January 2025

Our last defeat in the league was against Albirex. Till that defeat, Albirex had been in poor form, so much so that they sacked their very popular head coach, King Kazu, despite his multiple trophies for the club. Unfortunately, that victory against us seems to have set Albirex off on a bit of a run. Coinciding with the return from injury of experienced midfielder Yojiro Takahagi, and the signing of Ryhan Stewart, they managed to do this – That is some very impressive form – with victories against Balestier Khalsa and Tampines Rovers, two teams who have impressed this season. Will we be able to get our revenge on them though? Let’s dive into some talking points in the review. Stop Nakano, Stop Albirex Yup, as the title of this section suggests, Albirex are very much reliant on Nakano for their goals. With 17 goals, Shingo has nearly half of Albirex’s 37 goals. It is an amazing rise for the youngster, who just a year ago was playing community college football in USA. He has managed to make himself a real menace in the league, with his explosive pace and eye for goal. He also has a good mix of goals – with 4 headers, 3 left-footed shots, and 10 on his right foot, showing that he is not a one-dimensional threat. With 88% of his goals from inside the penalty area, he is very much a fox-in-the-box striker who you cannot afford to give too much space to. In the last game, he scored against us from the spot, but also from latching on to a long ball behind our defence as our Sailors went on search for a late equaliser. That is his specialty, capitalising on large tracts of open land left behind by teams that are further upfield searching for goals. Could the best way of stopping Albirex ironically be to sit deep and prevent them from utilising Nakano’s pace behind the defensive line? If we don’t do that, then I think we’ll have to be really attentive on our press to ensure that there are no easy long balls out of defence. Izwan could also be asked to play a little higher to minimise the space in behind and discourage the long balls forward. Set Pieces a Possible Route to Victory Albirex are the second-worst defence when it comes to set pieces this season. 8 of their goals conceded have been from set pieces, a tally that is beaten only by Hougang, who have conceded 11 from set pieces. On the other hand, our Sailors have scored 6 of our goals from set pieces, with Toni Datkovic and Bailey Wright always looking threatening in such situations. Between them, they have scored 8 goals this season, all from free kicks and corners. Lionel has scored twice in his Sailors career, but is yet to get a goal this season – maybe the time is right for him to open his account tonight? Ins and Outs for Albirex Arya Igami is the big name missing from the Albirex lineup, with a surprise mid-season move to BG Tampines Rovers to take up the foreign slot vacated by Kyoga Nakamura becoming a Singaporean. He will be missed for Albirex – he was the matchwinner against Young Lions in their last game, and it was his goal that opened the scoring against us when we last played them. While his tally of 4 goals and 3 assists suggest that he didn’t set the world alight, he was more than capable of moments of magic, and I feel a little safer knowing that he won’t be playing tonight. Yojiro Takahagi, a man spoken very highly of by the Albirex physio in the Kicking and Screaming podcast, has also retired and left Albirex. Given that he was such an important part of their recent revival, I wonder if his departure will destabilise them both on and off the pitch. The recent arrivals, Nozomi Ozawa, and Taiki Maeda – I tried looking online to see what kind of players they were, but unfortunately, there was precious little information about them. Arya and Yojiro out, replaced by two youngsters, you would hope that our Sailors can take advantage of the need for them to adapt to the league. Maxime – Injured or Rested? In our last preview article, we wondered if Maxime was injured because he clutched the small of his back during the KL City game after he scored. The club website stated in an article that he was rested for the game against DPMM. Will he be back for this game tonight? If he’s back, then pretty sure he was just rested for DPMM out of precaution. If he’s not in the lineup again, then I will begin to worry a little. We have a crunch tie against Buriram next week which will determine if we can get out of the group stage in the Shopee Cup, and we will need our best players for that. We’re not a one-man team, but in the league, Maxime has a ridiculous number of goal contributions. 10 goals and 19 assists means that he gets almost 2 goal involvements every 90 minutes. Let’s hope we see him back tonight! Akram Azman – Our New Man It has been long rumoured that Akram Azman was a target for the Sailors. Before the season, there were already rumours that this would happen, but ultimately he stayed at TPUFC. Some of yall might remember him from that game in 2023 where we came back from 2-1 down to beat Tanjong Pagar 3-2 in a very unconvincing game at Bishan Stadium. If you don’t remember, here are the highlights. Akram shone in this game, as he played at LWB and really was a thorn in our side. When he got forward, he won TPU a penalty, and also scored later on in the game to give them a 2-1 lead. He is capable of playing fullback and wingback on

It is always a little tougher writing a preview when 1) you haven’t seen the opponent in action for a long time, 2) there are new players from foreign leagues and you have no idea how they play. But let’s try anyway. Everyone thinks this is gonna be an easy win for us, or at least Singapore Pools seems to think so, but I am not sure I agree. Dangerman – Davis Ikaunieks From what I’ve seen of this guy off Youtube, he looks a real handful. He just joined DPMM so of course we have no idea how he has adapted so far to life in Brunei, but if Youtube compilations are anything to go by, then this guy can do it all. Left foot, right foot, headers – he just seems to be a penalty box predator. And yes, I know that Youtube shows the best side of players, but I still think there is some utility to watching highlights. You get a sense of what kind of player he is. When you watch videos and you have to think about whether the player is left or right-footed, then you know you have a player who is adept at using both feet. He is right-footed, but the type of goals he is banging in on his left are not just tap-ins or hit-and-hopes. Some of them are shots that require a high level of technique. Whereas you watch someone like Stjepan Plazonja, who has taken the SPL by storm, and his Youtube compilation also kinda tells you what to expect. This is what I wrote before the season started, and it’s exactly what we got. Ikaunieks sniffs out chances, and is able to find the target more often than not. Does his arrival make DPMM more dangerous? I don’t know because in my opinion, the man he replaced, Julio Cruz was already very good at scoring and creating chances. So at most it’s one-in, one-out? In 14 games, Julio Cruz notched up 6 goals and 7 assists, for a total of 13 goal contributions. Considering DPMM only got 30 goals, that is a pretty high involvement rate. (Yes I know sofascore only credits Cruz with 4 assists, but Chin Heng and I manually track games and goals, so trust me, it’s 7 assists). Ikaunieks does boast experience in some really tough environments – and I am not just talking about the quality of football. What in the snowy hell is that? We in Singapore have been complaining about the cold the last few days, but I think to Ikaunieks, the current weather in Brunei and Singapore is a sauna to him. Here’s hoping that he is still frozen in tonight’s game and will need some time to warm up (literally) to the Singapore Premier League. Unavailability of Song and Lionel I have written already in the last article about Maxime clutching his back after he scored. If there is any risk of aggravating an injury, my hope is that we do not play him. Although this is not an easy game, we have to think long term. We’re three points off the top of the league, but with three games in hand. Even if we do lose this tricky away game, it is not the end of the world. We can get those points back. If however, we risk Maxime and he aggravates an injury, then that leaves us a little short moving forward I am sure. (I am an Arsenal fan scarred by Saka’s absence and its subsequent impact on the team, so please bear with me while I describe doomsday scenarios). The tricky thing though, is that both Song and Lionel are unavailable due to suspension from picking up 4 yellow cards. I didn’t know this until the club website’s official preview article mentioned it. Sidenote to SPL, kindly put up a proper stats page so that we can keep track of these things. This raises a few questions. Will Coach Ranko stick with 5 at the back? Will we be able to replicate Song’s recent output? Song is our top-scorer in ACL2 with 5 goals, and our 5th-top scorer in the SPL with 4 goals. Can Shawal start another game in quick succession given his injury troubles? Refer to this article from the Straits Times a couple of months ago. Here’s an excerpt. I have spoken to some fans who think that for continuity’s sake, we will stick with 3 at the back (with Bill coming in for Lionel), with Hami continuing to operate at RWB in defence. Hami’s another one who has seen alot of action for club and country recently, so I wonder if he too can play yet another game in quick succession. There’s also of course the looming spectre of the upcoming Albirex game this Friday, where we will have to recover after a flight back from Brunei tomorrow, while they have the luxury of tons of time to prepare for the game. Miguel Oliveira Last but not least, Miguel Oliveira. In my opinion, one of the best players in the SPL right now. He is just so much fun to watch, and he has 8 goals and 3 assists to prove he is not all just for show – he has end-product as well. He combines very well with Hakeme Yazid, but unfortunately, if rumours are true, Hakeme Yazid has been stripped (heh) of his place in the side because he went to a certain nightclub in Russia while on international duty. His antics were laid bare for all to see for those who keep abreast of Bruneian football news. Looks like his season may be going tits up. If Hakeme Yazid is not in the lineup, we have one less player to worry about. I think he is one of the most gifted players I’ve seen in my lifetime from Brunei, and he has caused us some damage in the past. They also visited a cider bar (as