November 2023

Again, this is gonna be a short one – I just flew into Bangkok a few hours earlier and I really should be sleeping to prepare for a full day of activity tomorrow. But here are some of my quick thoughts! High Stakes I hate to be dramatic, but this is really do-or-die for the Sailors. In my preview for the last time we faced Bangkok United, I stressed that we had to beat Bangkok United. Please see the excerpt below. I referred to Jeonbuk as the apex predator and perhaps that hasn’t really been 100% right. They’ve lost unexpectedly to us at Jalan Besar Stadium, and also Bangkok United at Thamassat Stadium. In both those games, they have looked very ordinary. However, I am still backing them to get a win vs Kitchee in the other fixture of the day, and then 3 points again at Jeonju Castle, when Bangkok United make the trip to Korea. As such, there really is no room for a loss later tonight. If we get a draw (which is already a creditable result), then we’d be on 7 points, and can potentially reach a maximum of 10 points. A draw would leave Bangkok on 11 points, which puts them out of our reach, regardless of the result against Kitchee in December. Should Jeonbuk then beat Kitchee and Bangkok United, they will finish on 12 points, leaving us in 3rd place with no chance of qualification. Ideally, we want to win in Bangkok, go to 9 points, and then hope that Jeonbuk beats Bangkok United as well in their last game, which would result in both us and Jeonbuk finishing with 12 points. That would most likely lead us to finish in 2nd place, but 12 points seems pretty safe for us to qualify as one of the top-ranked second-placed teams. If we’re looking at Bangkok Utd as our last chance of getting a win, you can be sure that our opponents think the same. A win here wraps things up for them – they will not wanna risk it in Jeonju Castle. All that just to say – you can expect some spice from this game in the land that gave us Tom Yam. The Previous Game Many who watched the previous game, and seldom watch the Thai League or stay in touch with it, say that in our previous meeting, both teams actually were super evenly-matched. If you would cast your mind back to that game, you’d remember they struggled to create clear chances, and it was sloppy marking from a corner, and then a long shot from Thitiphan that eventuall turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 away victory, Well….the corner was put away by Everton, their talismanic captain. The bad news is that he is still available, will likely start, and just this previous weekend, he rose highest to win another header from a corner kick. This time it hit the post and stayed out. Our boys will have to really ensure that all our setpieces are properly defended. There is very little room for error. So that was the bad news – the good news is that due to a long-term injury, Thitiphan is injured. He is a major part of their midfield, and his presence may be felt. If you’ve been following Bangkok Utd’s results, you will see that without Phitiphan, they do not reach the same standards they usually do. Absences Speaking of Thitiphan’s injury, we have our own absences to deal with as well. Bailey Wright travelled with the squad, but given that he received zero gametime at the weekend against Hougang, I’d be shocked if he plays any part in tonight’s game. More importantly, Super is out suspended. It will of course be a blow considering his stellar form this campaign in the ACL. He is also one of those players, like Rui Pires, who is super well-rested because he did not play in the international break, and was ineligible for the Singapore Cup games. However, we will have to make do without him. It is a position where perhaps you could argue that we are well-covered anyway, having seen the return to action of Pedro Henrique. We could well line up with Pedro, Hariss and Lionel as the three centre-backs going up against Bangkok Utd. Hariss being dropped into the defence to add solidity might mean that Diego Lopes comes back into the fold after injury, and helps to wreak havoc in the Bangkok United backline. Notably, Diego did not play in our impressive 2-0 win over Jeonbuk. Unbeaten Thus Far Here’s an amazing stat that you may already know. Bangkok United is unbeaten in all competitions this season – yep that includes the ACL. They sit on top of the Thai league, and have a game in hand against BG Pathum United. They are also 6 points ahead of last season’s champions, Buriram. This is not gonna be an easy task for our Sailors – but I am sure if you asked pre-tournament if we wanted to be in a position after Gameweek 4 of the ACL where we could still qualify, I am sure most fans would bite your hand off and take that offer. Conclusion Yep, this was really short and I apologise for not being able to do more analysis for this piece. The game is too close to call. I genuinely think that ability-wise, our players do not have the edge. However, never say never. If we could choose between going to Jeonbuk away or going to BGPU away to clinch a result needed to go for the quarter-finals, I am sure most of us would plump for Bangkok United. Now that the chance has presented itself – let’s grasp it tightly and get that win. 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

This is gonna be a short one because, we qualified. End of the day, that’s all that matters. Secondly, we have got much bigger fish to fry – as mentioned in the preview, qualification was almost a certainty anyway, so the match against Hougang was about giving players minutes, making sure noone got injured and preparing for the big game against Bangkok United. About the second point – ensuring people didn’t get injured…  well there were one or two moments when the Hougang players may have crossed the line (imo), but thankfully Maxime is fine. Let’s dive into some quick thoughts. Lack of Motivation I usually hate to hear this as a reason being used by anyone who has lost a game, or did poorly in anything. Coach Ranko said that the performance in the first half wasn’t good because it was not easy for him to motivate the players given that they had such an important game in three days, and qualification was already more or less sewn up. Which is the football equivalent of saying “aiya this exam I never study, if I like you whole day stay library I also will get A lor lol”. In school, you’d fantasise about giving such people a tight slap across their faces for the blatant face-saving gesture, an excuse to hide behind for their poor performances. I mean, no one told you not to study right? Ok random rant over. So am I giving Coach Ranko a pass for essentially saying we didn’t win because we didn’t want to? Not really – I think he was being honest in his inability to get his players pumped up for this game. If anything, he was shitting on himself for failing to motivate them. I did however want to see some harsher words used for that lacklustre first half. It was one of the worst halves of football I’ve seen our Sailors play this year, and the fact that it came against a Hougang team shorn of some key players? Inexcusable. Let’s recap. No Krajcek, no Zulfahmi, no Shahdan. Yes I know we rested a few players, but Maxime, Diego and Richi played 90min. Winning can sometimes be a habit, so I was happy to at least see our Sailors give it a real good go in the second half, and come up with the equaliser in the end. If we’re going to have any chance in Bangkok, we’ll need to see that kind of intensity. So, why were we much better in the second half? Hougang Kicked Maxime Into Life First-half Maxime was not Maxime. It was the ghost of Maxime – recently-crowned Player of the Year Maxime dreaming of cutting in from the right wing and scoring, but in reality made to play left wing-back in a weird experimental formation. It wasn’t him at all. He didn’t offer any protection to the backline, and before too long, Coach Ranko swapped him back to his natural position. Second half is when he really came to life though. Hougang reached into the backpages of the Dark Arts manual and literally kicked Maxime back into life. I have to admit, as much as I loved seeing Maxime angry and taking the game by the scruff of the neck because he was so annoyed by Jordan Vestering’s series of micro-fouls and late tackles, my heart stopped a while when Maxime was writhing on the ground after a poor tackle by Hazzuwan Halim. Don’t take my word for it, as usual. Please watch 50:46. Please watch it and tell me that’s not at least a yellow card. In fact, some referees would even give a red card for that. Hazzuwan leaps through the air from the side with force, with studs showing and boots the ball away. It was reckless, out of control, and he’s a lucky boy because he made very little contact with Maxime. In my opinion, a definite yellow at least. This, coupled with Jordan Vestering leaving a boot in at every opportunity after the ball had long gone, lit a fire under Maxime’s butt, and in the end, he duly popped up with an assist to punish Hougang. I hope we beat Tampines in the semi-final, so that Maxime can continue punishing Hougang for their antics. What other antics, you might ask? Hougang Kicked the Sailors Fans Into Life Like the team, the fans were also a little lacking in motivation. The Crew tried their best, but first-half noise levels were nowhere near what we witnessed against Jeonbuk at Jalan Besar Stadium. However, that changed in the second half due to two factors – 1) the rough treatment dished out to Maxime (already discussed above), and 2) Takayama’s act of petulance on 55:07. You know the drill, go watch it yourself and decide whether you agree with me. It’s important to watch the build-up to the incident for the full context. Vestering puts in a strong challenge on Lestienne – which is not a foul in my opinion. Lestienne, angered by the series of challenges made by Vestering that went unpunished, reacts and shouts at Vestering. The fans go mad as well and start booing Vestering. Kazuma Takayama is indignant on behalf of his teammate, and throws his hands up in a show of frustration. A few seconds later, Diego Lopes miscontrols a pass and it rolls out. The whistle blows, Pashia stops chasing, and under no pressure, Takayama looks at the stands, and whacks the ball into the section full of away fans. Feel free to disagree with me, but that felt deliberate. It is a cheap shot borne out of frustration – and it could well have been dangerous. I spoke to the fans after the game and heard that it came very close to whacking someone flush in the face. He had time and space to clear it downfield, but nope this was not a miscued clearance or a panicked one – he took a look at the

The trip to Korea lit a fire under the arses of the members of the Crew. I think seeing first hand how the Mad Green Boys (the Jeonbuk ultras) created a great atmosphere in the Jeonju World Cup Stadium fuelled a desire within us to try our best to make Jalan Besar Stadium a fortress for the game on Wednesday night. You could draw parallels on the pitch as well. Our Sailors were outplayed in Korea, and the manner of defeat must have stung. To concede so early, and then to barely land a punch on our opponents, that must hurt. And so, both the fans and the players set out to show to Singapore the best versions of themselves, and in doing so, created an unforgettable night for all in attendance. Pumped Up Kicks No, not the wanky song by Foster The People that was overplayed to death in the early 2010’s. Unpack the phrase, and you get two parts – “pumped up”, and “kicks”. And that phrase basically describes the whole Sailors team on Wednesday. Our boys were pumped up, and believe me, they were out there dishing out kickings. Not in a dirty way – but there was a ferocity to the challenges put in, and it took a toll on Jeonbuk. Pumped Up Pre-match, Super talked about how defending Park Jae Yong was one of the hardest challenges he had ever faced. He also said that he needed revenge. You can just picture it – Super probably saying it calmly rather than agitatedly, but he’s sharpening his knife while he ticks off each day on the calendar until it reaches 8 Nov, which is circled in bright red with the words REVENGE written above, also in bright red. He had clearly been waiting for the day to arrive, and it took all of 6 minutes for us to see he meant business. Challenging Park near the corner flag, he won the ball and the freekick, successfully doing his defensive duties. But Super couldn’t resist it – he gives Park a little push and then squares up to him, getting his face right up to Park’s, and shouting something at him. Pretty sure he wasn’t saying Feliz Navidad. Considering Park didn’t actually kick him or anything, it was a pretty ferocious response. I think Super just needed an interaction like this to hype himself up and get into full combat mode. Maybe he berates his alarm clock in the morning whenever it wakes him up too. Kicks But Super wasn’t the only pumped up player. Throughout the game, the Sailors players snapped into challenges ferociously, which was a far cry from what we saw when they played in Jeonju. Four Jeonbuk players left the game injured, and two of them were the direct result of hard but fair tackles made by our players. The first incident happened in the first half, when Mamat fouled Jeong Woo Jae. The challenge looked innocuous enough, but the Korean fullback had to be substituted eventually. The second incident was late in the second half when Moon Seon Min was tackled in the 79th minute by Chris van Huizen, who received a yellow card. He soldiered on till the end of the game, but left the stadium with ice wrapped around his ankle. The other two incidents had nothing to do with tackles. Lee Dong Jun was the cause of some concern when he landed on his neck after an aerial challenge, and Gustavo injured himself when he missed a penalty. But those weren’t the only memorable tackles in the game. There was a moment in the 44th minute of the game when Jeonbuk were trying to make inroads into our penalty area through the heart of our defence. First, Chris van Huizen stepped in with a challenge to crunch Jun Amano, and then Anu crunched Moon Seon Min. Visually, it was an amazing moment because both the players in green stayed on the floor after the challenges despite them being 100% legal. This moment showed we were well and truly up for the fight and we had the better of the duels. Ultimately, the fight that our Sailors showed was crucial. They were accused of standing off too much and not being physical enough in Jeonju. Part of the reason was that it is difficult to do so when the referee was clamping down on everything, while it is also more risky to go all in when the pitch is a bit wider, because a missed tackle means you leave a lot of space to be exploited. Whatever the reason for this increased physicality and bite in Wednesday’s game, it was great because it meant that Jeonbuk never really built up a rhythm. The injury suffered by Jeong Woo Jae as a result of Mamat’s tackle also meant that their fullback positions were disrupted and posed little threat to us. Speaking of fullbacks … Fullbacks Missing If you were wondering why Jeonbuk seemed to be less potent on the wings this time, part of the reason is as I highlighted in the preview – they just have lesser space to work with due to the reduced width of the pitch at Jalan Besar Stadium as compared to the Jeonju World Cup Stadium. The other big reason is simply that both their first-choice fullbacks were unavailable due to injury. Kim Jin-Su on the left and Ahn Hyeon-Beom on the right were unavailable, so Jeong Woo Jae started at LB and Choi Chul-soon at RB. Ahn Hyeon-Beom in particular is a huge miss, as he is so commanding up and down the right flank. He has 2 goals and 4 assists this season from rightback, and the Jeonbuk fans frequently half-joke that without Ahn in the side, they have no functioning attack. Then came the crucial injury to Jeong Woo Jae, who usually fills in at both LB and RB positions when the team is rotated. With him out, the balance of

At the end of the day, the K-League is the K-League. The Singapore Premier League is the Singapore Premier League. I dared to dream the impossible dream and that dream did not materialise. But was flying all the way to Seoul, and then taking a 4h ride to Jeonju to lose 3-0 a waste of time? Not at all. Here are some of my thoughts. A “Weakened” Jeonbuk Lineup When the Jeonbuk lineup was released – a flicker of hope lit up in my heart. No Paik Seung-ho, no Boateng, no Gustavo. Park Jae-Yong leading the line. He had just come a few months ago from K League 2. Were our opponents underestimating us? Maybe we had a shot? Let me bring you back to what I said in the preview. Wish I could’ve spoken to a Korean expert before the trip so that my preview can focus on a few key individuals. I will give you a few to look out for anyway. Paik Seung Ho, Han Kyo Won, Gustavo and Boateng. – Eddy in the preview article published 1 day before the game. What a genius. I am like a reverse fortune-teller. I named 4 players to look out for and none of the 4 players started. Wow. Of all the players that could be rested because Dan Petrescu had an eye on the weekend’s clash against Pohang Steelers, he rested the 4 that I told you guys to look out for. Or if you don’t believe in fortune tellers because they are usually a crock of shit, then maybe I am a fortune teller. I can’t tell you the future but I’ll tell you what I felt when I saw the lineup though. There was a flicker of hope. I feel like such a fool right now, but I can’t lie. I remember thinking to myself – “don’t jinx the team, Eddy, don’t tell the rest of the Crew that this is a weakened Jeonbuk lineup and that we have a huge chance. They are underestimating us, and they will regret this. “ Well – that’s what being a die-hard fan does to you I think. You see the positives in any situation and you fail to see the bigger picture. Had I taken a step back and looked at the whole team, there’s still the likes of Kim Jin Su – 68 caps for the South Korea national team, at left-back. Next to him, at centreback, Hong Jeong Ho, with 42 caps. Moon at left-wing, Ahn at right-back, Jun Amano in midfield – also senior internationals (Korea, Korea, Japan). That’s a whole lot of caps, possibly even more than you can find on the shopping streets in Dongdaemun. (OK that might be an exaggeration – there’s like tons of quality caps going for S$6-S$10?!!? That street is magic – but I digress.) Then there’s the ones who came back from Hangzhou with a gold medal around their necks. Of the 5 from Jeonbuk, 3 were in the starting 11. The other 2 were on the bench. So it was still a quality lineup – and the difference in class was clear. When you go away from home, and you are playing against a stronger team, you need a lot of things to go your way – you need to get your tactics spot on, you need to be resolute in defence, you need to take your few chances if and when they come, and you absolutely cannot concede an early goal. We Conceded an Early Goal The atmosphere was rocking before kick-off. The Crew was small in numbers but we tried our best to make ourselves heard. The Mad Green Boys (Jeonbuk’s biggest fan group) were far, far louder, and it was truly impressive to watch and hear. In an away game, you need to shut them up. You need the players to do something on the field to test their resolve. Keep it goalless for 20min, 30min, 40min, half-time. Famously, Real Madrid fans sometimes boo their players if they are losing at half-time. The Mad Green Boys themselves, have also stayed silent at times to show their displeasure with the former coach Kim Sang Sik for the club’s patchy form early this season. But the last thing we wanted, was one of the first things that happened. Jun Amano cut inside from the right, and he zipped a low shot into the back of the net from outside the box. I’ve seen some blame Zharfan for the goal, but I am not sure he is to blame. It was a shot taken first-time, with minimal backlift, and it was slotted into the far corner, nestling in the side-netting. Sometimes you just have to applaud a quality strike and I think this was one of those occasions. Early goal achieved, Jeonbuk did not have to commit too many men forward, the fans had the impetus to keep going, and our difficult task got 100x harder. I am pretty sure this was not how the coaching staff and players envisioned the first half when they were in the dressing room. Anu and Lionel Slander Anu Reading Telegram chats in the past week, you’d think that Anu was one or more of the following, 35 years old, one of the worst players in the Sailors team, one of the worst midfielders in Singapore, and ultimately just a crap player. Am I defending the moment in the game where his reaction to a light push by a Jeonbuk player indirectly led to a goal? No I am not at all defending it. I think he should have played on and not asked for a freekick (more on this later). I think the contact appeared to me to be very soft, and he should perhaps have played on. But does that mean he is complete crap? Of course not. Let’s not forget that in the ACL, we get 5+1 foreign players quota, so Anu really has to fight for