The 5-0 scoreline is a haunting one. To concede that number of goals, and to not even score 1 – it’s not a great day out whether you’re a player or a supporter. Unfortunately, we’ve done it twice this season. In Hanoi, the Crew found some time for gallows humour and started chanting “Lima Kosong” as we exited the stadium. Lol.
While CAHN is a good team in a good league and you can half-explain it away as a bad day at the office against superior opposition, there can be no such excuses for losing 5-0 to Tampines Rovers. It was so, so poor.
The last time we lost 5-0, we picked ourselves up and responded a few days later with a big win against Young Lions, so here’s hoping we can do similar this time round. Let’s dive into some pre-match thoughts.
Tampines Not in the Best of Form
Oh dear me, the last time I wrote about a team not being on form, it was CAHN and see what they did to us! At the risk of jinxing it though, I am gonna stick to my guns here. Tampines are on a run of 5 matches without a win, and have lost their last 2. It seems that their packed schedule might be getting to them as well, both in terms of fatigue and rotation. They left out Faris and Glenn in their match against Young Lions with an eye on the Bangkok United game in midweek, and they didn’t really get going until both of them were subbed on, eventually clawing back a 2-goal deficit.
Unluckily for us this time, it is us who do not have the benefit of a week’s rest and training before the game, as Tampines did not have any midweek games this time round. You can thus be sure that their A-team, including Faris and Glenn will play, and we will need to be wary of their threat.
Tampines play a very good brand of football, but it seems that the blueprint to beat/hold them has been repeatedly put on show in the previous few games. Just stay tight at the back, and hit them on the counter-attack. Luckily for us, that’s exactly what we like to do, so I think this is where we might capitalise.
As for staying solid at the back, two big questions pop up ahead of this match. First, do we stick with 3 centre-backs at the back, or do we go with 2? Second, is Ranko gonna swap keeper like the last time he did when we lost 5-0 and our keeper made an error?
How Many at the Back?
Ok you have 5 seconds to decide which you would do if you were Coach Ranko.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Ok I’d prefer if we go with 3 centre-backs at the back for the added solidity. I wonder what the fans think, and I don’t think there is a right answer for this. But here’s why I prefer 5 at the back.
First, 4 at the back means Lionel Tan at right-back. I am not super convinced with that, but I don’t feel like there’s better options as well. We all saw Hafiz Nor’s defensive deficiencies against CAHN, while Chris van Huizen also endured a tough time in Hanoi. We desperately need Mamat back, don’t we!
If you look at the 5-0 game against Tampines again, we looked good and solid for the 45min, but were undone the moment someone stepped out of the compact backline. Datkovic tried to guess where Irfan Najeeb’s pass was going, and he squeezed up without the other 2 centrebacks following his line. This left a gaping hole for Boris Kopitovic to exploit, and that he did with aplomb.
After that, came the dreadful Zharfan error, and as a result of that, he didn’t play for us in the 9 games after. But the defensive performance in the first half was not at all bad. We limited Tampines to very few chances.
Where it got disastrous for me, is in the second half, when Lionel was taken off and we moved to a back 4. Suddenly, Faris and Glenn had the time of their lives. Glenn killed Carmona on the left flank to get the crucial 3rd goal, while Faris was left with all the space in the world to curl in a great 4th goal from the left wing.
Given that we have been playing with this system against better opponents in the ACL, ACL2, and the Shopee Cup, I think we will continue sticking with it against Tampines, a sign that we take them seriously. Interestingly, in the SPL, the first time we played 5 at the back was against Tampines as well, while our last SPL game against Balestier Khalsa also saw us going back to a back 5. We did not play this formation for the rest of our games – as far as I can remember. I think there is a good reason for playing against better teams with 5 at the back.
For all the qualities our Sailors players have, one thing I feel we lack is the ability to cover large spaces while defending. We look so much more solid when we have 3 centre-backs on the pitch. Against teams like Tanjong Pagar, we can get away with anything at the back, but I think against Tampines, it might be wise to stay solid, and hit them on the transitions, which is their weak point.
Do We Switch the Keeper?
This is a tough one. I think swapping keepers after they make an error is not something I’d do as a coach.
Mistakes happen. I wasn’t a fan of Zharfan being dropped for his error, although I do feel it was a decision made not just because of his one error. He had looked a little unconvincing this season in some games when coming out to claim crosses, and Izwan is just a really solid replacement keeper, given his club and international experience. It was the easy decision to make, but I am not sure it was the right one because it kills Zharfan’s confidence, and I do wonder even if he is put right back in against Tampines, where his mind will be at – and that’s a dangerous one, because keepers need to be top mentally.
And don’t just take it from me – goalkeeping great Peter Schmeichel has said as well before that having 2 goalkeepers who are fighting for that one spot without any certainty is not good, because it “will just create situations in the games where they will have to go and prove themselves and that’s the one thing you don’t want from your goalkeeper“. We need the right balance in our goalkeeping department.
Ideally you want a reliable deputy, but you also want the deputy to not be a legit contender for the first-team spot – because it then leads to the uncertainty and tension that arises when the keeper does not feel that his spot is secure. He might go for a cross that he shouldn’t be going for – in an attempt to win over his coach and show to everyone that he can claim a difficult cross. He might try riskier passes to try and pick out a teammate in a difficult position – just to show he can distribute well.
Goalkeeping is all in the mind, and I am not sure what mental state both Izwan and Zharfan will be in if you go around chopping and changing whenever one of them makes a mistake. If we want to give both keepers playing time, perhaps a better way would be to give the Shopee Cup matches to Zharfan, and that might be a good way to keep him match-ready in case he needs to step in, without upsetting the hierarchy that the club seems to have decided on 9 games ago.
Lack of Rest
In the club’s preview article, Toni Datkovic downplayed the issue of fatigue or lack of rest, but I think those are just strong words and things that they have to say. Of course they’re gonna be tired – the team were chasing shadows in Hanoi, and then after the game, they only managed to sleep a few hours (if at all), before having to leave for the airport on Friday in the wee hours.
Tactically, I don’t think there’s much time to work out a special plan on the training ground for the players as well, so perhaps that’s another indicator that we will stick with the 5-at-the-back.
Will we see some changes to the lineup to freshen things up? I suspect we will.
Conclusion
We came into this 6-match run fearing the worst. 6 matches in 19 days was always gonna be crazy.
However, so far, we have comfortably dispatched Balestier Khalsa and Tanjong Pagar with our 2nd string, and claimed the scalp of Zhejiang FC in an impressive victory. Then came the humbling roadblock of a 5-0 defeat away in Hanoi. 3 wins and a loss from 4 games.
Whether Coach Ranko feels the heat or not will depend alot on today’s game, and then what we do against Port. Having already lost to Tampines 5-0 in the previous fixture, I fear for him should Tampines win convincingly again. If we can get a win today, and then put up a decent show against Port FC, I think the mood towards him will shift back to favourable again. That’s unfortunately the craziness of this results-based industry.
Fingers crossed. COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE!
My predicted line-up
Izwan Mahbud
Hafiz Nor, Lionel Tan, Bailey Wright, Toni Datkovic, Sergio Carmona
Song Uiyoung, 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: Tampines 1 Sailors 2
Joseph’s prediction: Tampines 1 Sailors 4
Written by Eddy Hirono
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