In case you thought I’d gone mad and forgotten that Albirex have scored 67 goals, 9 more than Sailors’ 58 and 17 more than Balestier’s 50 goals, I was referring to the individual top-scorers’ tally. Ryoya Taniguchi and Maxime Lestienne are both locked on 20 goals and as the league title is almost a foregone conclusion, I am gonna get invested in this particular race. These, and other thoughts, in our match preview ahead of tomorrow’s game.
Hafiz Nor Suspended
First up, Hafiz Nor is suspended after picking up his 4th yellow card of the season against Tanjong Pagar United. This is probably one of those suspensions I am least worried about.
While Hafiz Nor has been a vital part of the team all season, I’ve long banged the drum of “PLAY MAMAT MORE, ROTATE THE SQUAD”, and so this is an enforced change that will definitely see Mamat come in on the right side of defence. I see Hafiz Nor and Mamat as being very similar players in terms of how they affect the team. If you imagine yourself playing FIFA or Football Manager, then Mamat is essentially Hafiz Nor, but with a bit more defensive attributes and a little less offensive attributes. One thing they do share in common is a love to gallop down the wing and contribute to attack, so we will hopefully see not much change in terms of how we approach the game.
It’s also perhaps the perfect time to see Mamat back in the team. He was widely praised for his defensive efforts up against Son Heung Min, and his confidence must be very high. For more on Mamat, check out this excellent article by CNA writer Matthew Mohan.
Bailey Wright is Back
Bailey Wright will want to make things right (pun completely intended) when he returns from suspension tomorrow night. I don’t think it’s unfair to say that his dismissal against Brunei DPMM was not how he saw his debut going when he went to sleep the night before, and that it essentially torpedoed our chances of getting a victory against the Bruneian team.
But what’s done is done, and the players have talked about how it’s important to win our remaining games to try to regain some momentum for the upcoming Champions League fixtures. I completely agree because that’s all we can really do now. A huge part of it for me is to see how Bailey Wright will adapt to this system. He looked comfortable against Spurs, only really being beaten once, when he lost track of James Maddison in the box and it took a good Zharfan save to bail him out. However, that was a back 5 system, and we’ve all seen how defenders usually look good in a back 5 system because they have much less space to protect.
It’s early in Bailey’s career, but if he is to give the fans some confidence, this is probably going to be a good test for him, up against Ryoya Taniguchi and Shuhei Hoshino. Which brings me to …
Shuhei Hoshino – More Than Just a Goalscorer?
All the Balestier talk this season has been about Peter de Roo, Ryoya Taniguchi, and maybe also Daniel Goh. Ho Wai Loon also comes to mind as someone who has taken a lot of plaudits for his limitless energy. Madhu as well, has rolled back the years with some sublime performances at centre-back, so much so that some fans have started calling him Madhu Maldini.
But Shuhei doesn’t really get a mention. Which is strange. It might be because Shuhei sometimes is super profligate in front of goal, but I reckon it’s more because of his barren seasons in front of goal when he was paired with Zuzul.
4 goals and 3 goals respectively in 2020 and 2021 is absolutely pathetic. There is a good reason for that though. In those seasons, Peter de Roo had not come yet, and Shuhei was reduced to someone who was just known for being a targetman – knocking down long passes for his quick partner Zuzul to burst onto and score. Since he has come, Balestier have produced an exciting brand of football, which has been accelerated ever since they moved to Bishan Stadium – the better pitch allowing them to actually create nice passing patterns and link up play all over the pitch, advancing the ball methodically and assuredly, instead of just lumping it up the field.
And as a result, Shuhei has really come into his own (despite a slow start to the season). He is a vital part of Balestier’s attack, having scored 9 goals and registered 8 assists. His tally of 17 goal contributions is surprisingly more than that of some people who have really excelled this season, such as Hakeme Yazid (15), Shuto Komaki (14), Keito Komatsu (14) and equal to that of Boris Kopitovic (17). (Of course, the Albirex ones being so high up is amazing in and of itself considering their limited minutes, but that’s why they’re gonna win the league.)
One other thing about Shuhei that people don’t really comment on, is that he helps with quick transitions with his passing. He doesn’t have the highest passing accuracy, but that’s because he tries some really ambitious passes – and it is usually to set Daniel Goh free. Look at this one vs DPMM – he is circled in pink. Look where he is when he plays that pass over the defence.
Harry Kane receives a lot of praise for doing this for Spurs, so I have to point out as well that this is something else that Shuhei has in his arsenal – he drops back into midfield where the centre-backs can’t really follow, picks up a pass, and then without really wasting much time, he seeks to exploit the pace of Daniel Goh in behind. This was something I referenced as well in the preview of our first meeting with Balestier Khalsa.
On average, Shuhei makes 3.84 long passes per game – which is more than the 3.15 long passes per game for Ryoya Taniguchi, 0.87 for Masahiro Sugita, and the 0.7 for Daniel Goh. He is not just a goalscoring forward, he is also one who facilitates play for his teammates. If I was Coach Ranko, I’d ask the boys to beware of him dropping into space – if we don’t close him down, we’ll have to deal with the consequences.
Balestier’s Defence + Hairul Syirhan
Balestier’s defence and goalkeeper has been their weak point all season. They now have Jordan Emaviwe joining Madhu in defence, but they are still leaking goals. Has he been an improvement though over what preceded his introduction into the team? Stats would suggest yes – since Emaviwe started at centreback for Balestier Khalsa in the last 5 games, they have conceded 10 goals. If you think that sounds bad, that is because it is bad – conceding 2 goals per game cannot be seen as good.
However, surprisingly it is better than it was before he joined the defence. Prior to that, in the 15 games that Balestier Khalsa played, they conceded 46 goals, which your quick maths should tell you averages out at about 3 goals per match. There is a reason why Balestier Khalsa has the second-worst defence in the league.
A huge part of the defensive frailty is the keeper though. Hairul has endured a very poor season. I don’t think he has gone three games without making a poor decision or a poor attempt at a save which results in a goal conceded. I feel for him because being a keeper myself I know that it is one of the toughest positions on the pitch. However, being a professional, he has to pick himself up and try everything he can to improve. Every preview I pick him out as a weak point, and I am sure if I can see it, our Sailors can see it as well.
Just go look at the goal he conceded against DPMM. The freekick was so far out, he had it well-covered, but it bounced into the net off him – you can’t win games consistently like that. I won’t belabour this point too much – I think everyone can see for themselves.
As mentioned above, even with the addition of Jordan Emaviwe, they are still conceding a high number of goals. We must exploit that, and I am confident that our trio of Lestienne, Shawal and Zivkovic can deliver.
Ryoya v Maxime
This is a fascinating race. What I love about Maxime is that he’s never been about the personal accolades in his time with us. He is super unselfish, often turning down the chance to shoot to pass it to a teammate in a more advantageous position. He even has on occasion, given up the penalty kick for his teammates to strike it. Imagine Harry Kane or Alan Shearer doing that? Unthinkable.
Despite his unselfishness, this season he’s really come into his own when it comes to goalscoring. 1 goal a game would be a great return for a striker, much less for someone who operates off the wing. To then also ally it with 16 assists, and top both the goalscoring and assisting charts, is mind-blowing. We are privileged to be able to watch Maxime in his prime, and I really hope we get the contract signed.
There are few games remaining, and we can’t control what Ryoya does in other games – so I hope that for the purposes of this race, our defenders keep him quiet, so that even if Maxime cannot win a team title, he can win the individual title of top goalscorer, and probably along with it, Player of the Year. Allow Ryoya to explode in this game, and there’s a good chance both individual titles go to Ryoya instead.
Conclusion
For all the reasons listed above, this will not be an easy game. However, me being optimistic, I am gonna focus on how many goals Balestier leaks. If we can put some pressure on the goalie, we can come away with a handsome victory.
COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE!
Score Prediction
Joseph and I predict the scores and track our success in a table. Stay tuned to find out who is the prediction king!
3 points for exact scoreline predicted correctly, 2 points for predicting the winner and margin of victory correctly (but not the exact scoreline), and 1 point for predicting the outcome correctly (win, lose or draw).
Eddy’s prediction: LCS 4 BAL 1
Joseph’s prediction: LCS 4 BAL 2
And here’s the leaderboard –
Written by Eddy Hirono
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