It’s been a really hectic time work-wise and also personally, so I will keep this short.
It is not often that you say a 3-0 win is disappointing, but I felt this match was disappointing in how it could and should have been so many more. Don’t take it from me, take it from Lionel Tan, Coach Rankovic, and even the opposing coach. They all said that it could have been a lot worse. Both Joseph and I predicted big wins, and what we didn’t count on is an off-day from our attackers.
Utter Dominance
We had this to say in the preview.
Amazingly, we managed to see a repeat, except this time we racked up 4.18 xG. In the first half alone, our Sailors managed to hit 18 shots, which included Maxime allowing Naumovski to make a save with a weak finish in front of goal, Song shooting straight at a defender with the goalkeeper out of the picture, Shawal Anuar failed to pull the trigger from near the penalty spot and countless other chances that really should have ended up in the back of the net.
This theme continued in the second half. Maxime Lestienne even contrived to miss one on his favoured left foot right in front of goal. However, even on his off-day, he ended up with 2 assists. Insane.
I’d say we are both lucky and unlucky. Unlucky that we didn’t score more, because Naumovski is just such a beast, but also lucky that it didn’t cost us in the end, except for the minor matter of goal difference. We are still 2 ahead of Tampines Rovers on that front, but 1 point behind. Hopefully this doesn’t come back to bite us in the ass at the end of the season.
Thy Worth His Weight In Goals (And More)
Even when he wasn’t scoring goals, we had always been singing praises of Lennart Thy. His unselfish runs open up space for his teammates, and even when he was going through a lean goalscoring spell, he never once acted like anything other than the perfect teammate. There was no demanding to take penalties off Maxime Lestienne, no shooting from impossible angles, and even though Maxime was reluctant to pass to him in the first few matches he played, when it came time for Lennart to pass to Max, he did so readily.
Now he is onto six goals and three assists for the season, having started the season later than the rest of the league. That’s 9 goal contributions in 8 games, an impressive return.
Even without his goals though, I’ve always lauded his hard work for the team, and let me just show you two examples of how he gives us a different dimension in build-up.
Both times, the ball is with our centrebacks and Brunei DPMM tries to set a trap for our defenders. A slightly loose pass, or a pass to a player who has been designated pre-match to be the pressing trigger might then lead to a bit of panic for our Sailors.
Lennart Thy’s aerial presence and workrate changes that for us though – after the above frames, Thy presented himself for an aerial challenge, and while one resulted in Sailors keeping possession and the other didn’t – they both eventually lead to similarly dangerous chances.
Simply put, Lennart gives us a variety of build-up options which can help us break the press of our opponents.
Upcoming Fixtures
Post-match, Coach Rankovic appealed to the FAS to allow Singapore’s continental representatives to have more rest in between league fixtures and continental fixtures.
If you look at the fixtures, you can see why. A match on Thursday night away from home, followed by a game on Sunday against a resurgent Albirex sounds like a potential banana peel. I am sure this is not ideal for the players’ rest and recovery requirements.
This set of fixtures also shows that quite plainly. Could the FAS do more? Probably. Should they? That is a harder question to answer.
The gap between games and the back-to-back nature of them will make it hard for our Sailors, but is this any different from teams in the UEFA Champions League or Europa League? I am not so sure. If anything, our journeys to Vietnam and to Borneo may be nearer than some of the distances undertaken by European teams. Given our depth, we should be able to cope, and I hope we see minutes given to our fringe players as well, to help manage workload.
Conclusion
Nothing much more to say except that this could and should have been double digits. DPMM caught us on a very good day. They were horrendous.
Till next time!
Written by Eddy Hirono
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