February 15, 2025

If we play our full-strength team, we are huge favourites to win ths game. However, I think we should definitely not start our heavy-hitters here in the game later – let’s rest them all for the 2nd leg clash against Muangthong. Here’s some very very short pre-match thoughts. Muangthong Resting This Weekend As stated in the official club preview article earlier this week, Muangthong have the benefit of resting this weekend. The Thai FA postponed their league fixture so that they could turn up for the continental fixture in their best condition. We’d be foolish not to rotate given such circumstances. We know that Thai teams tend to play at a higher pace and intensity, so we’ll need our fresh legs to be able to compete. They are likely to pile on the pressure early, given their need for a goal to level the tie. Let’s give ourselves the best chance of matching them for intensity. We Can Afford to Lose One Cup Game Our best chance of advancing in the ACL2 is if we devote all our attention to the Muangthong game. However, in the Cup it’s a different story. Tanjong Pagar may well beat us if Salif Cisse returns and if we rotate too much. Rotation not only takes away individual quality from the pitch, it also disrupts the rhythm and momentum the team has built up. However, the group stage is 4 games long, and losing 1 game doesn’t kill us. Losing 1 game in ACL2 likely does. While I think that the players coming in on rotation should still back themselves to be able to get a result against Tanjong Pagar, it is not fatal if we get a bad result. We absolutely should gamble, just as how we did when we rested half the team against BG Tampines and still managed to escape with a 2-2 draw. And the league is way more important than the cup! Ali Alrina If there’s rotation, we might see Ali Alrina start. He made his debut against Muangthong and while we still conceded a late goal, I particularly enjoyed one clearance he made where he enthusiastically chest-bumped his defensive colleagues after getting rid of the ball. I love defenders who love to defend. There have been some questions about his signing, so let me try my best to answer them. The most common question asked has been – who is deregistered to allow him to play in the SPL or Singapore Cup? The answer is “no one”. Some fans will have noticed that his jersey number is 68. In the SPL rules, that means he has been registered in the U21 squad. This means that he does not replace any of our 9 foreigners in the first-team squad. SPL teams are allowed to field a maximum of 5 players from the U21 squad in an SPL or Singapore Cup game. However, this does not mean that since we can field 6 (4+1+1) foreigners in a matchday squad, we can field an additional 5 foreign players from the U21 squad. The U21 foreigner will still be subject to the limit of 6 foreigners in the matchday squad. Crucially, Ali Alrina, being both a U21 player and a player of AFC nationality, means he will be able to provide central defensive cover even for Bailey Wright, who qualifies for the AFC spot because he is Australian. Ali Alrina comes with quite a good CV, having experience in the AFC Cup, and also being a Syrian international. If you’re wondering why he would come play in the SPL and be registered as a U21 player, the reason is likely because the Syrian league has been suspended. Conclusion There really isn’t much else to say that hasn’t already been covered in the preview last week. Tanjong Pagar are only gonna get better with more training sessions under Noh Alam Shah, and the possible return of Salif Cisse. We are definitely gonna rotate – it’s just how much. Song and Zharfan are probably the only people almost confirmed to play – Song because he is suspended for the Muangthong game, and Zharfan because Izwan looked to have suffered a concussion in midweek. Whatever team is put out, let’s hope the players find it within themselves to fight hard and try to muscle their way into future first team lineups. COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE! My predicted line-up Zharfan Rohaizad Chris van Huizen, Lionel Tan, Ali Alrina, Bill Mamadou, Sergio Carmona Song Ui-Young, Anumanthan Kumar Abdul Rasaq, Lennart Thy, Obren Kljajic 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! Eddy’s prediction: Sailors 2 Tanjong Pagar 1 Joseph’s prediction: Sailors 5 Tanjong Pagar 1 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!