February 25, 2025 – SailorFanTalk

[Preview] Lion City Sailors v BG Tampines Rovers (Time to Get That First Win)

Leave a Comment / Match Previews / Eddy Hirono

There have been unforgettable nights for our Sailors this year. Some great unforgettable nights, some not so great yet still unforgettable nights. 4-0 v Muangthong, 5-2 v Port FC, 2-0 v Zhejiang FC, and of course, 7-1 against our old rivals, Albirex Niigata (S) – these matches belong to the former category. However, there are also nights we would want to forget, but we probably cannot. 2-3 to Persib Bandung after taking a commanding 2-0 lead, 2-4 to Zhejiang FC in freezing Hangzhou after taking a 2-0 lead, and of course a humiliating 0-5 loss to BG Tampines Rovers. Of all those results, the BG Tampines one irks me the most. Not only do we have the better players and more resources, the 5-0 loss was the result of players not doing the basics right, and everything that could go wrong for us went wrong. However, I have reason to believe that this won’t happen again tonight – let’s dive into the reasons why. Can’t Win When Basics Aren’t Done Right I am not gonna relive the whole game again. That’s torture. A 5-0 loss, and the poor way we played, conceding all manner of soft goals, will never not be torturous to talk about. So let’s just pick one issue and discuss how the team has changed since then. This is the lead-up to Boris’s first goal. Prior to this, both sides had been pretty even, and our centre-backs were dealing with the attacking threat of BG Tampines reasonably well. But when you play a high line, you absolutely have to put some pressure on the ball carrier. No one is applying any pressure, and there is no urgency at all. Irfan Najeeb literally had more than 5 seconds to look up, take a touch, and then play a simple pass behind the defence for Boris to go 1v1 with Zharfan. To make matters worse, our defensive line wasn’t in sync, as Lionel Tan did a Tristan Do, and did not keep the same defensive line with Bailey and Toni. After that, Zharfan spilled the ball for 2-0, Carmona let Glenn Kweh get past him too easily for 3-0 (and the centre-backs left Boris unmarked in the penalty area), we switched off somewhat on a freekick for 4-0, and then conceded a corner-kick goal for 5-0. (Oh shit I just relived it when I said I wouldn’t relive it.) Wholly preventable goals, and goals that would not have been conceded had we played with intensity and desire from the off – the same pace that we do against our continental opponents. We’ve seen how the team has grown since this 5-0 result, and how much more convincing we look when the team plays with intensity and discipline. This is a top-of-the-table clash so I don’t think our Sailors will be taking BG Tampines lightly at all. Not the Same Team Look at the lineup on that day of the 5-0, and think about who we are likely to see starting tonight. Completely different. Of that team, I’d expect maybe only 5 of them to start tonight. Bailey, Toni, Maxime, Shawal, and then one of Hariss or Lionel. It’s completely a different team, and also it was the first time that Coach Ranko played 5 at the back. Ignore the formation in the graphic above, the back 5 was Sergio, Toni, Bailey, Lionel and Hafiz. Since then, I think it’s fair to say that our left-back position has been improved with the signing of Diogo Costa, and as for right-back, Coach Ranko has landed on a solution where Hami Syahin plays there, but tucks into midfield when we have possession to give us more ball security. Song was also in poor form then, but has since really shown what he is really capable of, with pace and power in the middle of the pack proving to be difficult for opponents to handle. The familiarity with Coach Ranko’s tactics also grew as the season went along, so much so that when we named a B team to face BG Tampines in our last league game against them, we managed to scrape a 2-2 draw. Contrast in Form Last, but certainly not least, while our Sailors are firing on all cylinders, BG Tampines have been grinding out results without looking very convincing. This year, they’ve even managed to lose to Hougang United and draw with DPMM. Their last outing also saw them waste a host of chances to narrowly beat hapless DPMM with the help of an own goal. This is understandable, considering that they replaced their top-scorer and legendary striker Boris Kopitovic mid-season. As much as we like to make fun of him over here on SailorFanTalk, there’s no denying that the team have grown accustomed to having him lead their attack with his unique brand of aggression and hard work. A major reason for why BG Tampines works as well as they do is because of the familiarity the players have with each other. Boris was their striker for 5 years, and in that time, became their all-time top goalscorer. Even though the club replaced him with another hardworking striker who could get goals in the form of Itsuki Enomoto, it will still take some time for the partnerships on the field to form. In the meantime, we will have to capitalise. And we are well-placed to do so. Again I go back to how much the team has grown this season, and how accustomed we now are to the 5-at-the-back system. We’ve also seen how that system allows the likes of Diogo Costa and Akram Azman to really bomb down the wings and stretch play. I think BG Tampines will have a lot of thinking to do as to how to approach this game. They should be scared, looking at the kind of football we are capable of this year against teams like Muangthong, Buriram and Albirex. Then you add in the factor of how we rested half

[Preview] Lion City Sailors v BG Tampines Rovers (Time to Get That First Win) Read More »

[Post-Match Thoughts] Balestier Exposed – Perfect Prep for Wednesday (Balestier Khalsa 1 Sailors 5)

A comfortable win, with no injuries. During this hectic schedule, that’s all everyone at the club would have wished for. But we got one better than that – we got a match where our players could take it a little easier because of a man advantage. A 38th min red card to Fudhil I’yadh when our Sailors were already 2-0 up meant that we played more than half the game with a man advantage, further resting those legs we are gonna need on Wednesday, and in Hiroshima. Let’s dive right into some post-match thoughts, including my take on why the red card was a little harsh. Was It a Red Card? In my opinion, it’s debatable. I have marked in red the spot the ball first bounced, to show you how near Max was to getting to the pass. Considering that Max was already on the run, he would likely have got to the ball ahead of Fudhil, who started his run later. However, if you look at where the ball eventually landed as an indicator of the trajectory of the pass, it can also be said that Max would have got to a slightly wider position. I think the trouble with these decisions is we don’t get any insight as to why the referee has decided a certain way, and why the VAR has advised the referee to have a look at the monitor. I am quite comfortable with this decision had it gone either way. If the referee felt it was only worthy of a yellow card, and cited factors such as distance from goal and also, the eventual wider position that Maxime would have ended up in, I think I’d be OK with the decision – but I would also be OK if the referee felt it was worthy of a red card, citing the lack of a covering defender nearby, and also the fact that Maxime was likely to reach it ahead of Hafiz Ahmad, who was off his line, but not sufficiently off enough to get to the ball first. However, if enough people agree with that, then I’d make the case that this is a debatable decision, and the referee, who initially showed a yellow card to Fudhil, cannot be said to have made a clear and obvious error. Interestingly enough, this situation occurred to Sailors 2 years back against Albirex. It was from even further out, and the player said to have been denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity is legendary Japanese player Tadanari Lee, who by that point in his career was slower than a turtle. (Yes, I mean turtle, not tortoise because turtles are not supposed to be able to move on land, and that’s what I am comparing Tadanari Lee to). Am I bitter about the red card still? Yes. Similarly, in that game, I felt the red card was also a debatable decision, but having produced a yellow card, I wasn’t sure that it was a clear and obvious refereeing error not to give Anu a red card. You can read it again here – I really dive deep into IFAB’s guidance for Denial of Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity (DOGSO) situations. So, my conclusion is that the red card is OK to give, but having given a yellow first, I am not sure it crosses the threshold into clear and obvious error, and in that sense, it is harsh. I hope that Singaporean referees can have a show or tiktok or IG reel sometime, to talk about some refereeing points / guidelines when it comes to such situations? It may help to educate the public like me on how they reach certain decisions. In any case, it didn’t really affect the result I think, we were well on our way to victory anyway. We were 2-0 up and should have been 3-0 up right before, but Maxime refused to shoot on his right foot, having already scored one on that foot a few minutes earlier. Balestier managed to get away with that one, but barely 1 minute later, the red card incident happened. As stated, I think the only real effect on the game is that it made it much easier for us to conserve legs, as we controlled and saw out the rest of the game. Stoppage Time Speaking of “didn’t really affect the game” – I noted that the commentary talked about how it was surprising that only 2 min of stoppage time was indicated after the second half. It was also referenced in Raushan’s podcast (Sporting Minutes). Regular readers will remember that this is territory that we’ve covered. And guess what, it was the same referee! Click here to read. However, I think it was nowhere near as egregious this time. Against DPMM last season, they frequently dropped to the floor as they looked to see out the win. In my calculations in that article, I only counted stoppage time for injury stoppages, plus VAR checks. I did not count your “regular” stoppages like goal kicks, throw-ins, etc, where DPMM took their time too. Shockingly, the difference between what was indicated and what was given was a whopping 9 min. That’s 10% of your match. This time round, I did the same checks. 2 min of stoppage time was indicated, when the minimum should really have been 4 minutes, because of course there are your other “usual” stoppages as well. I must say I don’t quite get it. There was a long check for Kodai’s eventually disallowed goal. Surely the ref should be adding that time back on? This is even if I want to make excuses for the ref and say that since Lenny’s goal took a shorter time to check, maybe he chose not to add that time on. Added time serves the purpose of making our players more ready for games that last longer and are more intense. We don’t have to look so far back – Muangthong scored against us in the