October 19, 2024

After what seems like forever, especially after our Sailors had their last match in Bangkok postponed, we finally see our boys in action again. Apologies for the late preview – it’s gonna be really short as well. I’ve come down with a heat exhaustion injury + food poisoning over the last couple of days, and my body has been doing all sorts of horrible things. But never mind, off to the preview we go. The last 2 times we faced Hougang resulted in very routine victories – 4-1 and 7-1, and both times our players didn’t have to break a sweat. More of the same this time? The Obvious Dangermen – Stjepan Plazonja and Dejan Racic I referred to this guy as the SPL Podolski from the first time I started researching on him for the first preview article and all that I’ve seen so far has reinforced that opinion. It is genuinely impressive how powerful and direct he is on the left flank. Plazonja has 8 goals and 7 assists from Hougang’s 16 games so far, which works out to about a goal contribution per game. Truly impressive considering Hougang is a pretty goal-shy team. Of course of his 8 goals, 7 have been on his left foot, with the remaining goal taken on his right foot. We’ll go a long way if we can show him onto his right foot – but I’m guessing every team in the league knows that and still finds it incredibly difficult to stop. If Plazonja is the threat from the left, then Dejan Racic is absolutely the dangerman in front. With 12 goals he is the top-scorer in Hougang, and he profits a lot from Plazonja’s exploits down the left. 2 goals off his head, 3 on his left foot, and 7 on his right foot proves he is a versatile finisher, and we have to stop the service to him. The Return of Shahdan Sulaiman The last time we played Hougang, Shahdan was playing, but he was nowhere near his best as we easily demolished Hougang 7-1. That was 3 months ago when he just came back from injury, though, and in recent games we’ve seen him go back to his usual self. He has 1 goal and 3 assists this season, but more importantly, he has brought back some midfield presence to this Hougang team, which has added another dimension to the team – instead of just their usual long ball from the back. We’re gonna have to keep Shahdan quiet in midfield, and this seems like a game fit for someone like Song Ui-Young to play, because of his physicality, which may help to upset Shahdan’s rhythm a little. The Table Doesn’t Lie With all the nice stuff I said about Hougang in the above two sections, it would seem like I am predicting a really difficult game for the Sailors. However, despite the recent resurgence, Hougang still lie second from bottom, only above Tanjong Pagar United. Also, they are still goal-shy and the list of scorers is not a diverse one. Shut down Racic and shut down Plazonja and we should be fine. Conclusion I wonder if Coach Ranko will rotate again, given that we have a tough away trip in 5 days’ time against Persib, Whatever it is, I hope we have enough strength either in our starting XI or on the bench to save the game should it not go according to plan. COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE! My predicted line-up Izwan Mahbud Hafiz Nor, Lionel Tan, Bailey Wright, Toni Datkovic, Chris van Huizen Song Ui-Young, 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: Sailors 4 Hougang 2 Joseph’s prediction: Sailors 6 Hougang 0 Written by Eddy Hirono 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!