This article should really have come out earlier but WordPress will be the death of me. Usually reliable, it decided to crash while I was 99% done with the article and typing my concluding thoughts. How very annoying – and so I have to start all over again. (Yes, I did save along the way, but even the backups are gone – what a tragedy.)
It’s not often that someone can get 2 goals and 3 assists in the game and yet not be the focus of an article, but that’s exactly what will happen to Maxime Lestienne in this article. I will still of course, touch a little on Maxime first before talking about Richairo and the rest, so let’s go.
The New Normal
Yikes. Guess it has been a while since you saw that dreaded phrase. At first, when it was used during the Covid-19 period and I first heard it, I thought to myself, “well isn’t that such a succinct and elegant way to describe the pandemic!” But after a while, when everyone around you and in the supermarket and in the coffeeshop started saying “new normal” and even the mynahs cooing sounded like they were cooing “new normal”, it got a little tiresome and I wanted to puke whenever I heard it.
What has this got to do with Lestienne? I think we are spoiled, haha.
Lestienne is now on 25 goals and 21 assists this season and that’s just…insane. It’s calculator time again, so that’s 46 goal contributions in 23 games, making it 2 goal contributions a game. Just madness.
It’s the 8th time this season that he has recorded both a goal and an assist in the same game. For him, impressive feats are “normal”. And that probably explains why even on a day when he got 2 goals and 3 assists, my mind was dominated by Richairo, who himself picked up 2 goals and 1 assist.
Long may this “new normal” last. LCS, please put a damn contract in front of him and let him sign it!
Richairo = Curry
No, not the former NBA Most Valuable Player. The more important one.
You know how when you eat Nasi Padang or Caifan, what is important is whether the rice is cooked well, whether the vegetables are fresh and nice, and whether the meats selected are tender. But to really elevate the dish, you need a good curry on top of it. It’s why you flirt with the Nasi Padang makcik, it’s why you tell the Caifan Uncle that his new watch very bright ah, Uncle, you strike TOTO is it Uncle? All you want is for them to smile to themselves and then just put 2 seconds more worth of curry onto your plate. Then you can bring it back to your seat and just whack and savour the curry as it makes every component of your dish taste better.
Yes?
Yup, Richairo Zivkovic is the curry. You won’t die if you don’t have it – your nasi padang is still nasi padang, your caifan is still caifan. There’s still a bit of gravy in those other dishes, your beansprouts, your sweet and sour chicken. There’s still gravy – the dish still works. In football terms, your team will still function – your team still works.
But Richairo is different gravy, man. Some of you may know that I felt the criticism of Kim Shin-Wook last season was harsh. I felt he drastically improved his goalscoring ratio here as compared to that he achieved in other leagues, and he looked like he was genuinely trying his best. That was last season.
This season, we all feel that Abdul Rasaq is doing a great job upfront, and has reached double digits (more on this later).
But when you look at Richairo in full flight, it’s really a sight to behold. When he’s down the wings, I can tell you he must be a nightmare to defend. As someone who plays fullback quite a bit, the worst players to mark are those who are fast, can cross with both feet, can win the ball in the air, and can shoot with both feet. He is all of the above.
Watch him in games – his left-footed crosses are better than some players’ right-footed crosses even though it is his weak foot. This game alone, both goals he scored with his weak foot, and the first of those goals was an absolute rocket into the top corner.
While the team was still doing quite well even before he joined us, since he has joined us, every attack looks that bit more dangerous.
Since he has started in the team, the team has achieved a slightly higher goals per game average. Of course, there is a very small sample size involved so please take this stat with a pinch of salt.
We spoke with Richairo after the game, and it was funny how he took his own goal with good humour, but also very interesting to see that he was quite impressed with some of the attacking combinations during the game, especially on the counter. He also spoke about how this would be useful in the Champions League if we face good opposition. Check it out for yourself!
Abdul Rasaq – Young Lion
Is there anything noteworthy about this table of top 10 goalscorers and assisters in our league?
You may notice that out of the 20 names here, only 3 are Singaporean – Abdul Rasaq with 10 goals, Joel Chew with 9 assists, and Adam Swandi with 7 assists. This is not the time and place to examine all factors about why this is so, because that would need a long article with tons of input from various sources.
We just want to take this opportunity to congratulate Abdul Rasaq on what is a very impressive achievement. He started this season as the no. 2 striker behind Kodai Tanaka, and when given the chance to play due to Kodai’s unfortunate injury, he took the opportunity with both hands, scoring crucial goals, but also putting in a defensive shift whenever he played, adding to the number of bodies in midfield. He was never just a poacher waiting around to be fed, not involved in build-up play.
Then when the club signed Bernie Ibini-Isei, he might have thought, oh look here we go again. It must not be easy having the mental fortitude to earn his place back again against someone who has played in far more illustrious leagues and who is much more of a physical specimen. Has he succeeded? Yes, definitely. He is still starting games for us while Bernie has officially been released by the club.
To top it all off, whenever we talk to him, he’s always so approachable, so humble, and always thanking the fans for their support. What’s not to love! Hopefully he is crowned Young Player of the Season this year, and that will be a nice complement to his double-digit goalscoring season.
Chris van Huizen’s Goal – A Pass Above
Yup, you know which goal. That move where we held onto the ball for a long time, and then Maxime played a quick first-time pass into the box for Chris to slam into the top corner. How long? We held the ball for 1min and 9 seconds, and it started with a failed Maxime pass which was picked up by him, and then the timer started.
Now, quick little game. How many passes before Chris hit the shot into the top corner?
In the post-match fan reactions video, I said there was 19 passes in the move, while my two interviewees Harresh and Shariff said 13 and 21 respectively.
So was it the correct answer?
Drumroll….YES!
19 was the number of passes between Maxime first picking up the ball after his pass gets intercepted and Chris slamming the ball into goal. If you’re curious, the order is – Lestienne, Lopes, Lestienne, Lopes, Lestienne, Mamat, Lionel, Bailey, Chris, Bailey, Chris, Bailey, Hariss, Lionel, Chris, Bailey, Chris, Richairo, Bailey, Lestienne, Chris.
What was also interesting was that for the majority of that play, Bailey was in nosebleed left-wing territory, and it was his entry pass into Maxime that quickened the play and allowed Chris to score!
Poor from Hougang?
Before we conclude, I would just like to give a shoutout to the Hougang fans, who sang loud and proud all night despite being on the wrong end of an 8-2 hammering. Could Hougang players have given a bit more? In my opinion it looked like after 5-2, some heads dropped and the defending wasn’t great. Which is a pity because at 4-2 when Gabriel scored that fantastic goal from outside the box, there was a slight worry that they might make things nervy. I would not want to be a Hougang fan in that position.
Also, would like to just say that they have launched a new website, much like SailorFanTalk.com, which writes long-form content on Hougang games. Check it out! In their latest article, they did have this to say about the performance –
I am an Arsenal fan, and I know exactly what it is like to have been on the receiving end of my team getting thrashed 8-2. I still remember wearing my Arsenal shirt to school and having a schoolmate show me the L sign on her forehead. Immature Man United fan.
Conclusion
With this victory, second spot is safe, and we get to rest players in our last game against Geylang. As mentioned in our previous article, this may be important given that we only have 3/4 days before our opening Champions League match after the Geylang game.
Especially if it’s an away game, we can see how we’d definitely want the first team to travel up early and be fighting fit and raring to go, not having to worry about a dead rubber game.
7 days till we know who we face in the Champions League, and maybe just maybe, we can start planning which away games to travel up for!
Written by Eddy Hirono
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