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 each flank, and is a versatile addition to our side. His arrival may also provide Ranko with the option to use Hami back in the middle, with Akram taking up the RWB slot until Mamat returns. This may be crucial, depending on how bad Rui Pires’s injury is.
Jaguars fans hold him in high regard, and Kimmy from Stirling Curva, their supporters group, had this to say –
Akram is a hardworking and speedy wing back/full back. Sailors got a gem. hope to see him in the NT soon. He’s also a down-to-earth lad. A great guy off the field and an amazing one on. We wish Akram all the best in his new club! As much as we would have loved for him to stay, it’s football and we just have to move on from here.
What I’d add is that when you sign a captain – you don’t just sign someone who is a good player. Usually, a captain is chosen for his off-the-pitch attributes as well. So this should be a signing of a player who has ability, but also character. Considering that a few years ago he got a very blatant red card for hitting out at Raoul Suhaimi in a game v the Young Lions, this is quite some comeback arc for him.
Look forward to seeing him in action, and who knows, maybe a debut tonight?
Conclusion
The incentive is clear. Win, and we go three points clear. We also get back some measure of revenge against this team that has proved to be a real annoyance for us in the past few years. In our last meeting, there were some handbags between some of their players and Song Ui-Young as well. Well, Song is back for this one, as is Lionel. While I wouldn’t mind a fuss-free 2-0 victory, I really hope we absolutely batter them.
There is no need to rotate for this game, given that our next game is 6 days away. Let’s really go all out and give the fans another night to remember.
COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE!
My predicted line-up
Izwan Mahbud
Chris van Huizen, Lionel Tan, Bailey Wright, Toni Datkovic, Sergio Carmona
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 Albirex 0
Joseph’s prediction: Sailors 3 Albirex 1
Written by Eddy Hirono
Picture Credit – Lion City Sailors
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