May 2024 – SailorFanTalk

[Specials] New Season, Same Shirt – Time to Move on from Puma?

Leave a Comment / Specials / Eddy Hirono

This is a bit of a late one, due to my busy work schedule. I remember when the 2024/2025 Home shirt was first unveiled, I felt super underwhelmed. It looked a lot like last year’s shirt. Same material, same collar, same colour, just a slightly different pattern on the shirt. And the pattern is so subtle that you can’t even really tell the difference at first glance. Take a look for yourself. The angry comments came. There were even accusations of LCS staff being lazy to design a different shirt. The memes came as well. In the off-season, fans have very little entertainment to themselves. There’s no watching the Sailors anywhere, and Singapore football doesn’t have a thriving ecosystem when it comes to transfer rumours and contract negotiation rumours. Without much else to excite us, one of the few things fans can really look forward to is the unveiling of the new shirt for the season ahead. So why did the Sailors not design something that excited the fans? Something fun, something edgy, something … different? Let’s start by clearing up the obvious. LCS Designers Are Not Lazy The least possible reason in my opinion is that the LCS designers just got lazy. Believe me, as much as these designs dismayed Sailors fans, the designs would have absolutely killed the designers. I bet a part of their souls died when they realised that this design would be the one used. The graphics dude in LCS is one Najwan Noor, who is known for his stellar design work. Don’t just take it from me, go take a look at his Twitter account yourself. Or I could walk you through a few examples – I mean, just look at that amount of effort for a regular, run-of-the-mill league game. The attention to lighting and detail is quite frankly amazing. More recently, there was this – If you look closely, you will see that the books on the shelves spell out chant lyrics that the Crew uses, while the TV features a Crew sticker on the left side as well. Of course, if you have a keen eye, you would also have spotted that near the left finger, there’s SailorFanTalk’s banner right there, hiding in plain sight. The attention to detail, and to fan service does not tally with the view that the club just didn’t give a shit about the fans. If the designers put in so much effort for a matchday poster that will be forgotten after weeks, or even days, would they not want to give their 110% for a shirt that they will look at for months on end? Go figure. So if it’s not the club, then is it Puma? Puma Just Not Very Inspired The short answer is “Yes”. For me at least. There was recently an article which ranked the best Puma kits of all time, and I’d urge you to go take a look. All I’ll say is Puma, if that’s your top 10, I don’t wanna know what’s your bottom 10 designs. Very uninspired, very boring, very template. You can imagine a Nike or Adidas top 10 list would look so so sick and spark much debate about which shirt is the true GOAT. Puma’s list just leaves you wondering how they even made the top 10 at all. To make matters worse, as some may know, we don’t even get Puma’s best designers to aid us with coming up with a design – given LCS’s status as a “small” club, we get our designs from the teamwear catalogue. I hope this doesn’t come as a shock to those who don’t know. So if we wanted a white shirt, our options were kinda limited if you take a look at this catalogue. Well that’s Option 1. It would have looked very similar, and no less boring. One point to note is that this is made out of Ultraweave material, which you may remember as the material for last year’s blue away kit. Apparently the players did not like Ultraweave as they felt it clung on to their body too much, and it was thus uncomfortable to play in. So, let’s knock out Option 1. Well that’s Option 2. Hmm. The less said about this the better. A truly ugly shirt. It looks like you wore a white shirt and then got run over by a car. Or you’re a zebra that really likes 50 Shades of Gray. Next. Option 3. I fell asleep assessing this picture. Boring. Drycell material, dry in creativity as well. And guess what, that’s that. I should have known, given that I am an Arsenal fan and Puma was far and away the worst kit sponsor Arsenal had in their entire history. I don’t think LCS were given much to work with. Had they picked any of these options, I think the fans would still have been very underwhelmed. It would at least be different, I guess, and there is some utility in that. In that regard, I wonder if SEA or Forrest may have considered using another logo as the official “sponsor” on the shirt, just to switch things up. Maybe SeaMoney instead of the SEA logo? Why are Puma Able to Customise Kits for Other Clubs? Because those clubs sell kits, and are viewed as priority for Puma. That is the sad truth, I guess. Look at those numbers. While these do not represent the total number sold, because a good amount of business is probably done at the stadium, these numbers are nowhere near what the top clubs generate. Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan, who are all sponsored by Puma, generated €73 million, €54 million and €47 million respectively. It is thus perhaps understandable that Puma would rather not spend too much resources on manufacturing a custom kit for LCS. But should we settle for this? Maybe LCS Needs a Supplier in the Same Position As Us The Sailors shirt looking so similar to

[Specials] New Season, Same Shirt – Time to Move on from Puma? Read More »

[Post-Match Thoughts] Home is Where the W is (Sailors 3 Young Lions 1)

Leave a Comment / Post-Match Thoughts / Chin Heng Tan

Once again, Chin Heng takes over the writing of this article, because Eddy was one of the two capos leading chants on matchday, and had his back turned to the action for the whole 90min. Enjoy! One day Simba will be king, but for now he remains in exile while Scar rules the land. This was our first home league game in 8 months, and we picked up from where we left off last season with yet another comfortable home win. As Eddy suggested in his preview article, the Young Lions are indeed a different animal (haha) this season, with plenty of experience in their ranks to complement the young players currently serving their national service. However, this game turned out to be a routine 3-1 win and I felt we dominated the game especially in the first half, as Young Lions simply had no answer to our attacking trio of Bart, Shawal, and Maxime. The red card just before the break made the second half a little more evenly contested, but credit to the team for dealing with the pressure of playing against an extra man for an entire half. Young Lions managed to pull one back with a good team goal in the 64th minute, and a beautiful cross from Nur Adam late in the game nearly made it 3-2 which would have led to a very nervous final 10 minutes, but fortunately Itsuki Enomoto didn’t have it in him to tap the ball into an open goal from a metre out. Young Lions are No Pushovers Despite starting the season with 2 losses, I do expect Young Lions to start picking up points sooner rather than later as they appear to be much more competitive compared to last season. A glance at the half-time and full-time stats reinforces this belief as we see Young Lions having slightly more of the possession even in the first half when it was 11v11 (although they were restricted to just one shot on target). In the second half they had the lion’s share (hahahaha) of possession and chances with Sailors naturally having to rely on counterattacks after going a man down, but a combination of resolute defending and wasteful finishing meant that the result was never in doubt. Red Card the Wright Decision? We were looking extremely comfortable in this game up until the final minutes of the first half, when Bailey Wright was sent off after a foul on Enomoto. A penalty and yellow card was given initially, but a subsequent VAR review showed that the contact was outside the box and a free kick and red card was issued instead. There was definitely contact on Enomoto so there was no doubt it was a foul, but I am not convinced that this was a straight red. In my (admittedly biased) opinion there was sufficient mitigation with Enomoto going away from goal and 2 covering defenders racing back, but once the decision was made, the team had to adjust accordingly with Hariss dropping back to cover as centre-back once the second half started. It is rather unfortunate that we have to break up our new centre-back pairing of Bailey and Toni for the next few games after they had looked so solid for the first 2.5 games of the season, but I am sure the rest of the team are more than capable of filling in the gap for our next 2 games against Brunei DPMM and Albirex. Too Good to be True While we saw quite a few misplaced passes in the final third last week against Hougang, this game showed Bart, Shawal and Maxime in full flow, with the three of them linking up to devastating effect for all 3 of our goals. The 1st goal was a pass from Bart to Shawal on the left wing and Shawal’s subsequent cross was met with a brilliant first-time left foot finish from Maxime. The 2nd was more of the same as Bart found Maxime in plenty of space at the edge of the box, before he unselfishly rolled the ball across the box for Shawal to do Shawal things. I initially thought the 3rd goal went in off a deflection from a Young Lions defender, but after watching the replay it looked like Bart had the last touch. The shot might have been a lucky miskick but I choose to believe Bart deliberately lobbed the keeper with 2 Young Lions players closing down on him. What a finish. There was definitely no luck involved in the pass from Maxime leading up to the goal though, as he curled a sublime ball from the left wing past the entire Young Lions defence and put it on a plate for Shawal. It really is a privilege to watch him play every week. We are only 3 games into the season but our attacking trio has been putting up unreal numbers so far, with Bart/Shawal/Maxime averaging 0.67/2.21/1.69 goal involvements (goal or assist) per 90 minutes. If we count secondary assists (the pass to the player creating the assist), these numbers go up to 1.34/2.21/2.03. I am not sure if these incredible figures are sustainable but we will certainly be tracking it as we go deeper into the season, to provide some insights into the Sailors’ attacking output. Home Comforts As this was our first home game of the season, I was also looking forward to see how the matchday setup has changed over the past 8 months. Throughout the evening, I felt discernible minor improvements in the matchday experience: more food choices with 3 food trucks lined up along the road outside Bishan stadium, updated matchday décor at the stadium, new half-time games, a new pre-game video shown on screen all contributed to a more welcoming atmosphere at the stadium. There was also some buzz around the membership booth as everyone wanted to figure out how to get their attendance scanned for the first time. However, at the merch booth I

[Post-Match Thoughts] Home is Where the W is (Sailors 3 Young Lions 1) Read More »

[Preview] Sailors v Young Lions – No Pushovers

1 Comment / Match Previews / Eddy Hirono

As our Sailors get ready to take on the Young Lions, it’s a very different Young Lions from last season, but yet there will be a strange sense of familiarity. Nur Adam, Jonan, Danish Qayyum, and Khairin Nadim, were all just with LCS before their National Service obligations kicked in. Does this make the Young Lions game easier or harder for us? We’ll explore that in this article. On a random note, that’s Simba from The Lion King in the cover photo. If Young Lions is Simba, then who is Mufasa (the kind King who got killed), and who is Scar (the jealous brother of the King who got the King killed so that he could take his place)? Are we Scar? Is Mufasa Home United? Ooof that hits too close to home. Ok I digress. On to the preview. Same Same But Different The Young Lions are not the same proposition as they were last season. I could write long paragraphs about it, but these tweets from Deepanraj Ganesan sum it up very well. Not the same team as last season at all. They now have more familiar names than usual seasons, plus a smattering of quality from foreign lands. Take a look at last week’s lineup. Aside from goalkeeper Travis Ang and the foreigners, every single name in there is someone who has played SPL football before, or is familiar to us. Even on the bench, you see players like Khairin Nadim and Danish Qayyum, who have experience playing in this league before. It’s not gonna be the usual Young Lions experience, where there are newbies everywhere you look. There’s even 3 title-winners in there (Kaisei Ogawa, Jun Kobayashi, Kan Kobayashi). At this point I have to remind yall that even though there were newbies left right centre in the last 2 seasons we faced Young Lions, we drew with them TWICE. UGH. The experience of the boys playing, added to the foreigners will make them a much harder outfit to beat this time. They were unlucky to lose in their opener to DPMM. DPMM’s keeper Naumovski had a great game, and one save in particular from livewire Farhan Zulkifli was particularly impressive, given that the move had “Goal” written all over it. So if DPMM is touted by some as a dark horse for the title, and Young Lions almost held/beat them, then I don’t think we should be taking them lightly at all. The Boys from LCS Nur Adam is definitely no stranger to us. He has played 57 times for the Sailors in the past few years, and has always been a fan favourite, marauding up and down the left flank. His talents were on full display for the Young Lions last weekend, and he was involved in a fair few attacking moves. Further upfield, Jonan was used in a right-wing role. We only saw him come on for 2 cameos last season, but I remember being impressed by his confidence and directness, especially in the 3-0 victory over Balestier Khalsa. He lasted 1 half last week but some of his touches looked really good, so it would be nice to see him again. Danish Qayyum (1 min) and Khairin Nadim (0 min) have not seen much gametime at all for the senior Sailors, but these 4 should still know a thing or two about their opponents this weekend. Knowing them and stopping them is two different things though – and you would expect that in a game like this, the goalkeeper for Young Lions will be very important. Travis Ang was also a former Sailors academy player, and he will be disappointed with the concession of last week’s equaliser to DPMM. It was a tight angle for the forward, but he managed to squeeze a shot in at the near post, just beyond Travis’s dive. Not a howler – but he would have felt he could have done better. He doesn’t have much SPL experience, so I think the Sailors will want to put as much pressure on him as possible, from every conceivable situation. Crosses, setpieces, through balls in the space between the centre-back and the keeper – let’s try to maximise the chances of mistakes happening. Enomoto – The Spearhead I can’t say I know too much about Enomoto, but I like what I saw from him in pre-season. He can score, he has a bit of presence about him (186cm), and with him on the pitch, Young Lions do not look as toothless as they have done in recent years. In terms of CV, he has easily the most impressive one, given that he featured quite regularly in J3 football in Japan, and also featured in J2. His goalscoring record there wasn’t stellar though – only managing 9 goals in 78 appearances. What is remarkable about him is that he won many aerial duels when he featured in J3, featuring in the 91st percentile league-wide of aerial duels won despite not featuring as regularly as regular starters from other clubs. Given his aerial prowess, this should be a challenge that Bailey and Toni will be looking forward to! Conclusion I think our Sailors should have too much for the Young Lions, despite them strengthening very well. I think the Young Lions are not going to finish bottom this year, but I would still be very surprised if the Sailors firepower isn’t enough to overcome this challenge. Rui Pires looks to be back in training as well, I wonder if he will feature at some point. Our last 2 games have seen us barely break a sweat, and it looks like some connections are still in the process of being formed. Still, the Young Lions team look like they always have a mistake or two in them, and I think the Sailors attack has enough firepower to punish any errors. My predicted line-up – Zharfan Rohaizad Lionel Tan, Bailey Wright, Toni Datkovic, Obren Kljajic Song, Hariss, Hami Maxime, Shawal, Bart COME

[Preview] Sailors v Young Lions – No Pushovers Read More »

[Post-Match Thoughts] Not Our Best, But Good Enough (Hougang 1 Sailors 4)

Leave a Comment / Post-Match Thoughts / Chin Heng Tan

First things first, this is not Eddy from SailorFanTalk, because Eddy from SailorFanTalk is in Korea on a company trip and will be going to watch Jeonbuk in a local league match. That leaves me, Chin Heng, to take over Post-Match Thoughts duties. Enjoy. Going into the game, we were missing several key players in the matchday squad: Rui working his way back from an injury, Lionel serving his suspension from the red card picked up at the end of last season, and Song away preparing for his wedding (congrats!!!). Off the pitch, we had similar concerns as the Crew was missing several regular members. Although we still had a sizeable away crowd of a few hundred people, it was nowhere near the attendance numbers of a regular league game. All these worries were put to rest by the end of the game, as we won by a comfortable 4-1 scoreline and the Crew were so loud that we were heard clearly through the stream, so much so that the Hools broke out in song – ‘You only sing when you’re winning’ – a testament to how well the Crew did since we were winning for most of the game. [cheeky wink] Budding Partnerships Despite the one-sided scoreline, I am convinced that we were not firing on all cylinders. A little harsh perhaps, considering the team was clearly in control the entire game, but we were also a wasteful at times in the final third, with the finishing not quite clinical enough and stray passes happening on a number of occasions throughout the match. The game was eventually decided by several moments of individual brilliance as well as a mistake or two from the opposition (legend has it that Ensar Bruncevic is still looking for the ball as we speak, after Shawal bamboozled him for that second goal). Nonetheless, I am sure that we can only get better as the season progresses, as our new signings settling in and getting used to the coach, players, and the climate. We are already starting to see the quality of our new players as well as their partnership with their teammates. Bailey and Toni The control we had over the entire game could partly be attributed to the solid centre-back pairing of Bailey and Toni. Other than the admittedly unnecessary tackle leading to the penalty, B&T hardly put a foot wrong for the entire 90 minutes. In fact, we conceded only 3 shots the entire game (one of which was the rebound from that missed penalty). I am certainly looking forward to see how the same pairing holds up against some of the best teams in AFF and AFC as we kick off our Shopee cup and ACL2 campaigns. Bart and Maxime The more things change, the more they stay the same. We lost our last number 10 Diego Lopes (sobs) but Maxime showed the same affinity with our new number 10. In this game we saw the two of them linking up on a number of occasions with this combination directly leading to our 1st and 4th goals. The first goal was a cutback from the right wing by Maxime and a brilliant finish by Bart, an almost casual first-time right foot volley into the bottom corner. The 4th goal was a cross by Maxime leading to a first-time shot from Bart. It was parried by the keeper but Zaiful was helpless against an Obren tap-in for two metres out, which brings me to my next point: Not Your Typical Left-Back As Zach mentioned in his tactical analysis of the community shield ([Tactical Analysis] Second-gear Sailors Sweep the Shield (Sailors 2 Albirex Niigata (S) 0) – SailorFanTalk), we once again saw Obren taking up very advanced positions while Sailors were in possession despite starting as a left-back, with the defence effectively operating as a back 3 (Toni-Bailey-Chris) when we have the ball. This was executed to great effect to set up attacking opportunities on multiple occasions, and in the 87th minute we even saw Obren pushing up to play as striker when Hafiz came on for Shawal, resulting in his first SPL goal a minute later. A versatile setup that we will probably see more of in the coming months, and I am really excited to see how we can make use of Obren’s height and energy to carve out chances against tight defences. Shawal Shows Up as Always Shawal has once again shown that he is a very reliable source of goals when we need them, adding 1 goal and 1 assist to his goal in the Community Shield last week. A brilliant finish with the outside of his left foot into the side netting for the 2nd goal was followed by a stunning through ball to Adam Swandi to finish past Zaiful into the bottom corner for our 3rd. With a rumoured European forward (Local boy Shawal Anuar delivers for the Lion City Sailors in Singapore Premier League | The Straits Times) joining our ranks in the weeks ahead, we are sure to have a wealth of attacking assets available, critical for the 12-month long season ahead where we will be challenging on 2 local and 2 continental fronts. Fit as a Fiddle In the early games of the season, we often see teams finding themselves fatigued by the end of the match, as players are working their way toward full match fitness. This was not the case today, with all our substitutions happening only after the 80th minute. Our players looked fit and were still going at full throttle towards the end of the game – if they were tired they certainly didn’t show it. The result of a good pre-season perhaps? Can We Talk About that First Touch? The win was good and all, but I know what you’re actually here for. The man of the match. The play of the day. The loudest cheer of the night. If you haven’t seen it, go take a look

[Post-Match Thoughts] Not Our Best, But Good Enough (Hougang 1 Sailors 4) Read More »

[Tactical Analysis] Second-gear Sailors Sweep the Shield (Sailors 2 Albirex Niigata (S) 0)

1 Comment / Tactics, Uncategorized / Zachary Wu

The following tactical analysis is from Zach Wu, who’s not a Sailors fan, but we just thought it would be good for someone without rose-tinted glasses to analyse the tactics of our games. We hope to make this a regular column so that we can better appreciate what is going on in our games from a tactical perspective. While Sailors did everything right, it was smooth sailing for the Sailors because Albirex, their perennial bogey team, failed to show up. First Half Albirex were in their customary 4-4-2/4-2-3-1, with their simple gameplan of long balls to Shuhei Hoshino for the rest of the team to feed on. They sometimes also tried to put balls over the top for Daniel Goh to chase. Off the ball, they were compact in their shape, often trying to deny Sailors the centre of the pitch. For Sailors they had a host of new signings (as we all know) but for me the more interesting thing was the implementation of their 3-2-4-1/3-2-5 system. Tampines used it for large parts of the 2023 season while Sailors first used it when assistant coach Daan van Oudheusden took over as caretaker manager in a 3-0 win against Hougang which was also covered here. It was rarely seen after that single game but having had a good pre season to prepare for it, Sailors finally used it here. This was what it looked like at kick-off, but it soon morphed into something else when the Sailors were in possession. The key was Obren here. Off the ball (and initial buildup from goalkicks), it was a usual standard 4-2-3-1. However, with the ball in more settled phases of possession the energetic Obren would push up as a left winger while Bart would move inside. Lionel would also tuck in from right-back. To escape Albirex’s tough central block, the option was usually to go wide. Here, a ball from Toni finds Obren who then plays the ball first time into the gap between Syed Firdaus and Koki Kawachi which Bart has exploited. This particular move led to LCS entering the final third numerous times resulting in a few dangerous situations. Given Albirex’s compactness in the centre of the pitch, going wide was the right decision, with Albirex’s defensive line sometimes slow to move across to plug gaps. For Albirex, Hoshino’s hold up play was ineffective with the quality of Bailey and Toni, making it extremely hard for Albirex to construct any dangerous attacks. Second Half The second half continued very much the same way as the first half with Albirex sitting in their 442/4231 shape while LCS were trying to make inroads. However, one small change would be the wide centrebacks, Lionel and Toni were instructed to be more brave on the ball and drive forward given that Albirex were still sitting in their passive 442 shape. The game did not change much, with numerous like-for-like substituties on both sides before Lestienne’s late penalty hammered the nail in the coffin for Albirex. Conclusion Overall, the Sailors would be satisfied with some quick silverware and with their new-look players and system they look the side to beat. Tougher tests like Tampines Rovers (in my opinion) lay ahead for the Sailors. Meanwhile for Albirex, it must be alarming that their new look attack looked toothless when Shuhei was silenced, which meant their runners could not be involved in play. The lack of quality from wide areas was also a noticeable factor. They MUST adapt quickly or risk getting pulled into midtable scrap, with other sides like Geylang or Balestier upgrading their squad in the off season. Written by Zach Wu Edited by Eddy Hirono If you don’t want to miss any articles, be sure to follow us on Instagram and join our Telegram chat! 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!

[Tactical Analysis] Second-gear Sailors Sweep the Shield (Sailors 2 Albirex Niigata (S) 0) Read More »

[Preview] Hougang United v Sailors – Season Opener, Plenty of Unknowns

1 Comment / Match Previews / Eddy Hirono

So after the excitement of lifting the Community Shield, we finally have the real season opener, a match with proper consequences, the first chance to get 3 points on the board. What can we expect from a heavily-revamped Hougang United? Let’s dive right into it. Still no Kiki Krajcek As has been mentioned on this site many times before, Krajcek is the heartbeat of this Hougang team. No Krajcek, no party. The only time they managed to even escape defeat against us without Krajcek was last season in the Singapore Cup when we had all but qualified from the group stage and we fielded an almost-entirely-local starting XI. Well Krajcek is still out, and is not expected to make his return for a couple of months still. He has been out and about doing community work for the team, but we understand from the Hougang fans that he will not be playing this week. His absence is perhaps going to be less fatal this time as compared to last season, because Shahdan has been getting some minutes in pre-season, and also because of a signing that has largely been slept on – Shodai Yokoyama. For me, Shodai Yokoyama was one of the standouts in last year’s Albirex team. A left-footed Steven Gerrard. Capable of scoring off late runs into the box, or with belters from range. Last year, he scored a total of 7 goals (if you count the Community Shield), and got 8 assists. That’s a very healthy goal contribution rate. They don’t have Zulfahmi Arifin anymore and so will miss his left foot, but in my opinion, Shodai is more than an adequate replacement. Some of his goals for you to check out. Here, here, and here. The Unknown Strikers I know jackshit about Hougang’s new strikers, Petar Banovic and Stjepan Plazonja. Let’s first check out what our friends from hougangunitedfans.com have to say about them. As part of my due diligence, I didn’t take what the Hougang fans said as gospel. I also did a real deep dive. No actually I didn’t. I pulled up a Youtube video set to shitty techno music. Of course, such compilation videos you have to take with a huge pinch of salt. What I’d add to their summaries, is that Stjepan Plazonja really really reminds me of Lukas Podolski. Booming left foot? Check. One-dimensional running without any tricks up his sleeve? Check. One-footedness which means no shots on the right foot, ever? Check. But let’s really not allow him to use his left foot in the box, lads. It is very lethal. He’s also really quite fast. He likes to push and run a lot, so we’re gonna have to be wary of that. It’s quite a sight, really, seeing someone so tall sprint so much! Petar Banovic – has a decent goalscoring record in the Prva Liga FBIH. But it’s hard to know how that translates to SPL prowess. Probably not as hard as trying to pronounce “Prva Liga FBIH” without sounding like you are replicating a fart in amateurish fashion – but still hard. We’ve spoken before about how Sime Zuzul had a shit record before coming to Singapore shores and tearing it up. Đorđe Maksimović as well, who has of course, left Hougang, did really well last season but thankfully is no longer around. So goalscoring records in other leagues don’t really tell the full story. For context, in case you are an expert in obscure European leagues, Prva Liga FBIH is the first division of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Both of them are really tall too, by the way. One is 1.88m, while the other is 1.92m. It’s good that Lionel is playing rightback, because I think they are going to rely on the long diagonal into the air for their twin towers to attack. If Hafiz Nor is played there, then we’re really left to making sure we get to the second balls from the knockdowns. And I am sure Datkovic will share some banter with this duo as well. Let’s hope it gets spicy! The Unknown Centreback (no plural this time) There is no plural this time because one of the centrebacks is Ensar Bruncevic (usually referred to as Bruno in his time at Balestier Khalsa). He did not really impress last time out, and was almost always referred to as one of the worst foreigners in the league. Has he improved? Well I don’t know because I don’t watch the Serbian Super League. And even if I did, I don’t think I’d be able to glean much, seeing as he only made a handful of appearances. But it’s not likely to matter much – because it’s not like Hougang’s Japanese pair at the back were super impressive. So if he does an average job, then there won’t be much of a difference to last season. Unless of course, his partner, Faris Hasic, is really solid. He’s a 20 year old centreback, hailing once again from the Prva Liga FBIH. Unlike Ensar, he actually started a whole bunch of games. And just like Plazonja above, I did the dirty work, I sat through a video set to some shitty music. Let me clarify that statement. Faded by Alan Walker is not a shitty song. But stupid remixes of the song? Yes, shitty. Football compilation videos love to use the song “Faded“, which is ironic. “Faded” shouldn’t be used on a promising young centreback. It should be used on people like Pogba, or Casemiro, or Varane, or Maguire, or Erik Ten Hag. Ok you get the point, I don’t really like Manchester United. Faded can also be used on our 2022 title challenge after we sacked Kim Do Hoon. Ooof. #toosoon I digress. Back to the point – Faded by Alan Walker is an OK song, but football compilation videos tend to use shitty remixes of it in their video. This offending video even manages to use TWO different stupid shitty remixes of

[Preview] Hougang United v Sailors – Season Opener, Plenty of Unknowns Read More »

[Post-Match Thoughts] Routine Win But Both Sides Will Improve (Sailors 2 Albirex 0)

Leave a Comment / Post-Match Thoughts / Eddy Hirono

This may seem harsh, but at no point in the game did I feel the Sailors were not gonna win. It was a really routine victory and 2-0 could and should have been way more. Barring a moment in the second half where Zharfan will feel he should have done better, Albirex had nothing on us. I believe the freekick chance they had was their only shot on target. It was such a foreign experience for me, considering that we are so used to sitting back and weathering all the pressure that Albirex would put on our defence. In particular, the first half felt really really comfortable. And this is why. 0 shots in the first half. That’s not at all what we are used to. But I like it. Let’s keep it this way. Period of Adaptation Jokes aside, while I do hope that this match is fully representative of what’s to come, we have to remind ourselves that Albirex are traditionally slow starters, but yet after the mid-point of the season, they usually really turn it on and then they just start this unstoppable charge towards the title. Much like how Manchester City does it, except without the (alleged) financial doping. There is a good reason for this of course – there is usually a huge squad renewal process for Albirex, and their players will also need time to get used to the hot and humid playing conditions in Singapore. Something I observed when watching the game was that it was not easy to tell the Singapore players from the Japanese players. You know how on TV, your non-football-watching friends sometimes marvel at the fact that you can name the players just by looking at their head and body shape from far away? Well, given that Albirex is a brand new team essentially, it will take me a while before I get to know them just by the way they look and the way they carry the ball. I don’t know whether it’s more of a compliment to Albirex’s local boys, or something negative to be said about their Japanese imports, but there did not seem to be a gulf in quality as there usually is. The foreign players are supposed to be noticeably better than the local players, and that was simply not the case. They looked really, really ordinary. One of the moments in the game that really stuck out to me was when Albirex got a freekick in their own half, and usually they’d look to keep the ball moving, pass it quickly on the floor to someone, and then start their passing triangles. But no, not this time. The ball was launched towards the Sailors box, with noone even near the vicinity. It was an aimless long ball presumably looking for Shuhei to try to cushion it down for his teammates. That is not the Albirex way. But maybe they just need some time. As a Sailors fan, let’s hope they never get back their mojo haha. Obren Continues to Impress In the preview article, I didn’t mention that Obren was an option to start at leftback. Which was pretty forgetful of me, considering that in the post-JDT article, Ernest and I waxed lyrical about him when he came on to play left wing-back. Again, he put in a good shift on Saturday, and his direct opponent, Daniel Goh, got very little out of him. Albirex’s tactic was to try to look for Daniel Goh alot in the first half, so it was important that Obren was alert and ready to deal with him. On attack, he was powerful and direct. Nothing too fancy, just a couple of drives down the left flank, before cutting back for a teammate in the penalty area. One of these runs led to a cutback that Song almost converted from. More of this from Obren please! He reminds me a little of Sead Kolasinac and how he would bomb up and down the left flank for Arsenal and Schalke 04. On a separate slightly-related note, I wonder if the Sailors are gonna get more goals from setpieces this year, considering that our backline is physically very imposing. We have our two hulking centrebacks of course, but we also have Lionel Tan playing rightback, and Obren at leftback. Tall! Maxime is a Machine By all accounts, I don’t think it can be said Maxime had a good game. It seemed like he was snatching at his chances a lot, putting shots way over the bar, and some of his passes went astray too. But – he ended up with a goal and an assist. And he was responsible for winning the penalty too! If you’re still wondering whether it was a harsh penalty, watch this. In the stadium, I thought it was a harsh call, as it didn’t look like much contact, but this angle shows that the refereeing team did brilliant. We are harsh on the refs when they get shit wrong, let’s give them their flowers when they get difficult decisions right. Anyway back to the point, Maxime has picked up where he left off last season, and he can only get better! Datkovic’s Range of Passing On more than a couple of occasions, the ball was played to Datkovic, and with little pressure on him, he managed to come up with raking long passes out to Maxime Lestienne on the right wing. Big booming balls from left to right, and very very accurate. With Albirex looking to keep the middle compact, as many teams are likely to do this season against us, we had to sometimes mix it up and add a bit of variety to our passing. From a passing perspective, I guess it’s really good that we now have a left-footed centreback playing on the left side of central defence, because it opens up different passing angles. Let’s pray for his health and hope that he gets to play a lot more than

[Post-Match Thoughts] Routine Win But Both Sides Will Improve (Sailors 2 Albirex 0) Read More »

[Preview] Sailors v Albirex – Not a Trophy, But a Chance to Lay Down a Marker

Leave a Comment / Match Previews / Eddy Hirono

You know what people always say – the Community Shield is not a trophy if another club wins it, but if your team wins it, then yes, yes it’s absolutely a trophy. Well, not for me. I am quite clear in my opinion that it’s not really a trophy. Just 1 game to win it, it doesn’t feel hard-earned, y’know? If some people can dismiss Greece’s run to Euro 2004 victory as a fluke, even though they had to play a total of 6 games, then surely just winning 1 game can be a fluke as well, and it just doesn’t seem to count. (But of course, I am of the opinion that Greece’s win was no fluke – for those much younger please enjoy this video which shows their amazing run. They faced France, Czech Republic and Portugal in the knockout rounds, and won 1-0 on each occasion. NO GOALS CONCEDED IN THE KNOCKOUT STAGES. Oh, and Portugal were playing this tournament at home, yet were beaten twice by Greece, once in the group stage and once when it mattered most in the final.) But I digress. As so often happens on this site. Sorry. This year I will try to keep the articles shorter and more to the point. Maybe. Don’t bet on it. But anyway, don’t take it from me, take it from legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who said that he “never included extras like the Charity Shield and the European Super Cup because they are won with a single victory“. If it’s good enough for one of the most decorated managers of all times, it’s good enough for me. The Community Shield doesn’t count as a trophy. But Is It Still Important? Yes – it’s very important to win the game. I may sound like I am contradicting myself now, but hear me out. The Community Shield isn’t important because it’s a trophy. It’s important because of who we are playing. It is our old foes, Albirex Niigata (S). This year, they are more (S) than ever, because they are finally playing with the same rules as everyone else. Finally, they no longer get to fill their team with Japanese imports from a superior grassroots system, and then have people bleating on and on about how they are winning the title with kids. Yes, they are kids, but they are kids from a far superior system! The fact is that when our national team do their training camps in Japan, they sometimes play university opposition – this should show the gulf between the two nations when it comes to footballing standards. This year, we don’t have that reason / excuse anymore. They have the same number of Singaporeans as we do – we get to sign the foreigners we want, they get to sign the foreigners they want. If anything, they are a bit restricted in that they can only really sign Japanese players because that is more on-brand, while we get our pick from the whole world, essentially. As for the local players, they have signed good players in the likes of Ho Wai Loon, Daniel Goh, Arshad Shamim, etc, but it would be a stretch to suggest that these players are better than the locals in the Sailors ranks. And so this is why the match takes on such importance – if we lose, you can expect the knives to come out already. People will use the result of a glorified friendly to say that King Kazu is indeed the king, being able to lead a reset team to victory over the Sailors, who have much more in terms of resources, and also a settled core of the team. And they’d be quite right to say so – provided of course he can keep it up over the course of the long season. So yes, this match is still important, and unlike a traditional preview where we try and predict what the key battles are going to be, given that Albirex is pretty much an unknown quantity, let’s explore what we can look forward to tomorrow. How Will Bart Fit In? So far, Bart has looked good in pre-season. Or at least, what we got to see in the two friendlies against JDT. He was tidy with his passing, and brave with his running. He would frequently collect the ball in our half, turn, retain the ball, and then drive forwards looking to link up with his teammates. As he settles more and more into the team, these combinations are gonna pay off in a big way, but for now, I think we are all keenly anticipating his impact on the team. We wrote a little article about him, and focused on how interestingly for someone playing in midfield, he scores more than he creates. Maxime and him thus sound like a match made in Heaven, because Maxime loves providing an assist. Jokes aside, will Bart line up in the middle next to Maxime on the right, so that the two of them can do their own little 1-2s all the way into the box, the way Diego and Maxime used to? Or will Bart play where he lined up against JDT, nominally on the left, drifting in to create havoc? There are pros and cons of each approach of course, and I guess it comes down to whether Coach Ranko wants to concentrate the threat in one area, or spread it out, given that Bart seems just as capable of creating magic without Maxime next to him. Whether Song plays is also something that may affect this. Like Bart, Song is a midfielder who gets more goals than assists. If Song plays, Bart may take up a slightly more withdrawn position so he can feed Song and Shawal ahead of him. Shawal to Start? Where is Richairo? So yes, I mentioned Shawal to start in attack. Rasaq is on the mend after a long injury, and may not be seen as

[Preview] Sailors v Albirex – Not a Trophy, But a Chance to Lay Down a Marker Read More »

[Specials] The Deck – A Bold Initiative Aimed at Drawing New Fans

Leave a Comment / Specials / Eddy Hirono

I know, I know. You are a little angry about the underwhelming kit launch, especially for the white kit. First thing I’ll say is there will be a video and article dealing with that in due course, but not yet, I need to talk about membership first because the club hasn’t announced full details yet, and I am hoping somehow that this article will give them some food for thought. Also – don’t buy the shirts yet, if you were planning to. Let’s wait and see if membership brings with it any other discounts. If you wanna buy a shirt and you can’t wait, may I suggest you just buy last season’s kit instead. It’s so similar – and it is a whole S$15 cheaper. Do the smart thing haha. The Deck Some weeks back, the club announced that they are doing away with season passes, and instead would be launching a whole new membership program. Four main features of the new membership program are that 1) it’s free to join, 2) the first match ticket for a home game is free, 3) tickets thereafter are permanently 50% off, and 4) you scale up the membership tiers as you attend more and more home games – in the process “unlocking a treasure trove of rewards“. There has been no release of details on what these rewards may be, or what other stuff this membership program entails. The club has said that come May, they will be revealing more details. Crucially, and back on the topic of jerseys – the kit launch has happened but we still do not know if there will be discounts on the shirts. Hopefully this is addressed quickly, but my advice is don’t buy first, adopt a wait-and-see approach. The Benefits of this Radical New Approach When I first heard of this new approach, I thought it was certainly a bold one. It does a few things – Allow me to elaborate. More People in the Stadium Last season, games cost S$16 including the Sistic charge for non-members, and S$13 for members. Assuming ticket prices do not go above S$22 (it is rumoured to be S$20), then we are looking at a saving for all members. Given that membership is free, it would be somewhat odd that you wouldn’t sign up for membership, so I think we can assume there will be a lot of “members” who are actually neutral, or even support other clubs. (Kinda like the time I signed up to be a Spurs member just so I could watch the Champions League game between FC Barcelona and Spurs, and witness first-hand Messi destroying the team I hate so much. All while sat in their stands pretending to be their fan. Oh, memories.) But therein lies a chance to convert these people. Assuming that the away fans are gonna prefer to sit on the away end, what we might end up having is neutrals curious to watch a game, especially with the first ticket being absolutely free. What is key now is thus the matchday experience for these fans. Is the club confident that these fans will like what they see? Not just on the pitch but off it as well? I hope the Crew can do its part to create an atmosphere that everyone can be proud of. If you are reading this and you’d like to be part of the Crew, roaring on our boys week in week out, do drop me a DM on Instagram or Twitter, and we’d love to have you on board! More Targetted Benefits and Perks Fans have said that they feel the Sailors can do more for their fans. If you haven’t read it yet, please read Chin Heng’s wishlist for this season, and he perfectly encapsulates the thoughts of some fans – basically better fan engagement, and more peripheral activities for fans. However, for this to happen, I agree with the way the club has done it – it needs an accurate way to identify who are the hardcore fans. It is easy to point to people like myself and Joseph as “hardcore fans”, because we are loud, we set up a fan media channel, and we are always front and centre – interviewing players, interviewing fans, shouting our lungs out week in week out. But that’s not all the hardcore fans. Some fans prefer to support the club in a more understated way. Currently, it is harder to identify people like that, because they might come every week, but they might be tucked away in the corners of the ground, sitting near the back. Unless they come forward and make friends with the Crew, or with club staff, they might feel a bit neglected when it comes to club-organised events. So with the new structure, there will be objective proof of how “hardcore” you are. If the club wants to organise an intimate BBQ party featuring some players and some fans, but they only have 50 slots, the club will then have a list on their hands, and sort out who may be most “deserving” of a slot in the party. This is not foolproof by the way. If it comes down to a drummer for the Crew who has attended 15 games that season, and drummed non-stop for 90min on each occasion, but missed some games due to work, and someone who quietly sits in a corner with his family but has attended 16 games that season, who is more deserving of a slot at the BBQ party? There is no correct answer here I guess. Other Cons of this New Approach As for the cons – I immediately thought of one when I first assessed this new initiative. I can be quite busy at work sometimes, and the last thing I want to worry about is whether or not I am assured a seat at the game. Last season, having a season pass meant that I never needed to worry about

[Specials] The Deck – A Bold Initiative Aimed at Drawing New Fans Read More »