March 2025

So, none of the crazy scenarios panned out. By winning, we ensured safe passage into the final 4 and the only thing that remains up for grabs is top spot when we play BG Pathum. It was a pretty low-key fixture both on and off the pitch. The Ultras Eagles are usually one of the loudest fan groups in the league especially in their home games, but for this game, they were strangely muted, possibly due to it being the month of Ramadan, and also because their side had already been knocked out. Let’s dive quickly now into some post-match thoughts. Perfect Hat-Trick from Lennart Thy First goal left foot, second goal header, third goal right foot. A perfect hat-trick. It’s Lenny’s 3rd hat-trick of the season, and that brings his goal tally up to 27 goals in 37 appearances across all competitions. A great tally by all accounts but we’ve addressed this before – while I’m convinced, some supporters are still not convinced. And perhaps the next stat will shed some light on that. 25 goals in 23 appearances in domestic competitions (SPL and SG Cup). There is a perception that he still can’t do it against higher-level opposition. I have some sympathy for him in that regard. I don’t think it’s as much him not being able to do it, it’s more that Shawal Anuar is having the season of his life, and fully deserves to start ahead of him for continental games when we usually only line up with one striker. Also, in the league he is already the 2nd top-scorer, but of course, nobody’s numbers look good compared to the top-scorer, Tomoyuki Doi, who has 43 goals in 28 games. Just ridiculous. Watching the full game though – I wonder if fans would really opt for Doi over Thy. Tomoyuki Doi may have an unreal shot on him, but he can be a very frustrating player to watch, and I suspect, a frustrating player to play with as well. He’s constantly looking to shoot rather than play in his teammates, and he demands the ball all the time, sulking when he doesn’t receive it. Also, he doesn’t really look that interested in doing his bit for the press as well. Just my opinion, but give me Lenny any day. Rasaq Looked Lively Abdul Rasaq has not had a good time of late. He’s found playing time hard to come by, and even when he sees some minutes, there isn’t the sharpness we saw in 2023 when he played. Here’s his stats for this season. And then you compare that to his form back then. It was a real waste and pity that he got a bad injury in that season, because he looked confident, strong, and he was banging in the goals. This season has been stop-start for him. While he didn’t score, he looked lively when he came on as a sub against Geylang. He could have done better with 2 shots, but when he broke down the left twice, he managed to find meaningful passes to register an assist, and also a pre-assist of sorts. In particular, his weak foot cross for Lennart Thy to head home from close range was a thing of beauty. Hopefully, he can build on this performance and do well against BG Pathum tomorrow as well. Zharfan Assured Last but not least, our keeper. Zharfan, like Rasaq, has found playing time hard to come by. However, when called upon on Thursday night, he did not put a foot wrong. He was assured when dealing with shots and caught them with ease. He was coming out to claim crosses. And he almost got to the penalty as well. Just a pity that he wasn’t able to keep a clean sheet as he deserved one. We spoke to Zharfan after the game, and he felt good about how he had played. He’s another one likely to play against BG Pathum tomorrow, so let’s hope he can keep it up and give Coach Ranko a selection dilemma. Conclusion Given that winning the SG Cup is definitely one of the objectives set before the season started, it is good that we have confirmed our entry into the knockout stages. Let’s see who claims top spot tomorrow in the group! COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE! Written by Eddy Hirono Picture credit – Lion City Sailors 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!

Coach Ranko named a surprisingly strong lineup, considering the midweek exertions against Sanfrecce Hiroshima a few days prior to our matchup against Balestier Khalsa. Even Akram Azman, who has impressed recently, couldn’t get into the starting lineup. In the end, it was a 4-1 win without Maxime Lestienne on the pitch — a result that has virtually sealed our passage into the semi-finals. Maybe that was the plan all along: win this game, so we can afford to rotate against Geylang and BG Pathum after the international break? Let’s dive right into this, and some other post-match thoughts. Virtually Through to the Next Stage We have not played Geylang International, and also BG Pathum United. Now here’s the thing, Geylang is already out of contention, and may not want to field a full-strength team against us, while BG Pathum has already qualified for the next stage, and more crucially, let’s take a look at their fixture list. Yup, they play us 1 day after a domestic league match against Uthai Thani, and three days before a huge Shopee Cup match against Buriram United. They’re gonna be sending their fringe and youth players for this one I’m sure. I also have it on good authority that the stadium caretaker and janitor are gonna be given some significant minutes as well to avoid any sort of injuries or fatigue for their key players. Then you take into account that the differentiator should teams finish level on points is goal difference, and that makes it even more unlikely for Balestier or Tanjong Pagar to catch us. We would have to lose both against BG Pathum and Geylang, and then when it comes to the TPUFC v Balestier game, there has to be a winner, and the winner of that game has to thrash the other team. So, to cut a long story short, we’re in a fantastic position. One point from our next two games will seal progress to the next round. Maybe this is why Coach Ranko decided to put out such a strong lineup. Was chatting with some fans in the stands though, and there was some talk about how they would like to see our fringe players get more opportunities. On one hand, some fans see it as preparing for matches where certain players get injured – something that may be of relevance considering Maxime’s injury. On the other hand, I think they also have the future of the national team at the back of their minds. They want to see our local boys like Rasaq and Nathan get gametime, especially in a game where they feel is of less importance or difficulty. Perhaps we will see them in the next couple of games? Profligacy in Front of Goal It seems strange to talk about profligacy when we won the game 4-1, but it could really have been a different story. Hafiz Ahmad did well in goal, but if you watched the full game, you’d feel the same nerves that the Sailors supporters did in the stands. Time after time, we made hard work of finishing the game off, with some bad decisions in front of goal, along with some inexplicably bad finishing. Nathan Mao and Abdul Rasaq were the fresh legs, but even they couldn’t put away the chances. And it almost cost us. Bart said so himself when we spoke to him post-match. With the score at 2-1, the game hung in the balance, and having already scored once, Kodai found himself on the end of two more good chances. Fortunately for us, he was unable to make the most of them, and we stayed in the lead long enough for Bart to score his 2nd goal in the 88th minute. That goal came from Bart surging through a vacant midfield to score from range. The nature of the goal was very alike to how we scored our first through Song Ui-Young. Balestier attack with a series of patient passes, but then loses the ball in our final third. We then break ruthlessly with pace, and score. In that sense, it brought back traumatic flashbacks of late-stage Wenger’s Arsenal, in how Arsenal would dominate possession, but then all that good work would be undone by a direct counter-attack from Man Utd/Chelsea/Man City. Good thing that we’re not the Arsenal in this case! And then of course, how ironic is it that having struggled to put the ball in from close range inside the box from far easier chances, that our 4th goal would come from long distance. Bart Ramselaar made all our previous misses look a little ridiculous by scoring with ease. Bart Ramselaar Hat-Trick Where else to end this, but on a very positive note. Bart Ramselaar has gone through this season being compared with Diego Lopes, and that’s natural, if not entirely fair. He is a direct replacement for Diego’s foreign slot in attacking midfield, even though stylistically he is very different. In the opening half of the season, my opinion is that he struggled to live up to expectation. However, now that he has adapted to local football, he seems to be really flourishing. He has 5 goals in the Singapore Cup alone, while in the league he has 8 goals. He also has 2 in the ACL2, taking his total to 15 goals. Double digits in goals in his first season? We’ll take that. It seems he’s living up to his nickname while he was at FC Utrecht – Boem-Boem Bartje. Each of his goals showcased a different part of his skillset. His first was a solo goal, where he basically weaved his way into the box and then curled the ball into the far corner beyond the keeper’s reach. His second showcased his pace while gliding through midfield, before unleashing a rocket of a shot. His third goal saw his set piece prowess on display. Especially in Maxime’s absence, it was important that Bart produced such a performance, and if we are

You’ve read the preview – I thought our Sailors would hang on and survive and just about squeak through to the semi-finals. But we did much more than that. Coach Ranko delivered on his promise, and the tactics were spot on. We didn’t just sit back and weather the storm, we forged forwards at times against the wind, with our sails proudly hoisted. Can we, without batting an eyelid say we definitely deserved progress? No, I think that would be a stretch. We were soundly beaten 6-1 in the first leg in Hiroshima. Valere Germain or not, I don’t think the result would have been much different, even if he did get one of the six goals. However, I think the circumstances being what they were, we did our best to prove to Singapore and the rest of Asia that we are at the same time not an imposter team that doesn’t belong in the final four. And that’s important – I discuss why, and more, in the post-match thoughts. Don’t Name Your Son or Daughter Germain First, let’s not escape the elephant in the room. We didn’t qualify for the semi-finals purely based on on-field merit – we progressed because the name of the elephant was Germain. Ryo or Valere? Both, I say. Valere Germain’s contribution was obvious: his introduction meant his club’s 6-1 win was transformed by AFC into a 0-3 loss, handing us a vital advantage ahead of the second leg. However, even then, you will see how apprehensive I was in the preview article. I wasn’t alone, some other fans also were very nervous, given the footballing lesson Sanfrecce Hiroshima delivered last week to us. And then Ryo Germain happened. Rendered ineffective in the first half, he must have been frustrated at the start of the second when he inexplicably swiped at Bailey twice, connecting with his face in the second swipe. Red card. He tried explaining to the ref that it was accidental, that the swipe wasn’t deliberate – like a man mass-swiping on Tinder without really looking closely at the pictures. But that excuse was never gonna fly. Off he went. With the score locked at 1-1, there may have been hope of Sanfrecce scoring 3 goals in the second half to take the tie to extra time. However, without their main striker, and playing with 10 men, it was gonna be impossible. Moral of the story? Germain is an unlucky name. But one thing that had nothing to do with luck? Coach Ranko’s decision to start with Lennart upfront. Excellent Tactics + Starring Performance Upfront from Lennart 5 at the back is something we’ve come to expect from our Sailors team, but there was one notable omission from the lineup which must have surprised even our opponents. Goalscoring hero from the first-leg 3-0 win (heh), Shawal Anuar, was not in the starting eleven. In his place, Lennart Thy. This proved to be a tactical masterstroke, not only because he scored, but because of his physical presence and hold-up play. Being 3-0 up, we didn’t really need a goal, but we knew that we couldn’t just defend the whole 90min – if you do that, Sanfrecce are bound to score. And so Lennart Thy was unleashed on our opponents as a defensive forward, a physical wrecking ball up front designed to disrupt and disturb. He set the tone right from the start – in the 2nd minute he chased down a long ball from Izwan and shoved a Sanfrecce defender to the floor. Lennart’s physical strength and aerial prowess came to the fore many times during the game, and one of those occasions led to our goal. From a goal kick, Izwan launched it onto the head of Lennart. Lennart got up into an aerial duel with his marker, and not only won the ball, but continued his run, seeing that his header had gone to Shawal. If you look closely, you can see that his defender is still smarting from the duel, and is clutching his face a little. Shawal chests the ball up to himself, and then pulls off a sepak takraw-style flick to Lennart. There’s still a lot to do at this point because Shawal’s pass is slightly behind Lennart given the pace he is running at. However, Lennart’s first touch from almost behind his body is a perfect one, flicking it into his stride where his next touch is a well-placed shot into the back of the net. Coach Ranko promised that we wouldn’t just park the bus, that we would defend well, but also pick the right moments to attack. His plan worked perfectly. Mentally, this moment must have really discouraged Sanfrecce. They were 4 goals down away from home. Lennart continued to impose his physicality on the Sanfrecce defence, and was almost rewarded further in the second half when he exerted just enough pressure on a Sanfrecce defender, forcing him to play a terrible back-pass to his keeper. Though he really should have scored. He tried to go around the keeper here, but he really should’ve gone keeper’s right if he really wanted to, given that there was a defender breathing down his neck. Or he should really just have shot from here. The keeper was coming out, and had hidden his arms behind his back for fear of giving away a handball foul. Any placed shot or chip would have been very hard to defend. But that’s not what I will remember from this game. When I think back to this game, I will remember his perfect first touch and how important the goal was. And I will also remember how a big-name foreign signing of a striker ran around like a man possessed to fight for every loose ball, and put his opponents under pressure. So often you will get a foreign player who is a bit of a primadonna – I am so glad that Lennart isn’t one. Hariss Harun Rolling Back the Years

There are two mysteries in life – who built the Stonehenge, and why the heck was Stjepan Plazonja the Man of the Match for the match on Sunday instead of Zaiful Nizam? Zaiful Nizam made save after save, while Stjepan Plazonja spent more time shouting “WHERE IS CARD?!?!?” to whoever would listen than playing actual football. Jokes aside, I do understand why the adjudicators probably felt he had a good game. He worked hard all night on the left flank to try and contain Akram Azman and Maxime Lestienne, while also almost scoring at the end. But come on, surely the Man of the Match had to be Zaiful Nizam. And on that note, let’s dive into some brief post-match thoughts cos I really cannot focus on this game with tomorrow’s huge game coming up. Zaiful Nizam the Real Man of the Match Goals shape narratives, goals shape perception. The talk post-match was about how solid Hougang’s defence was, on top of Zaiful’s stellar goalkeeping. However, if two of those seven shots he saved made it in, the talk may be about the goalscorers getting important goals while the team played badly. Football is funny like that. Header after header was saved by Zaiful – and it seemed like they increased in difficulty as the match went on. The best save was the one right before Ali Alrina’s disallowed goal. Shawal got a lot of power on the header from very close range, but Zaiful got down to the floor so quick, and stopped it from going in. He wasn’t the only one who did well in the Hougang backline – Tajeli put in a defensive masterclass against his former side. Jordan Vestering was tested throughout and had a lot of difficulty but I like that he never gave up. Even after he should have conceded a penalty for his tackle on Akram. Which brings me to … VAR Missed Something At 50:45, Akram gets cleared out in the box by Jordan Vestering. It all happens very quickly so I don’t blame the ref for not spotting it. But when you slow it right down – which the VAR can do, then you can just about see that Akram gets to the ball first, and then he gets kicked. In the grand scheme of things, this probably doesn’t matter much, and we should still have done enough ourselves to win the game and not have to rely on the referees, but you do wonder whether the VAR process can be improved. Perhaps they can do a show or something every month where they compile all the controversial decisions and then explain them? It might even help with educating the fans on what their process is. Max Played the Whole Game Not sure this was the plan – but I was surprised Max played the whole game. With the first half lineup being kinda strong, I think Coach Ranko’s plan was perhaps to win the game early and then bring on all the subs. I am not sure that was the best choice – the players looked a little like they were trying to conserve themselves or at least ensure they didn’t get hurt. There wasn’t the same intensity or the same appetite to get stuck into a challenge. And I am not sure I begrudge them for it – it’s totally understandable. The intensity only seemed to come when Hougang started kicking us around a bit and then I think personal pride took over. But of course, Zaiful did Zaiful things, and we’ve already covered that. Conclusion This is the shortest post-match article ever I think, and that’s cos really the mind is pre-occupied with tomorrow’s game. See you in the preview for that one! COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE! 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!

I may have been too optimistic in my preview. Oops. Sanfrecce were a class apart, and honestly, as much as we are Sailors fans, we are also fans of football. It hurt seeing goal after goal go in, but I think the 90 minutes shows just what standards we should be aspiring to. Japanese football wasn’t always this good, and even when the J-League was producing winning teams, it sometimes still relied on foreign firepower at the top – but nope not Sanfrecce on Wednesday night, it was an all-Japanese starting lineup, and they were so so good. It perhaps gives us hope that someday we can come close to something like this, provided the country does the right things. The other thing that warmed our hearts? THAT Shawal goal. What a moment it was. And with that happy thought, let’s dive into some of my post-match thoughts. Superior Fitness One thing we knew before kickoff, but repeatedly witnessed and saw the power of first-hand, was the superior athleticism and fitness of our Japanese opponents. It always seemed like they pressed our ball-handler with 2 players, and even when the ball was circulated well to evade the press, there would still be 2 people pressing the next guy – and the next – and the next. It was wave after wave of pressure, and it wouldn’t stop until they regained the ball. It was truly impressive. Look at this press for example. Ryo Germain forced Bailey onto his weaker left foot, while his teammate starts sprinting towards Toni Datkovic, to make that option a risky one. When Bailey turns backwards to try to look for Izwan, he is then dispossessed through some strong body pressure, and only a superb Izwan save plus an equally superb Hariss block prevented us going 2-0 down. Look at how aggressive this press is – where does Diogo Costa go? They literally man-marked all his potential options for a pass, while also applying pressure to him. 10 Reasons Why We Lost Big I realised that if I were to go in-depth and explain everything I observed, this article would last forever. Sanfrecce were simply brilliant. So let me just try to keep it a bit shorter and list out 10 reasons why we were so outclassed. Build-up to Sanfrecce’s 2nd Goal It starts here, where there doesn’t look to be too much trouble. There is a Sanfrecce player out of frame that orange-boots is passing to, but the spaces between the defenders looks decent – the back 5 is holding strong. This pass sets off a simple chain of events though. Pay attention to the guy circled in blue – you can already see he is starting to sprint. And now you can see what is doing. This is a textbook third man run. Diogo is attracted to the pass and the blue guy has burst into the large space between Toni and Diogo. Toni tries to close him down, and you’ll see what happens next. Toni closes him down well, but look when he plays the cross and where Ryo Germain is. Ryo still doesn’t really look like a threat because the cross in must be perfect. It must first evade Toni’s block, it cannot be too close to the keeper. It cannot be too weak because Bailey will cut it out, and it cannot be too powerful because Ryo Germain has to make up some ground to get to the cross. Well, you know what happened. It’s a beautiful goal, and sometimes, as much as we hate it, we have to applaud a good goal. Our opponents were much better than us on the day, and this goal showed it. Also, on a random note. Why did Valere Germain put up “6” when he had scored the 5th goal? Is he a time-traveller who knew they were gonna get 6 goals? Was he indicating that he had scored the 6th goal of the game? Is he saying the 2nd leg will end 3-3? Answers on the back of a postcard please, thanks! Conclusion I have an Italian friend who recently became a Sailors fan after watching a few games. He’s a Cagliari fan and he remarked that Sanfrecce was simply world-class. He also showed me this. Let that sink in. Opta Power Rankings somehow ranks a J-League team over a Serie A team. The current Sanfrecce Hiroshima is an ACL Elite team. They finished 2nd last season and will play in next year’s ACL Elite. They are favourites to win the tournament, and we saw first-hand why. BUT – we scored a brilliant goal against them. Shawal’s goal will stay with us for a long time. The confidence to chop back onto his right foot to completely bamboozle the covering defender, and then the calmness to curl it low into the far post, what a goal. That feeling all of us felt, whether you were at home watching, at the Mattar watch-party, or for those who travelled to Hiroshima – football gives you these moments for you to savour. For a few minutes, we were level with a Japanese powerhouse team. Not the ideal result in the end of course, and it will take some major miracle for us to come back, even if we will be playing at Jalan Besar. But hey, stranger things have happened! Maybe there will be 1 or 2 (or 3 or 4) early red cards for the Sanfrecce players in JBS? Maybe there will be a probe uncovering some illegal dealings within the club that gets them thrown out of the competition? Maybe they’ll field an ineligible player and a walkover will be declared? Maybe a UFO will appear over JBS and abduct all Japanese players on matchday? But let’s not dream that much. All we want to see is a good spirited Sailors performance next week. If we can keep it tight, and grind out a draw, I will be a super proud supporter.Let’s not