The league’s two highest-scoring teams meet – Geylang with 22 goals from 5 games, and our Sailors, with 16 goals from 4 games. Very impressive goalscoring form from both sides, but the weird fact that pops out to me is that Geylang have conceded 4 goals from the penalty spot this season. That is unusually high considering there have only been 7 penalties awarded this season.
Can we draw any conclusions from that stat? Will either team lose their unbeaten start to the season thus far? Let’s dive right into the preview.
Goals, goals, goals
Geylang have the highest goals per game ratio in the whole league. They have scored 22 and conceded 12, which makes it a whopping 6.8 goals per game. They have certainly been a fun side to watch.
Our Sailors as well, have scored 16, but I think you don’t need to have a very good memory to remember that almost half of those were directly contributed by that game against Albirex.
So does this mean that this is going to be a goalfest?
Well, not necessarily. It really depends on how Geylang is going to set up. Is Noor Ali likely to continue with his side’s swashbuckling ways against our Sailors?
I doubt he will. Seeing Albirex get absolutely ripped apart on the counter-attack is likely to figure in his thinking a little. If you’ve watched Geylang games this season, you’ll notice that they get good numbers into the box, and they always support the attack. This is partly due to the coaching philosophy, but partly also due to the personnel Noor Ali has at his disposal.
In previous seasons, Bezecourt used to be the most advanced of the midfielders, and would regularly pop up right behind the striker. However this year, due to the recruitment of Ryoya Taniguchi, and possibly also because of the injury to Huzaifah Aziz, Bezecourt has been played in a deeper position. That doesn’t mean he is holding back in midfield, he gets involved in the attack quite a bit too.
You put an attack-minded player in central midfield, and then ahead of him you have attacking talents like Iqbal, Ryoya, Doi, and Naqi – it is no wonder the players always seem to be in and around the box. Their attacking instincts are well-suited for the way they want to play.
However, as mentioned above, I suspect Noor Ali will rein his players in a little. Our Sailors usually leave at least two forwards up (Maxime + 1 other) when we defend, so Geylang might find it difficult to get as many players up in attack as they usually do. If they do choose to sit back a little, they will have to trust that whatever chances they can create upfront are put away by their star striker, Tomoyuki Doi.
Tomoyuki Doi is a Goalscoring Machine
Maradoina, van Nisteldoi, Ronaldoi, Lewandoiski. Call him what you want, but this man scores goals.
He is the current top-scorer of the SPL with 9 goals. If you add in his assists as well (2), he is responsible for half of Geylang’s goals. He has also scored in every game this season.
The praise doesn’t stop there.
He has scored 9 goals from a total xG of just 4.61, which goes to show how clinical he is, and how he is helping turn half-chances into goals.
5 goals on his stronger right foot, 3 goals on his weaker left foot, 1 goal with his head – man’s an all-rounder. Of his 9 goals, 3 have come from outside the box, showing that he really is a striker who can do it all.
Back in 2021, he was both the SPL Player of the Year and also the league top-scorer with 19 goals in a shortened season. This year, he is on course to do much better than that.
He is the obvious dangerman, and if we are to keep a clean sheet, our defenders and keeper are gonna have to be on top form.
Geylang’s Shaky Defence
If all that talk about Tomoyuki Doi has got you feeling a little pessimistic, perhaps this section might cheer you up a little.
Geylang’s record of 12 goals conceded is equal to that of Tanjong Pagar’s (albeit having played 1 game more). Let that sink in. Tanjong Pagar Utd this season feels like the kind of team that can get relegated even though there is no relegation in the SPL.
And Geylang have conceded as many goals as them. Compare that with the Sailors having conceded only 3 goals thus far, and it’s a world of a difference. If you ask me, I think there are two key differences.
- The Sailors defenders are more experienced and of a higher calibre; and
- Geylang creates so many goals because they push large numbers up into attack, while the Sailors’ quality in midfield and attack means that they do not need to commit so many men forward from defence.
When you see players like Shakir Hamzah getting goals and assists, it’s nice to see, but the flipside of that is that if the transitions are done well, then it leaves big holes for opponents to exploit.
Let’s now talk about Geylang’s penalty-conceding record. There have been 7 penalties awarded this season –
- 1 was against the Sailors, when Toni Datkovic pushed some flimsy Hougang player and he went over like a sack of potatoes;
- 2 were for handball (against Tanjong Pagar and Hougang Utd); and
- 4 were conceded by Geylang, pulling/tripping players in their penalty area. Culprits are Hairul Syirhan, Shakir Hamzah, Josh Pereira and Keito Hariya.
4 is more than half the penalties awarded, and even though it’s early days, it would seem that Geylang’s defence has a propensity for panicking in the box and committing rash fouls.
You couple this unique stat with another rare one, that they have given up 2-goal leads 3 times in 5 games – and it goes a long way to show that Geylang has not got their defence sorted. Last week was the clearest example, when they somehow contrived to give up a 2-goal lead to 10-man Brunei DPMM.
Conclusion
Looking at both sides’ form heading into this one, it would seem like a no-brainer for this to be a high-scoring affair. But I don’t know – I feel like both sides will respect each other, and it might then lead to a bit of a tense atmosphere, especially in the first half. Just a weird feeling I have.
Noor Ali should be aware that if he turns this into a shoot-out, it is unlikely that his side comes out on top. But if he gets his players to sit deep in their own box to try and frustrate, nervousness might creep in, and the pressure might eventually tell anyway.
It’s a close one to call, and I think I am going for a narrow-ish Sailors victory. I doubt we will see a repeat of the fireworks we saw in the previous game against Albirex.
COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE!
My predicted line-up
Zharfan Rohaizad
Lionel Tan, Bailey Wright, Toni Datkovic, Obren Kljajic
Bart Ramselaar, Hariss Harun, Hami Syahin
Maxime Lestienne, Lennart Thy, Shawal Anuar
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 points for exact scoreline predicted correctly, 2 points for predicting the winner and margin of victory correctly (but not the exact scoreline), and 1 point for predicting the outcome correctly (win, lose or draw).
Eddy’s prediction: Geylang 0 Sailors 2
Joseph’s prediction: Geylang 1 Sailors 3
Written by Eddy Hirono
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Cover photo credit – https://www.deviantart.com/clebersan/art/kamehameha-vs-hadouken-263754135
