July 8, 2023

I am writing this after watching Albirex drop points to DPMM Brunei, but I will try to ignore that in giving my post-match thoughts for our 4-0 victory over Young Lions. At half-time the score was 0-0, and we suffered a major scare when Zharfan Rohaizad had to pull off an outstanding double save from first Harhys Stewart, and then Syahadat Masnawi, to prevent us going in 1-0 down at the break. Considering that Albirex took barely a few minutes to open up Young Lions in the previous games, there were more than a few nerves at half-time. Our Sailors had to improve in the second half, and they did. In the end, it was very, very comfortable – let’s take a look at the stats. Our dominance was never in doubt in the 2nd half. But what caused the deadlock at half-time? Here are some thoughts about the game. The C-word Prior to the game, we said in our preview that all the stats pointed to a comfortable Sailors victory, and the only thing that could potentially stumble us was complacency. So it was pretty interesting that when we spoke to Nur Adam post-game, he mentioned that perhaps the Sailors were a bit complacent in the first half, and took the Young Lions a bit lightly. We seemed to struggle to break Young Lions down, and when we did, we did not take our chances. Adam Swandi’s diving header went just wide, and he then saw his half-volley smack off the post as well, so we did come really close. Problem was, we also looked vulnerable on the counter and we perhaps lacked the control of the game that we had come to expect after two very successful outings against Hougang and Tanjong Pagar with the new formation. But was it due to complacency? It’s of course impossible to tell if the players subconsciously took Young Lions a little easy, or if they were trying to save some energy in the tank, knowing that just a few days later, they would be playing DPMM Brunei. However, one thing that surprised me when the starting lineup was announced was that there was zero rotation – an unchanged team from our big win against Tanjong Pagar. I thought Coach Ranko may have been tempted to switch things up given that we were facing the basement-dwellers, but perhaps his reason for not doing that was precisely so as not to send the message to his players that Young Lions are an “easy” team to beat. In any case, the best lessons to learn are the ones where you didn’t have to pay a price for, and Zharfan’s double-save ensured that we went in at the break goalless, rather than 1 goal down. It was a warning that did not draw any blood, and one that allowed the coaching staff to make some changes at half-time to give us more of an attacking threat. This was also referenced by captain Hariss in his post-match chat with us. Nur Adam’s Increasing Attacking Threat In a first half where we struggled to create as many chances as we usually do, Nur Adam was quite conservative in his play, as he did not look to overlap as much. In this new system, he is part of a back 3 sometimes in build-up, so more of the risk-taking will be taken by Hafiz Nor on the opposite flank. However, in the second half, he was often seen further forward, and it was this that led to our first goal, as he ran deep into enemy territory (see red arrow) to support Adam Swandi. He took the ball in his stride, and his cutback created chaos as first Shawal put it on target, and then the deflection fell kindly for Maxime to coolly side-foot into the back of the net. This was a run that was not made as often in the first half, so credit both to Nur Adam, but also Coach Ranko for making this tactical change. Although he did not pick up an assist in this game, this chance he created eventually led to the opening of the floodgates. This, coupled with the fact that he has 2 assists from his previous 2 games, means that we are finally seeing Nur Adam play into some real form, and what a crucial time for him to be doing it. In our post-match chat with him, he mentioned that he would like to get a goal soon, but also joked that Maxime always tells him to stay back and let him attack alone. Which brings us to the next point… Magnificent Maxime How many superlatives can you throw at this beautiful Belgian man? It is utterly insane the numbers he’s putting up. He’s the Nikola Jokic of the Singapore Premier League. You stop him from scoring, he’s gonna get an assist. You stop him from passing, he’s gonna get a goal. What can you do as a defender? Last night was his first hattrick for the Sailors – a stat that made me stop and think in disbelief. It just seems so crazy that he hasn’t scored a hattrick yet because we have seen him score goal after goal. The reason for that is he tends to score in twos rather than threes. The club also announced that with his hattrick, he is now the all-time top-scoring Sailor. Just amazing. But it’s not just goals is it? Why I called him the Nikola Jokic of our league is because he isn’t afraid to share the ball as well. How often do you see this in any league? He is on course to reach more than 20 goals and 20 assists in the same season – a very difficult achievement. The club also put out some other stats – Maxime’s 18-goal haul is his best-ever goal tally in a season, beating his previous record of 17 goals with Club Brugge in the 2012/2013 season. Friday’s three-goal haul