July 2023

In case you are wondering why nuggets is the picture accompanying this article, it’s because it’s past midnight, I am hungry, and after I typed “golden” in the title, I thought of nuggets. We head into this game with the unexpected bonus of knowing that Albirex dropped points and so our destiny is fully in our hands. Of course when I say that, I mean we must win all our remaining 7 games – no easy task. But it’s better than having to win all remaining 7 games, AND hope that Albirex somehow drop points in another game. Fans of the SPL will know that the club that made Albirex drop points, are our opponents tonight. We must escape a similar fate. With that as our goal, let’s go through some thoughts I have pre-game. DPMM played the game like a cup final I watched the DPMM-Albirex game on TV, and I think it is a real credit to the league that even though DPMM don’t really have anything to play for, they played like their lives depended on the result of the match. They chased down every ball, and really made it a very physical battle. And they did it in a disciplined way too, only committing 9 fouls, as compared to Albirex’s 15. Of their 3 yellow cards, only 1 was for a foul to stop a counter-attack. The other 2 were awarded for time-wasting when DPMM tried to cling on to their hard-earned point. I say DPMM don’t have anything to play for, not just because of their league position. Unlike other teams where the local players are playing for contracts, the majority of the DPMM squad don’t have many other Bruneians who can step in and fight for their starting spot, due to their domestic league back home not being a competitive or even a fully professional one. On top of that, I am told quite reliably there is very little incentive for them to try and win a contract in an overseas team, because some of these players actually wear two hats. They are footballers, but they are also sort of on the books of the Bruneian public service. So when they retire, they will be given jobs as policemen, or civil servants. This job security is hard to leave, and it is a reason why you see very few Bruneian footballers seek greener pastures elsewhere. You’d think a player like Hakeme Yazid would have no lack of offers from overseas teams in the region, but perhaps this is one of the reasons why we are unlikely to see him leave the country. But yeah I digress – they really played like this was a cup final, and in the end it did us a huge favour. Squad Rotation? We come into this game with one more day of rest as compared to DPMM – and the fact that they ran themselves ragged against Albirex may benefit us. I predicted that against Young Lions, we would rotate a little, but Coach Ranko went with an unchanged lineup. I might be wrong again, but I would be very surprised if we do not rotate this time. Including the Albirex game this Sunday, we will have played 3 games in 9 days, and given we have one of the deepest squads in the league, I will expect some changes. Hafiz Nor The first change I think will be Hafiz Nor. I fully expect Zulqarnaen Suzliman to come in for him, and it is not just because we might want to preserve his legs for the Albirex game. Hafiz Nor is already on three yellow cards, and can ill afford to pick up another one vs DPMM. If you look at our build-up play when we have the ball, Hafiz Nor seems the most natural fit for the right-sided position because he holds the width excellently, and has been trusted so far by Coach Ranko. The above graphic is taken from Zach’s excellent tactical analysis of Coach Ranko’s preferred formation, and so far Hafiz Nor has been trusted on the right. However, I think there is no reason why Zulqarnaen Suzliman cannot do an excellent job there too. His engine allows him to get up and down the right side, and in fact, perhaps a surprising statistic is that Mamat has 1 more assist than Hafiz Nor. Hafiz Nor has no assists this season, although he does have 2 goals. When we last faced Albirex, Hafiz Nor also had a better game than Mamat, so I think we can expect Mamat to start tonight, to ensure that Hafiz Nor is available for the Albirex game. Bailey Wright Singapore football’s worst-kept secret was finally revealed over the weekend. Bailey Wright is a Sailor. It is a very exciting signing given that he has come directly from one of the most competitive leagues in Europe – the EFL Championship. He has also gained a reputation over the years as a hard-nosed defender who is a gentleman off it. It is absolutely amazing to see all the tributes pouring in for him from Sunderland and Socceroo fans. When Kim Shin-Wook signed for us, it was a huge signing, no doubt, but the online comments were a lot more divided. For more on Bailey Wright, please read this excellent article by the club. Back to the game – I think we will want Bailey Wright to start in the game against Albirex, and therefore I think we will need to play him against DPMM first. I think it would be foolhardy to throw a new signing into the defence immediately, even if Bailey has already been in Singapore for some time, and attended our last 2 games. From highlights it looks like Bailey is a no-nonsense defender who likes to dive into tackles and emerge with the ball. Games sometimes turn on moments, and I can already imagine some of his full-blooded tackles bringing life to the crowd, helping to keep

Complacency is the buzzword for this article, and for our match against Young Lions tomorrow. It’s featured in the title of our preview here, and also features heavily in the official Sailors preview (the word “complacency” is used thrice in its various forms). Sailors are Overwhelming Favourites There is good reason for the choice of the word “complacency” – Young Lions should not have any chance of winning this game. Coming into this game, here are some relevant stats : On top of the above, they have also lost key players such as Jordan Emaviwe, and Jacob Mahler, who have gone to Balestier Khalsa and Madura United respectively. Jared Gallagher may be back in contention to start the game as his training stint with Sligo Rovers should have ended on 3 July. His addition will be a welcome one to Young Lions as his defensive abilities should help in the middle of the park as they will undoubtedly try to sit in a deep block to frustrate the Sailors. There should thus be no excuse for our Sailors, provided we are not complacent, but let’s take a look at some factors to think about ahead of tomorrow’s game. Farhan Zulkifli Local fans have seen the fleet-footed left winger / wing-back for years now, and been entertained by his enterprising runs down the left flank, so much so that it is kinda surprising for me to learn that he is only 21 years old. It seems like he has been around forever. He made his debut 4 years ago, and has since gone on to be called up for national team squads and even made his debut last year. He made his debut for the Young Lions against Albirex a few days ago, and he was electric. In the half hour that he was subbed on, he never stopped running and gave Albirex a really tough time. He completed all 4 dribbles that he attempted, he won a penalty, and with better finishing, might even have got a goal for himself. He has pace to burn so Sailors fans can expect that between Syahadat Masnawi (another willing runner) and himself, they will be the ones running after long balls and clearances from their defenders to try to catch us on the counter-attack. One for the defence to worry about! Rotation This is a tricky question – should the Sailors try to rotate the squad a little? There are pros and cons to this approach. Given that Young Lions are the worst team in the league, the argument can be made that if not now, then when? We play Albirex on 16 July in a match that will definitely have a huge impact on the title race. In the month of July, we have three games before 16 July. In that same period, Albirex only have 2 games. Even then, Albirex saw fit to rotate against Young Lions. Seia Kunori (their top scorer) and Tadanari Lee did not start, while Kaisei Ogawa only played 45 minutes. The changes to the squad perhaps affected their performance on the day. While they still emerged as comfortable winners, I think many expected a more dominant performance, and perhaps a bigger scoreline. As it was, Young Lions managed to score 2 goals, and even contrived to miss a penalty kick. If we rotate, are we confident of still getting a good performance? If we have a bit of a disjointed performance, can we still come out of the game with 3 points? These are questions that Coach Ranko has to grapple with. My opinion is that we definitely have to rotate. Even if we do not leave out our established starters from the outset, I think we have to be more daring when it comes to mid-game substitutions. If we are 2 goals up at half-time for example, dare we leave out Maxime Lestienne for the second half? I think we should. Let’s see our fringe players get some free time. We’re entering the final straight of the league campaign, and if there are any injuries, we will want our fringe players to at least have some match practice under their belt so that we can rely on them. It would of course, be easier to rotate if our foreign signings are eligible to play – but for whatever reason, they have not been announced yet. Perhaps some work permit issues? Some other administrative issues that we are not privy to? It’s really hard to say. Whatever it is, it is clear that Super and Bernie seem to have been deregistered from our SPL squad, as they were both not in the matchday squad against Tanjong Pagar United. I hope that the new foreign signings get to play soon, and if we’re lucky, maybe they’ll make it off the bench for a cameo? Conclusion Just win. Some supporters have talked about using this game to pad the goal difference stats. While I can see their point – I think it is still a little disrespectful to the Young Lions. These are still professional footballers, who put in a very decent shift against reigning champions Albirex. What I want to see is a continuation of our dominance against Tanjong Pagar and Hougang – the scoreline will naturallly follow. As long as we are not complacent. 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: YL 0 LCS 6 Joseph’s prediction: YL 2 LCS 5 And here’s the leaderboard – Written by Eddy Hirono If you don’t want to miss any articles, be sure to follow us on Instagram and join our Telegram chat! If you’d like to support the work we do