January 2024

In this SailorFanTalk special, we have a guest writer, Leon! Those who know the fanbase well will know that Leon is one of the most ardent content creators who is a Sailors fan. You might also know that he plays social football to a pretty high standard, and has amassed quite a following on TikTok and IG for his lifestyle content which also features goalkeeping videos. It seemed natural for me to link up with him to get this article done where he gives us his unique goalkeeping insight into each of the 6 saves in this goalkeeping highlights reel. Introduction over, let’s dive into the meaty stuff – take it away, Leon! Criteria for Picking Save of the Season To do justice to my 18 years of goalkeeping, and to keep up with my self-proclaimed role as Singapore’s #1 Tiktok Goalkeeper, I’ll have to break down and rate these saves according to the following criteria – Watch the saves on TikTok or Instagram! I recommend you watch them once first, then come back to see my comments as I talk you through them. Save 1 – Zharfan v Balestier (Penalty save v Ryoya Taniguchi) Reaction speed: 10/10 Some might say it’s a guessing game when it comes to penalties. However, I’m a firm believer that penalties can be read. Plant foot, hip direction – these things matter. Play it in 0.5x speed and you’ll realise that Zharfan waited for the plant foot of Ryoya to land before choosing a direction. Ryoya’s contact with the ball confirmed Zharfan’s commitment to the dive. Zharfan has a record of going the right way for penalties – I don’t have the exact stats but every single time he faces a penalty he seems to go the right way, even for the one conceded against Tampines (LCS win at OTH) (OTH is blue btw). For him to read, react and commit all within that 0.15 seconds – is pure class. Insane reactions. Footwork: 10/10 The change of weight, the plant foot, everything was straight out from a diving tutorial. Or a textbook. If “How to Save a Penalty” was a video – this is it. Diving: 10/10 I’m sorry, but I just have to give this save so much credit. It’s a one-step power dive. Full extension. Two-handed, full stretch. Realise after Zharfan lands he is already beyond the posts. Zharfan isn’t the tallest of goalkeepers, but for him to reach such a well-placed shot from Ryoya is just insane. Apologies for giving so many 10/10s, but this save really is bloody outstanding.  Bravery: 5/10 Balls of steel from our custodian to stand his ground, and instead of guessing, goes with his guts to just bloody read Ryoya before going for the dive. This was still early on in the game – so for him to really stay calm and pull this off really is impressive. Nonetheless, as this point is about bravery, we have to consider that he didn’t have to put his body on the line, and there was no direct threat to him as it was a penalty. 5/10. Save timing: 6/10 On the surface level, it’s a 5-2 win, so this save might not seem too significant. But it came right after our penalty didn’t find the back of the net – which was basically a huge middle finger to the opponents, and of course made the Crew go wild. 6/10. [Editor’s note – one of our followers on IG pointed out that this was a crucial save because Ryoya and Maxime were neck and neck in the race for the Golden Boot at this point. Fair point that I thought I’d include in here.] Total average score – 8.2/10 Save 2 – Zharfan v Young Lions (Double Save) Reaction speed: 10/10 Bloody hell – I loved this one so much. Nur Adam sliding in already blocks Zharfan’s vision once. Brilliant fake from Harhys. Then Lionel and Hariss come in to try and cover the angle, and they block Zharfan’s vision once more. Reacting quick enough to get his hands to it once is already commendable, but the second save is what makes it even more outrageous. It was a clear shooting opportunity. Zero blockage. Mano E Mano. And it was a hard shot as well. And yet he still manages to get his hands to the ball. 10/10. No contest. Footwork: 8/10 Amazing kick-in of his left foot to drop his body fast enough to block the low shot. I would have him do the spin that Kepa/Cortouis usually does to get up even faster – but even though it wasn’t pretty, man palmed the ground and got up fast enough, then dived a little backwards to save the shot. Granted, it was a very fast shot and reaction time meant Zharfan had to claw the ball away at the last second – it definitely could have been faster. I’m being critical about the nitty-gritty, and I hope you understand why. If I don’t, I’d be giving every single part of this review a 10/10 so.. 8/10. Diving: 6/10 Contrary to what it might seem – I would say that the first save was more demanding diving-wise as compared to the second. Why? The first ball was a dipping and bouncing ball – requiring a very precise drop of the body to get his hand in position. Incredible. The second save, while equally stunning, was a reaction save that demanded a backwards dive. It got the job done, yes, but it wasn’t pretty. But as above – I have to be extremely critical – these are all his BEST SAVES after all 😩 Bravery: 7/10 Great mentality to not give up after deflecting the ball right into another striker, and to force the second shot by staying his ground. Normally I’d have seen a keeper go out and try to Emi Martinez such a ball, but Martinez isn’t Zharfan. He doesn’t have the same guts to stand his ground and tell

Happy New Year, wherever you are reading this from. It’s been another enjoyable year of watching our beloved Sailors play, even if perhaps we would have wanted to do better in the league. Still, plenty of memorable action, and in the coming days and weeks, we will spend a bit of time recapping some of our highlights of the season. We start with the most important thing in the game of football – goals. Our Sailors scored 79 in the Singapore Premier League, 21 in the Singapore Cup, and 5 in the AFC Champions League. That’s 105 goals in 36 games, almost 3 goals per game. You can imagine how hard my task was! I set out trying to limit myself to 5 goals, but ended up nominating 7 goals. It could and really should have been 10 or more, such was the quality of the goals on offer, but without further ado, here’s my pick of the top 7 goals this season. Let me know what yours are by commenting here, or over on TikTok or Instagram. Goal 1: Maxime Lestienne v Tampines Rovers (5-2 win, 4 Aug 2023) Maxime scored a hat-trick in this game to lead us to an important victory, and the quality of these goals were top-notch. Let’s start with the first goal he scored. There didn’t look to be too much danger when he received the ball on the right edge of the penalty area, but in the blink of an eye, he stepped inside, and without having to beat his defender, he unleashed a wicked curling shot with his left foot, which nestled into the bottom corner of the net. An amazing goal and a crucial one to give us the lead against bitter rivals in their homeground. Goal 2: Shawal Anuar v Balestier Khalsa (5-4 win, 1 Jun 2023) When I saw this one go in, I immediately thought “Goal of the Season”. I mean, it’s a weak-foot shot from Shawal Anuar from about 45 yards, taken first-time, rising high into the night sky, and arcing perfectly downwards just in time to drop below the crossbar, past the despairing dive of Balestier keeper Hairul Syirhan. The technique required to do that is insane. But to add to that, the move starts with a fantastic last-ditch tackle from Nur Adam to stop Ryoya Taniguchi from scoring. Hafiz Nor picks up the ball, dribbles it out of danger, and plays a long ball for Abdul Rasaq. Even though it is slightly beyond him, his commitment to chasing it down leads to a rushed clearance from the Balestier keeper. There is a team element to this goal and the fact that it was almost a goal for Balestier and then turned in the blink of an eye to a goal for us, makes it so satisfying. Goal 3: Abdul Rasaq v Albirex Niigata (S) (3-2 win, 21 May 2023) A very important goal. The circumstances surrounding the goal perhaps make this the most important goal of the lot. 2-0 down at half-time against our bitter title rivals, and staring down the barrel of defeat, the team came out re-invigorated, and with an important addition – Abdul Rasaq came on for the ineffective Bernie-Ibini Isei. Before he grabbed the winning goal, he had already played a big part in holding the ball up for the 2-1 goal that gave us hope. For the goal, it was amazing – a clearance-cum-pass from defence was cushioned by Maxime Lestienne first-time for Diego Lopes. Diego knocked it into a corridor of space – first-time as well. Lestienne raced into the space, and with a few quick looks into the box, spots Rasaq making a great run. He plays a first-time cross that curls nicely away from Hassan Sunny, and drops at the boot of Abdul Rasaq. He too, takes it first-time, slamming it into the back of the net on the volley. Goal 4: Lionel Tan v Balestier Khalsa (5-2 win, 31 July 2023) I remember when Lionel shaped to shoot, I was mouthing “DON’T SHOOT!” in the stands. I had never seen Lionel shoot on target from that range, and usually, centre-backs don’t take shots from that range. But I am glad that he proved me wrong. What a goal. The power, the swerve, the accuracy, the nerve to hit it from that range as Balestier sat back to try to keep us away from goal. For me what takes away from the goal is that Hairul Syirhan is already on the side of the goal that Lionel’s shot ends up, and I felt he could have done a lot better on that. Goal 5: Maxime Lestienne v Geylang International (2-1 win, 7 May 2023) The second of 2 free-kick goals that eventually won the game for our Sailors on a day when we were far from our sparkling best. Geylang always plays out of their skin when they face us, and this game was no exception. We needed a mammoth defensive shift from Mamat to prevent Geylang from scoring on a few other occasions, but we managed to hang in there at 1-0 down for the longest time before Maxime stepped in with 2 freekick goals. The first one was impressive, but the second one was even more so. It was right in the top corner, going in via the crossbar. The fact that it was so late in the game and virtually gave us an undeserved victory made this goal all the more important. On a day when the team was below par, the contributions of Mamat in defence and Maxime from set-piece opportunities made all the difference. Goal 6: Richairo Zivkovic v Jeonbuk (2-0 win, 8 Nov 2023) Jeonbuk is easily the hardest opponent that we played all year, which automaticallly gives this goal a bit of an edge when it comes to picking Goal of the Season. Aesthetically while it may not be the most pleasing one of the 7 goals, the goal