December 5, 2023

Another quick turnaround means that the Preview article for tonight’s match, and the Post-Match Thoughts article for Saturday’s 1st leg between the two sides. If you are wondering whether the title “Even Stevens” refers to tonight’s game or Saturday’s, the answer is “both”. Even Stevens on the Saturday because the score ended 3-3 after a see-saw game saw neither side really convincing, and Even Stevens for the preview article because after a season which has seen us face each other 4 times, amazingly, the sides are even. Tampines and Sailors have one win apiece, and drawn twice. Tonight’s game will be the tie-breaker, and what a tie-breaker it will be. Let’s dive into some of my quick thoughts about the game on Saturday and of course, tonight. The Height Factor It was kinda appalling to see the defensive frailty from set pieces in the first half from our Sailors. If you look at the lineups, you would expect that setpieces is not an area we would be weak in, considering the height we have. Besides Lionel and Bailey (1.84m tall), we have Richairo at 1.87m, Anu at 1.81m, and Hariss at 1.78m. These players are all taller than the average Tampines player. In general, the Sailors do have the height advantage. For reference, the Sailors’ starting 11’s average height (excluding the goalkeeper) = 1.77m, while the Rovers’ starting 11’s average height (excluding the goalkeeper) = 1.74m. That’s a difference of 3cm per player, a significant advantage. Yet if you look at the still from below, you will see two of the Rovers’ biggest attacking threats from set pieces completely unmarked – Shuya Yamashita, and Milos Zlatkovic. This was no luck – it was a planned set-piece from Tampines, because once the ball was played back to Joel Chew, you can see the two Rovers centrebacks sprinting to the far post in anticipation of a cross there. The knock-down occurred when Shuya expectedly beat Mamat to the ball in the air, and from the chaos, Diego Lopes was a little late to react, and Joel Chew scored. A very sloppy goal to concede and it was not the only time that Tampines put us under pressure aerially in the first half. Of course, we ourselves scored from a setpiece too when Bailey Wright timed his jump better than his opponent Milos Zlatkovic, and managed to direct a good header towards goal. That’s now his 3rd goal in 7 appearances, all from corner kicks. He’s proven to be quite the weapon in the air. I sure am glad that he did not accomplish the 0-0-7 that his compatriot Bernie Ibini-Isei managed. 3 goals, and as a centreback! More to come tonight hopefully from him, and more to come from our Sailors as well. Let’s make full use of that height advantage. 5 at the Back? When I saw the starting lineup, I was sure that we were gonna play 4 at the back, with Hariss and Anu patrolling the area just in front of the defence. Instead, what we saw was 5 at the back, just like how we line up in our continental fixtures in the AFC Champions League. This puzzled me because it felt like we were giving too much respect to Tampines Rovers. I don’t remember any other game this season where we played 5 at the back against local opposition, even if it was Albirex. Packing the numbers in defence against the likes of Jeonbuk and Bangkok Utd is understandable – there is a quality gulf and we want to reduce the space that each defender has to cover. Packing the numbers in defence against Tampines – strange to say the least. And it had tangible consequences in the game. As a result of stringing three centrebacks on the defensive line, there was often a lot of space for Tampines’ midfielders outside our box. Anu was tasked with patrolling ahead of the defensive trio, but he is just 1 man. He played brilliantly by the way – snapping into challenges and reminding people why he still is the best defensive midfielder Singapore has right now. What happens when the lone Anu is dragged out of position by a run? Look at the amount of space that Kyoga has to run into. He is highlighted in yellow. After this still, he would pick up the ball and drive at goal, with no opposition in his way, before he fires it on target and Izwan pulls off a great save, topping the ball over the bar. This was not an isolated incident – in fact Faris’s goal came as a result of Joel Chew being given all the time in the world to stride through a vacant midfield with all the defenders in a line too far away to engage Joel Chew. Thankfully for us – Coach Rankovic switched it to 4 at the back in the second half, and we immediately looked a lot better. At home tonight, and hopefully having seen what 5 at the back does to us, we will start with a more positive formation and back our midfield and attackers to do the damage. Shawal Anuar – A Man in Form Shawal Anuar was substituted on in the 1st leg at half-time and all it took was 1min 35s for him to make an impact. Shawal really is turning into one of the most reliable sources of offensive output for us. In the Cup, he has an amazing goals – minutes ratio. In 214 min, he has 5 goals, for an average of 43min per goal scored. We’ve seen him score headers, we’ve seen him score from range, score tap-ins, assist his teammates, and run the channels tirelessly. He truly can do it all. I believe I speak for most fans when I say that we really want to see him in from the start. Let’s make Tampines think hard about whether they really want to play a high line. Shawal caught them out