaq’s goals this season have come from inside the box, and have been a result of his great positioning and timing. His great form has even seen off the challenge of Bernie for the starting spot, and it is not often that you see a local player doing so well that the foreigner is relegated to second choice. Keep it up, Rasaq!

Brothers on the Pitch

Not a very important moment in the grand scheme of things, but I thought it was interesting that TPU’s Zulfadhmi Suzliman and our very own Zulqarnaen Suzliman got subbed on about 10min apart from each other, and were pitted against each other, LW v RB. Just nice to see such duels on the pitch! I wonder if readers can remember any other instance of brothers being on the pitch at the same time, in direct opposition against each other position-wise (CB v CF, LB v RW, CM v CM, etc). Reach out to let us know!

Debut Win for Ranko, Debut for Nur Muhammad Asis

Rumours that Coach Ranko already had some input into the tactical setup for the Hougang game are more credible now, given that the setup for this game was identical to that in the last game. Do check out Zach’s analysis of our tactical setup against Hougang to get an idea of what went on on the pitch. It was a dominant performance, and while part of that is undoubtedly due to the weakened TPU lineup, we can only beat what is in front of us. The team controlled the game from start to finish and it is heartening to hear in the official interview that the team executed perfectly what they prepared for on the training ground. You can’t argue with stats like these below.

Shoutout also to Nur Muhammad Asis, who came on as a late substitute. We congratulate the captain of our U21 team for making his debut, and hope there’s more to come from him!

The Title Race

Our victory was followed by Tampines dropping points to Geylang, which leaves us in 2nd place. It is still very much a 3-horse race with 1 round of 8 games left to play. To have any chance of winning the title, I would say we need to win all our games. Not easy at all – but titles don’t come easy, do they?

COME ON YOU SAILORS! FINAL STRETCH! Let’s get our title back.

Written by Eddy Hirono

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