The following tactical analysis is from Zach Wu, who’s not a Sailors fan, but we just thought it would be good for someone without rose-tinted glasses to analyse the tactics of our games. We hope to make this a regular column so that we can better appreciate what is going on in our games from a tactical perspective.
[Editor’s note] Zach chose the title for this article and it’s funny how this Hougang fan is choosing to use such fan favourite phrases like “OTH is blue”. This Hougang fan is fast becoming a Sailors fan.
With both sides largely out of the title race, it now became a battle for the title of best local side.
Tampines were beset with many absentees such as Amirul Haikal, Irfan Najeeb and a half-fit Boris Kopitovic. Meanwhile for LCS, Shawal Anuar was the only missing player as he served his reservist duties.
LCS have often struggled against Tampines, finding it hard to strike a balance between defence and offence for their transitional-based game. In the 4-3 result earlier this season at OTH, the Sailors were too lax defensively and did not play to their strengths. At Bishan in the 1-1 draw, they were too cautious and mitigated their own transition game.
Tampines approach
While still retaining their short passing game, their shape had changed greatly since the last time they faced the Sailors instead of the 3-2-4-1 shape they had been synonymous with this past season.
As we can see from the touch map, the fullbacks Glenn and Ryaan were relatively deep while the 2 wingers had separate roles; Faris high and wide against van Huizen while Joel was narrow and infield.
Tampines’s general shape was very similar to Brazil at the 2010 World Cup. It was a 4-2-3-1 with two deep holding players (Gilberto Silva and Felipe Melo) although some people did interpret it as a 4-4-2 diamond with Robinho drifting inside from a wider position on the left flank.
Be it a diamond or a lopsided 4-2-3-1, Tampines’s shape was to try to ensure they had a midfield 4 in the centre to outnumber LCS and then use switches of play to free up Faris to dribble at van Huizen 1 vs 1 who proved to be LCS’s Achilles heel the last time the two sides faced off at OTH.
LCS Approach
LCS’s approach was to keep it simple and play a largely transitional game – stay tight, and look to play on the counter.
Firstly, Zharfan’s took every goal kick long to ensure Tampines would not press them and lose the ball in buildup. There was also a huge bias to the left side (i.e. most goal kicks were sent to the left) as Zivkovic had a huge physical advantage against his direct opponent Ryaan Sanizal.
Secondly, it was LCS’s intense press that forced the mistakes that resulted in 3 early goals.
LCS’s press
LCS’s press was extremely effective for 2 reasons. Firstly, they recognized pressing triggers well. Be it a loose or slow pass, a backwards pass, poor body shape to receive etc, they pressed every time a Tampines player made even a small mistake, making it extremely difficult for Tampines to play their short passing game. This was extremely evident for Lestienne’s 2 chips of Syazwan (one ended up behind the goal and the other in the goal); he recognized the pressing trigger early and seized upon the mistake quickly.
Secondly, Rankovic’s gameplan was extremely effective in countering Tampines overloading the midfield. The wingers (purple) were extremely narrow while the central players tracked their man tightly (red). This ensured LCS had a 4 vs 4 in the centre of the pitch. Here, the wingers guarded space while the central players would go for their respective men.
I would like to highlight the difference in approach as compared to the game at Bishan. Here, the front 4 (red) would be set up to guard the space while the other 2 centre midfielders (out of frame) would go for their respective men.
Rankovic’s gameplan was also partly helped by Tampines shape and missing personnel. With the Tampines fullbacks deep, it was extremely hard to go forward with the ball. Boris missing also meant that even if Tampines could drag their respective markers out of shape in the centre, Taufik Suparno (not being a player famed for his hold-up play) would not be able to receive and lay off the ball reliably, largely being silenced by the physical pair of Lionel and Bailey.
Second Half
Tampines were quick out the blocks (purple) in the second half, being far more intense in their attacks (especially during 46-60mins) with their need to get back into the game. They also created far better chances with an xG of 2.19 in the second half as compared to a mere 0.53 in the first.
However, this came at a cost. Tampines were getting fatigued (purple) and their PPDA (opponent passes per defensive action) dropped tremendously during 61-75mins. They were less able and slower to put pressure on the ball, resulting in a huge drop from 4.5 PPDA to 23.0 PPDA from 46-60mins to 61-75mins. They ran out of steam and LCS took full advantage at the end after being momentarily pegged back.
[Editor’s note] PPDA stands for passes per defensive action – basically, how many passes are your opponents allowed to make before you try a tackle or an interception.
Conclusion
At face value on the basis on xG it seemed like an even game. However, this could not be further than the truth. LCS went ahead with 3 goals in the first half; this meant they could sit deeper (on their 3 goal lead) and prey on Tampines’ mistakes, conserving energy.
On the other hand, Tampines were so far behind (at half time) that they had to go all-out attack and they eventually wore themselves out. Without a quality bench to call upon, they faltered at the end and allowed LCS to restore their 3 goal lead.
This game really showed the importance of a deep squad; if Tampines had the quality on the bench to call upon, they might have gotten the equalizing goal and who knows what could have happened from there. Also, Rankovic got his tactics spot on, allowing for the Sailors to finally down the Stags this season.
Written by Zach Wu
Edited by Eddy Hirono
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