There was a moment in the first half of this game, when Balestier scored a blatantly offside goal. It was so offside that the Balestier players didn’t even celebrate it, they just retreated back into position. Izwan also just turned around to retrieve the ball for a free kick. Noone thought it was a goal that would stand.
Well, one person did. The person in charge of stadium music got a bit excited and pressed the big red button that said “TIGERS GOAL, GET INNNNNN – PLAY EYE OF THE TIGER“.
The song came on for a bit, people realised something was wrong, and then it stopped. In many ways, that was the story of Balestier Khalsa on Monday night.
They showed up for the game, but did they really show up? Not in my opinion. Only a handful of players really tried. Just like the song, it was half-hearted, and ultimately, killed very quickly. Let’s dive right into this, and other post-match thoughts.
Balestier Khalsa Did Not Show Up
Lack of fixtures
They just didn’t show up. Could it be that they just haven’t had enough football in recent times, thus killing their momentum? They had a month-long break between 20 Aug and 15 Sep, when they played their last league game. Although there were two international fixtures during that time (like the rest of the world), I am not entirely sure why the break was so long.
You compare that with earlier on in the season when Balestier were made to play 4 games in 11 days and you wonder what’s going on with the scheduling.
When games are so spaced out, teams do lose momentum a little. The Sailors at least came into the game having played 2 games, once against Geylang in the final match of the season, and then a few days later against Bangkok United.
Lack of desire
For whatever reason, the Tigers seemed to lack any fight in them. I can remember only a few crunching tackles from Jordan and Madhu, some energetic running around from Ho Wai Loon, but even the usually combative and energetic Hoshino and Daniel Goh seemed to be very muted.
The best example of this lack of desire came in the lead-up to the 5th goal. Ho Wai Loon’s disguised pass was read well by Anu, who deflected it into the path of Hafiz Nor. Hafiz Nor showed his mind is even quicker than his pace, immediately playing the ball to Diego Lopes in the centre of the pitch with a one-touch pass. Balestier were in trouble.
Ahead of Diego is Shawal, who you can see in the picture above, and Richairo, who you cannot see. He’s with Madhu, slightly out of the shot. I picked this picture so you can see that there are 3 Balestier players who should start busting their gut to get back and help. Note the distances between the players. Look at Iqram’s distance with Shawal.
This shows what Balestier is dealing with. It’s a 3v2 at the back – and the distances have widened. Ryoya is further from Diego now, Iqram is further from Shawal now.
Iqram’s lack of desire to run back merely 14 minutes after coming on will be quite worrying for Balestier fans. Had he run back to defend, Jordan and Madhu would then be able to shift across and try to cover Diego and Richairo. As it was, this is your classic Attack v Defence drill where the coach puts fewer defenders than attackers to get the attackers used to finding the open man. This is textbook training ground stuff.
Madhu tried his best – in fact in this moment above he managed to read and block an attempted pass by Diego on the inside to find Richairo. Had the other defenders come back in time, this might have killed the Sailors momentum or at least made it harder for Diego. Instead, he had the time to get the ball back from the deflection, and play it round the outside for Richairo to leave him 1v1 with the keeper.
Funnily enough, even the referee is closer to the Sailors players than the retreating Balestier midfield. Where is Ryoya?
The last picture is like those scenes at the end of an action movie, where a couple is being tormented by some psychotic serial killer. They call 911 for help, but the help never arrives. They find ways to keep themselves alive, they fight and struggle and get hit and fall down stairs and whatnot. They will never die of course, but at the end, after the psychotic serial killer is finally dead, the sirens will sound and the police will arrive – way too late. That is how you’d describe the Balestier midfield. Too little, too late by the time they appeared.
In a match where Balestier looked very lackluster, I think this was the most glaring example. There is already a gulf in quality, and it was made worse by a lack of effort. I’d be fuming if I was a Balestier fan.
Contrast this with an incident in the 30th minute of the game, with Sailors already 3-0 up, and Richairo lost the ball near the Balestier penalty area. He chased down his tackler and managed to win the ball back near the halfway line.
For a man who was labelled as “lazy” when he made his debut for us, that was a very encouraging sign. Which brings us to the next topic …
Richairo Needs to Get On the Ball More
A hat-trick within the first 45 minutes.
He is without doubt, one of the best players on the team. Not only is he strong and fast, he can shoot on either foot as well. He also shows a keen awareness of where his teammates are and is able to link up with them effectively. All these qualities were on display against Balestier.
His first goal was an example of how difficult it is to stop him, because he can go onto his left foot or his right foot, and hit a hard shot. In fact, it was almost a carbon copy of the goal he scored against Hougang United in the 8-2 win last month.
His second-half assist for Diego Lopes, chesting down a cross into the path of his Brazilian teammate is an example of how he links up well with those around him. He saw that Shawal’s cross was slightly behind him so he couldn’t put an effort on goal, so he just chested it down perfectly for Diego.
Against Bangkok United, Richairo did have chances. He had 2 presentable ones, in fact. One was a curler from just outside the box, well-saved by the keeper, while the other was a half-chance in the box blocked by a defender.
Of course, given that Bangkok United are a better team than us at the moment, the team had to sit deep and attacking opportunities were limited.
What I would have liked to see more is Richairo combining with Lopes or Lestienne to bully the fullback more often.
This happened against Balestier, as Fudhil I’yadh was repeatedly attacked by the pair of Diego and Richairo. It was not his best game as he made a few errors – misjudging the distance between himself and the attackers he came up against. It got so bad that he was hauled off on 21 min.
While I understand that Fudhil is a young fullback and is not representative of all fullbacks we will come up against, especially in the Champions League, he has had a decent season – it’s just that the combined quality and experience of Diego and Richairo was too hot to handle. I think if they go at it again, they might cause Kitchee some problems. For this to happen, Diego needs to be more intentional about coming close to Richairo and playing together as if they were 2 players in a 5v5 in a small section of the pitch, if that makes any sense to you. They need to gang up on one or two players in one section of the field to get behind the defensive line, and then fashion chances from there.
Anu and Hami, Sitting In a Midfield Three
I thought that Anu and Hami were brilliant. Their job was made slightly easier by the fact that Alen Kozar was missing from the Balestier midfield. Kozar is who Balestier usually rely on to help recycle the ball, and keep things ticking along in midfield. His absence meant that Balestier always circulated the ball to the flanks, and then promptly lost it thereafter. Ho Wai Loon and Masahiro Sugita were also unable to make penetrating runs near the final third, because they always had to look over their shoulders at the defence.
But the other side to the story of why Balestier could not penetrate us through the middle is because Anu and Hami were imperious in midfield. They held their positions well, and on the rare occasions that Balestier tried to pass it through, they were there to snuff it out. They combined steel with silk, as they also needed to pass progressively when they had the ball.
While it is unlikely that this pairing takes to the field against Kitchee because of Rui Pires, I think I will feel safe regardless of who is picked to partner Rui.
Izwan’s Return
It was so nice to see Izwan coming back from a major injury. He had been out for 10 months due to an ACL injury. His last appearance was last season, also in the Singapore Cup. We spoke to him after the game.
While he performed well in the U21 games and in the closed-door friendly against Albirex Niigata (S) earlier this month, this was his first taste of first-team action in a competitive setting and what he needed to do, he did without much fuss. It can’t be said that Balestier gave him a lot of trouble though, haha. I think the standout feature of Izwan’s game against Balestier was actually his kicking, which almost led to a few promising chances.
I think it can only be a good thing, having him back. Coach Ranko said in the post-match interview that he is happy to have “two quality goalkeepers” at his disposal. They will be pushing each other in training, along with Adib. Against the top sides in Asia, we will need our goalkeepers to be strong, so let’s hope that the increased competition brings out the best from Zharfan!
Conclusion
A win and a clean sheet. Can’t really argue with that.
Hilariously enough, this is the Sailors’ first win in the Singapore Cup. 2020 and 2021, the Cup didn’t happen because of Covid-19, while in 20222, I wish the Cup didn’t happen.
Balestier Khalsa was the team that kicked off last year’s disastrous campaign for us with a 3-3 draw, so this 7-0 result will go some way towards exorcising those ghosts.
That’s all folks, till the next one where I bring you the preview of our must-win Kitchee game.
Written by Eddy Hirono
If you’d like to support the work we do here at SailorFanTalk, you may want to visit https://ko-fi.com/sailorfantalk and leave us a tip!
