July 13, 2023

Well, I could not be more wrong in my pre-match preview. The only thing I got right was that Hakeme Yazid is a superstar and we should be wary of him. However, I under-estimated the Bruneian outfit. Yes, there was a red card, and it is very tough playing with 10 men, but I felt that even in the period before Bailey Wright was sent off, DPMM were the slightly better team. It was a very eventful game, and unfortunately, it was just a game where I felt everything that could go wrong, went wrong for us. The crowd (myself included) was incensed by Jansen Foo, and so not only will this article talk about the players on both sides, but it will definitely also touch on Jansen’s performance. Tiredness + Sloppiness I am gonna sound like a broken recorder soon, but I feel that some rotation was badly needed. Our players have played many games without changes and I think it really showed – as simple passes went astray and the touches were not as assured as they usually were. We also did not press with the same ferocity that we did against the likes of Tanjong Pagar and Young Lions. All 3 goals could be said to have been sloppy, while the red card was a direct result of some wayward passing. It was something that sparked a bit of a debate in the SailorFanTalk Telegram chat, with some fans thinking that our depth options are not good enough, or that our players are professional athletes and should be able to handle a game every 3 to 4 days. In the end, we did a poll and the results were clear in that the majority felt the squad could have done with a bit of freshening up. Especially with Brunei DPMM having played just 3 days ago, I think a little bit of freshness may just have been enough to tip the scales more in our favour. As it was, tiredness did take its toll, and we lacked the sharpness necessary to break down DPMM. To make matters worse, Diego had to be subbed off in the second half, and Coach Ranko said it was because he was carrying a small injury and he wanted to rest him for the weekend’s match against Albirex. We hope he’ll be fine. For supporters who said that our depth options are not good enough, I think I would humbly disagree with them. Someone like Zulqarnaen Suzliman (Mamat) in particular would perhaps have been perfect for this game. Hafiz Nor’s tricky situation re: potentially picking up his 4th yellow card meant it was a perfect opportunity for him to get some minutes and inject some freshness into the backline. For 2 of the goals, I think we were undone by a lack of pace in the backline, and perhaps if Mamat had played, his energy and pace might have given us a better chance at defending those goals. Of course, it calls back to mind his monster defensive performance against Geylang Intl some months back, where we had this to say – Also, while chasing a game and with 10 men, would Haiqal Pashia and Rusyaidi Salime not have been good enough options to bring on? As it was, Mamat was given 10min of gametime, while Haiqal and Rusyaidi were not given any gametime. Once it is clear that the match was not gonna be won, it might have made sense to try and preserve some legs for the Albirex game. If there is such little trust in the bench options, and an unwillingness to use them in any capacity, I do worry. In the short term, I worry about our chances against Albirex this weekend, in the medium term I worry about our squad rotation taking into account the Spurs game (a separate article will be written about this), and in the longer term I worry about how our squad will cope with all the AFC Champions League games. Missed chances Sigh. Maxime’s missed penalty, the 1-2 in front of goal where Maxime squared to Diego and Diego’s shot was cleared off the line. That one conjured up images of our goal against Daegu. The score was still 1-0 then by the way, so had that gone in, it would have been 1-1 and Bailey might not have got sent off. Maxime and Diego have saved us plenty of times this season, so let’s not dwell on this – they are entitled to off-days. Shit happens. I wonder if this is the only game this season where we have scored but Maxime and Diego did not contribute to the goal tally (whether with a goal or an assist). DPMM were very, very, very good Sometimes when doing these post-match thoughts, I tend to fixate quite a bit on how badly the Sailors played, and what we could have done differently. This match is perhaps a little different because I thought that DPMM were excellent. Besides Hakeme in attack, I thought Farshad Noor (Afghan national team captain) was brilliant in midfield, winning 9 of 15 of his duels, and making 5 interceptions. His defensive work was really good, and he popped up everywhere to help put small fires out before they could do any damage. He could even count himself unlucky not to have scored, with a late effort that hit the bar. Elsewhere in the team, Helmi down the left was also a real menace all game, with his fresh legs allowing him to not only make offensive runs, but also help in DPMM’s defensive efforts. This is what rotation can do for you – Helmi only played one half in the previous game. Hakeme was a livewire all night and it was clear that he was instructed to try to beat the offside trap at every opportunity. He would linger in an offside position near our defensive line, and then make a sharp darting run back onside (either in