This was earmarked as one of the tougher games we would have to face this season, and it is certainly shaping up that way. Although Balestier Khalsa come into this game 5 points behind us with a vastly inferior goal difference, they have actually performed well in every game they’ve played this season. And oh, about that inferior goal difference in relation to us? They just have not played Albirex yet.
I know this is a Balestier preview, but you gotta have some sympathy for Albirex. The league table shows them scoring the fewest goals in the league, and conceding the most. They have now choked two leads despite having a one-man advantage for practically the whole second half. That these two games were against Young Lions and Tanjong Pagar will only make them feel worse because these are the two teams that they will feel they should be able to compete with – whether it be a transition year or not.
But enough of that digression – Balestier is scary, and let’s dive right into the preview to figure out why.
Kodai Tanaka is a Goal Machine
I mean – you didn’t need me to tell you this. But I’ll tell you anyway.
2nd in the league top-scorer charts, Kodai has 8 goals in 6 matches. That’s more than a goal a game. Surely he can’t keep this up, I hear you say. Oh yes, he can.
In the season before he joined us, Kodai notched 39 goals in 32 games for Albirex. He also scored in every match in the Singapore Cup that he played in that year for them – and when he got injured prior to the 2nd leg of the semi-final against Hougang, Albirex lost. Hmm.
So more than a goal a game is definitely not uncharted territory for Kodai.
Unlike Tomoyuki Doi, who shoots from anywhere, Kodai’s goals all come from inside the penalty area, and usually in very good positions too. This is indicative of a striker who has the knack of being in the right place at the right time. The stats paint the same picture – his 8 goals come from a cumulative xG of 7.28, suggesting that he is scoring just about the same number of goals from the positions he’s getting into. (For reference, Tomoyuki Doi’s 12 goals have come from a cumulative xG of 6.88, which is insane)
Aside from just being a top-scorer, Kodai will have added motivation to prove to the Sailors management that they should have kept him. His time with us was truly unfortunate. The fans loved him, he scored 3 goals in his first 3 appearances, and then an untimely and sickening injury happened to him at the Jurong East Stadium. As his knee buckled under him, the fans feared the worst – and their worst fears came through. ACL injury, out for practically the whole season.
He will be chomping at the bit to try and score against us I’m sure. In pre-season, in a match I didn’t attend, apparently he scored against us and started cupping his ears in the direction of the Sailors end. Some bad blood perhaps? Or just a cheeky celebration? I don’t wanna find out tonight haha. Kodai was missing last game with an injury, but I am pretty sure he will be sacrificing all manner of animals to the injury gods to make sure he can play this game.
Bailey and Toni will have a tough task on their hands trying to keep Kodai quiet. But if they could keep Tomoyuki Doi quiet, then maybe they can do the same for Kodai too. Fingers crossed!
Riku Fukashiro – the Livewire
Riku is the 3rd-highest assists-maker in the league this season.
If I could have picked one player from last season’s Albirex team to bring over to the Sailors, it would have been this guy. He is just so entertaining to watch. Just this season, he’s tried a rainbow flick in a game, and while I don’t have the stats, I am willing to bet that he is among the top dribblers in the league.
Last season, Riku had very limited playing time, but yet managed impressive numbers. He had 9 goals and 8 assists from 29 appearances. While those are already commendable numbers, when you take into account that he only started 7 times out of 29, those contribution numbers start to look alot more impressive.
This season, Riku has been in a rich vein of form. Always tormenting defenders in and around the box, he has 2 goals and 5 assists already. Add to that one penalty won, and he’s directly been responsible for 8 out of Balestier’s 19 goals.
He’s definitely a key player and one to watch for our defenders. I wonder if he might cause Lionel or Chris some trouble down the flanks if he drifts out there.
Unlike the Geylang game where Geylang didn’t seem really intent on finding anyone except Doi with the ball, I think the attacking threat will be a lot more varied in tonight’s game.
Will Balestier Attack?
This is a screengrab right before Ismail Sassi on the far side slips Fukashiro (no. 9) in behind the defence for him to cross to Amiruldin Asraf (no. 19) waiting for the cutback on the penalty spot.
I chose this picture to illustrate that Balestier is a very creative team that doesn’t rely on just lumping the ball into the box at every opportunity. Look at Ismail with the ball at his right foot. I dare say that 8 out of 10 players, would see Madhu and Amer Hakeem in the box, and decide to just cross it in. It’s not even an irrational choice – the aerial presence of Madhu and Amer will cause problems.
However, they’ve shown on more than one occasion this season that they are a team that will make that extra pass on attack, consistent with Peter de Roo’s attacking ethos.
When you talk about making that one extra pass on attack, when you talk about creating attacking patterns in areas that can hurt your opponent – chances are you have to commit players to the attack. And that is where our Sailors thrive.
What the Albirex game has shown us this season is that despite our Sailors sometimes struggling to break down opponents for long stretches, if a team comes out to attack, we can really punish them on the transitions. I suspect Peter de Roo is not naive, and will have tweaked his gameplan a little to ensure this doesn’t happen too much.
The timing is kinda apt that I interviewed Madhu Mohana just a couple of weeks back, and the podcast dropped yesterday. If you haven’t heard it yet, please listen to it here. Like and follow! Anyway, Madhu mentioned in the podcast that Peter likes to play attacking football and he doesn’t really compromise, sooooo let’s see what happens tonight. I think if it becomes an open game, I fancy us to win it at a canter.
Over-reliance on Maxime?
Last week, despite a 3-0 win, I felt we kinda struggled to break down Tanjong Pagar. The struggles coincided with Maxime having a bit of an off-day. Which by his standards, still gave us 1 goal, 1 assist, and 1 stupendous shot off the bar.
This season, Maxime has 5 goals, and 6 assists. If you count secondary assists, which is the pass before the assist, he has 2 of those. That’s 13 goals that he’s involved in, which is a very high number considering we have scored 20 goals.
We have a star-studded cast of players, and I hope tomorrow is when we see someone like Lennart Thy really explode.
Conclusion
This will be a tough game. There was one interesting stat I wasn’t sure whether to slot in, so I am slotting it in right here in the conclusion.
Balestier Khalsa are the only team in the league not to concede any goals from setpieces. Which is a surprising stat considering many feel that Balestier’s defence isn’t the best, and they have a short goalkeeper. I wonder if this is where we may profit because of the number of people in our team with aerial presence. We have the likes of Lennart, Bailey, Toni, Lionel, Obren, and of course, the man with the insane spring, Shawal Anuar.
I fancy our attacking quality to just edge Balestier in this one. A win would go a long way towards showing people that we are favourites this year.
COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE!
My predicted line-up
Zharfan Rohaizad
Lionel Tan, Bailey Wright, Toni Datkovic, Obren Kljajic
Adam Swandi, Hariss Harun, Hami Syahin
Maxime Lestienne, Lennart Thy, Bart Ramselaar
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: Balestier Khalsa 1 Sailors 3
Joseph’s prediction: Balestier Khalsa 2 Sailors 7
Written by Eddy Hirono
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