May 2025 – SailorFanTalk

[Preview] Sailors v DPMM (The Crowd-Sourced Preview Article)

Leave a Comment / Match Previews / Eddy Hirono

So this one’s a little special. The first-ever crowd-sourced SFT preview article. I wrote in the Telegram chat that there wouldn’t be a preview article for tonight’s game because I was super tired and busy in the past few days. Jordan from the chat suggested a crowd-sourced version where fans would chime in with a line or two each, and we’d then send it to ChatGPT for it to try and summarise and yet retain the SFT flavour. So, this whole article is written by the fans, not me. Enjoy. Or direct all refund requests to them. ——————————————————————————– Will DPMM Go Out with a Big Bang, or a Whimper? The first leg saw the Sailors secure a slim 1-goal lead, thanks to goals from Maxime Lestienne, Toni Datkovic, and Bailey Wright. Here comes the big question: will DPMM go out with a big bang? Or a whimper? DPMM might want to end their time in the SPL on a high, and they have the tools to do so. Soaking and striking might be something the Brunei squad might do, even though it would come across as cynical. Lapses in concentration may also be costly considering how finely the game is poised. After ending the SPL season with a 9-match unbeaten run (7 wins, 2 draws), DPMM will be in a confident mood as they approach possibly their last game on Singaporean soil. Lion City Sailors will go All The Way! Eh Oh Eh Oh~ I hope LCS can send off DPMM. Ktksbye. DPMM dangermen Davis Ikaunieks and Miguel Oliveira will be looking to add to their goal tallies before they fuck off to Malaysia. One thing’s for sure: DPMM are guaranteed to waste time the moment they score a goal. Defending the Singapore Cup Is the true measure of a champion being able to defend a title? This will be the first time the Sailors will be able to successfully defend a title if the Cup is won. It is easy to win it once but difficult to defend it the year after. The key to defending our title is, appropriately enough, our defence. On the other side of the bracket, the 2 BG teams will be battling for 2nd place. Pray we do not play like Manchester United. DPMM say goodbye to Singapore league systems tonight. Let’s play our game and bring the “best” farewell for our opponents. Predictions of starting lineups tonight: Zharfan Rohaizad Akram Azman, Mamat, Bailey, Datkovic, Carmona Rui Pires, Hami Syahin Lestienne, Shawal, Lennart Thy 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 5 DPMM 0 Joseph’s prediction: Sailors 3 DPMM 0 Written by the fans 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!

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[Post-Match Thoughts] Zharfan Saves the Day (BG Tampines 0 Sailors Reserves 0)

Leave a Comment / Post-Match Thoughts / Eddy Hirono

BG Tampines should have won this game, and yet I think there is much we can be happy about as we concluded a gruelling SPL season with a goalless draw. Let’s dive into some quick post-match thoughts. Sailors Field Unfamiliar Lineup Of the 11 players that started against Sharjah FC, only 2 players remained in the starting lineup against BG Tampines – Hariss Harun and Lennart Thy. Sailors fans feared the worst. Individually of course, we know the Sailors reserve players are no pushovers. But would a mish-mash side featuring a first start for 17 year-old Joshua Little be enough to deal with a BG Tampine side that has played some good football this year? It turns out the answer was both “yes” and “no”. Yes, because we ground out the 0-0 despite resting the whole team for the Singapore Cup semi-final 2nd leg, but “no” because on another day, we’d definitely have lost this game. We’ll talk about the missed chances for BG Tampines later, but perhaps it wasn’t so surprising that our Sailors gave up higher-quality chances than normal in this game. We had Carmona playing left centre-back, Mamat playing right centre-back. These are positions they have not played before. Hafiz Nor, Anu, Abdul Rasaq, and Obren Kljajic were given rare starts. These are players with little gametime under their belts and little chemistry with each other. Then – the youngsters. We had Josh Little anchoring midfield in his first start. We had Henry Spence, Enrico Walmrath, and Andy Reefqy come on in the second half, with Henry Spence in particular impressing. While we could and perhaps should have lost, did we expect anything different after seeing the lineup? Some of us saw a loss coming, so kudos for the spirit shown by our players. BG Tampines Created the Better Chances This may be a little misleading. If we go by these stats, it looks fairly even, with BG possibly just edging us out on some stats, However, these stats don’t tell the full story. BG Tampines had 2 (rightly) disallowed goals for offside, 2 sitters for Arya Igami that he would bury on another day, and of course, this. Joel Chew’s shot on the edge of the six-yard box was somehow kept out by a sprawling reflex save from Zharfan. Noone could believe it, including Shah Shahiran, who had already begun celebrating. Not only did Zharfan keep it out, he parried it away to safety and the chance was gone. This save, coming so soon after their disallowed goal, would have drained whatever confidence they still had of finding a late winner. In response, we had a few chances of our own, and none closer than this. From this angle, it does look like CvH’s shot went in. However, I accept that VAR doesn’t have an angle that clearly shows it’s in. Had we taken the lead despite all of BG Tampines’s huffing and puffing, it would have been hilarious. Though maybe not as hilarious as BG Tampines fans running in the direction of Sailors fans pointing middle fingers and shouting profanities after they scored a goal in the dying stages of the game, only for it to be ruled offside. Zharfan Rohaizad – Character It isn’t easy being a substitute goalkeeper. Unlike outfielders, you don’t get the chance to come on for 5-10min cameos near the end of games. You’re either starting goalkeeper, or you’re not. Of course, some coaches designate a starting league goalkeeper, and a starting cup goalkeeper. It is somewhat the case for Zharfan and Izwan, with Zharfan being given the Singapore Cup games, and Izwan being given the SPL games. It wasn’t always this way – and you don’t even need a long memory to remember that. Earlier this season, we got pummelled 5-0 by BG Tampines. Zharfan made a huge blunder in that game, allowing Glenn Kweh to score. He paid the price for that, as he was dropped for the next game, and since then, has been the 2nd choice keeper. So it’s perhaps poetic somewhat that he would start against BG Tampines and finish the game as Man of the Match. THAT save aside, he made some other saves as well, recovering from an early misplaced pass to be truly commanding in goal. It is all the more commendable given that by his own admission, he didn’t have his best game against DPMM in the 1st leg of the Singapore Cup semis. One of the goals scored by DPMM was directly due to him not handling a long shot well, I don’t know what the future holds for Zharfan, given that he would walk into most other clubs in Singapore and get to play automatically in the first team, but I hope that he continues with us so that we have two keepers of a sufficient standard to help us achieve our objectives of dominating locally and punching above our weight continentally. Conclusion An encouraging result even if it was quite meaningless for our league standings. Perhaps this will give us a little bit of a mental edge if we meet BG Tampines in the Singapore Cup final – provided both teams make it. We avoided defeat, rested our big guns, and with this result the BG Tampines fans have nothing to celebrate. And that brings us joy. Bring on DPMM in the 2nd leg of the SG Cup semis next! Written by Eddy Hirono Photo 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!

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[Preview] DPMM v Lion City Sailors (Back to the Bread and Butter)

Leave a Comment / Match Previews / Eddy Hirono

After the high of contesting the ACL2 Final on Sunday night, things return very much to our bread and butter tonight. We face off against DPMM, who have been on a good run of form. Here’s a short preview of tonight’s game and why it won’t be easy. DPMM in Great Form DPMM suffered a bit of a mid-season wobble, but after striker Davis Ikaunieks settled in, they seem to be firing on all cylinders again. Just look at that. That’s mighty impressive – 5 wins on the trot. If you look further back, in the last 10 games, they’ve lost only once, and drawn twice. In that run, they have scored 21 goals and conceded 14. Much of it has to do with Davis Ikaunieks coming alive – he has scored 9 goals in his last 5 games. That takes his league tally to 12 goals, and you can see that most of his goals come from inside the box. We will have to limit the supply to the Latvian forward if we are to keep a clean sheet. Miguel Oliveira – Dangerman Of course, the prime dangerman will be Miguel Oliveira. In the league he has 9 goals and 7 assists, and he has been involved in 31.4% of all goals scored by DPMM – a very high figure. For comparison, Maxime is at 37.5% and Bart is at 19.8%. Part of the reason for him being so difficult for defenders to handle is his effectiveness at using both feet. There is an almost even spread of goals from his left and right foot respectively, while there is added difficulty in marking him when you look at where his goals are struck from. He is a threat from both inside and outside the box, and again, we have to stop the ball from going to him if we are going to prosper. Complacency? There is a chance that we supporters might think this will be an easy game, considering how good we were against Sharjah. DPMM being low down the SPL table will add to that feeling too. And if we feel it, the players might also feel it. Complacency might creep in. Then there’s the separate issue of whether the players can get over the heartbreak of Sunday night. There will be a sense that the whole season’s work culminated in that one showpiece final against Sharjah FC, and everything was left out there on the pitch that night. However, Coach Ranko will have to refocus their minds on the Singapore Cup, considering that this was probably one of the non-negotiables set at the start of the season, while the ACL2 was a bonus. Can the players psyche themselves up for a game of much smaller stature? Let’s hope so. Conclusion The good thing about this match coming so soon after Sunday’s final is that there is little time to dwell. The players will want to bounce right back with a win and continue on track to achieve the goals set for them at the start of the season. I expect there to be some, but not a lot of rotation, and I hope our Sailors send a statement to the remaining contenders by winning convincingly – but it won’t be easy. COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE! My predicted line-up Zharfan Rohaizad Akram Azman, Lionel Tan, Bailey Wright, Toni Datkovic, Diogo Costa Rui Pires, Song Ui-Young Maxime Lestienne, Shawal Anuar, 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! Eddy’s prediction: DPMM 1 Sailors 3 Joseph’s prediction: DPMM 2 Sailors 6 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!

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[Post-Match Thoughts] Proud (Sailors 1 Sharjah FC 2)

Leave a Comment / Post-Match Thoughts / Eddy Hirono

I’ve taken a couple of days to rewatch the game – twice. I’ve also taken a couple of days to process not just the final, but the build-up to it, and of course, our amazing journey to even get to this stage. Needless to say, even if it didn’t feel like it at the final whistle, or even now, there was way more to celebrate rather than to cry about. Way more positives than negatives. My post-match interview focused a lot on how lacking Sharjah FC was in sportsmanship, but I promise that for this article, which I hope to come back to in years to come, I will devote only a small section to them, because they are irrelevant and unimportant. We should be proud of what we achieved, on and off the field. Let’s dive right into it. Sh**jah and Their Supposed Superiority The way Sh**jah acted in the build-up to the game, you might have thought that they were a world-class team – the way they demanded for a change of venue, the way their coach was completely ungrateful for all the improvements made to Bishan Stadium. They spoke about “maximum standards” and about how Jalan Besar Stadium wasn’t worthy of hosting a final. Of course, we knew that was just bullshit. They were just afraid of losing on astroturf. And while we expected a game where Sh**jah would try their best to blow us away, what we got was very different. Sh**jah FC did not look like a team that was better than us. If there was one aspect they were better than us at, it was gamesmanship. And so at first when I drafted this article, I went into detail, talking about each incident of bad sportsmanship, talking about how time-wasting when leading may be part of the game, but dropping to feign injuries at 0-0 to halt a counter-attack was definitely a lot more sinister, and a lot more shameful. Especially when you consider the teams’ relative rankings on the world stage. But I realised the article would be way too long – so here goes, I summarised all my thoughts into a poem. An Ode to Sh**jah FC You tried to move the match away,Said Jalan Besar’s not okay.“No astroturf, we want real grass,It’s more comfortable when we dive en masse”. The upgrades came — still you complained,“Not a proper ground,” your coach maintained.Then came matchday, the crowd roared loud,Our Sailors took to the field to do us proud. Your team came with all the reputation,But left us all in pure exasperation.Sailors in a final, that will go down in history,Sharjah? When your players next go down is the only mystery. You held your legs and clutched your knees,A masterclass in cheap theatrics, please.A shove? A scream. A puff? Collapse!Your playbook full of cunning traps. So congratulations Sh**jah, you’ve won the cup,For now I guess I’ll shut the fuck up.But if we ever meet again,It will be you, not us, that feels the pain. An Even Battle Now that we’ve dealt with those irrelevant imbeciles, let’s talk about the match itself. Unexpectedly, it was rather even. I thought that our Sailors would have to be forced into a low block and defend for their lives for the majority of the match, but it wasn’t the case. Just look at the stats at half-time, and at full-time. The stats reflected what we saw – an even game that could have gone either way. Diogo Costa hit the post, Bart and Diogo had efforts cleared right in front of goal, Bart himself missed a glorious chance on his left foot when put through by Song. On their end, they will point to chances for Ousmane Camara from a corner, and a freekick that Izwan did excellently to save to prevent the score from becoming 2-0. Remember of course, that Sharjah came into this as major favourites. The Opta Power Rankings may not be definitive, but it serves as a good guide for the teams’ relative quality. Transfermarkt also lists Sharjah’s team as having 7 times the market value as us. By all measures, we were huge underdogs coming into this. But it sure didn’t seem that way, for more than an hour. You can tell, just from the faces of the Sharjah fans. They were boisterous at kick-off and in the first half, but they grew increasingly frustrated and subdued. I think why there’s such a huge sadness is because of how close we came to winning the ultimate prize. It would have been an amazing way to cap off an amazing ACL2 campaign, and an amazing night. It sounds weird to say this, but had we just fallen to a routine 2-0 loss to a much better team, we could not say that our Sailors didn’t do well this year, but it might not have been as sad. Somehow, the fact that they did so well makes us even more sad. I believe given enough time, these feelings of sadness will fade and be replaced with intense pride in what the team has achieved. The Crowd We Singaporeans can be a very passive crowd sometimes. But given the right circumstances, given the right impetus and people that they believe in, the crowd can be very very boisterous. Just ask any K-Pop stars, or the political parties that held their rallies recently. And so it was no different at Bishan Stadium on Sunday night. On an evening where there was unrelenting rain, and supporters had to sit through a constant drizzle, the crowd still showed up in numbers, and made themselves heard. It is not easy sometimes to make a huge noise when a stadium is open-air, as the sound isn’t contained, but when Maxime hit his equaliser, what a roar that brought! There were flying limbs all around the stadium, people falling over themselves to hold each other in a tight embrace, people fist-pumping so hard you’d think they struck the lottery and

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[Preview] Lion City Sailors v Sharjah FC (They’ll Remember Who We Are)

Leave a Comment / Match Previews / Eddy Hirono

Make no mistake about it – despite home advantage, and our Sailors’ fairy-tale run to the final, Sharjah FC enters the final still as favourites. However, this represents an unprecedented opportunity for our Sailors to make history (again), and in this preview, I’ll tell you why I think it might happen (be warned, it’s a long read). But first, the lowdown on our opponents from Joseph Chin, once again. The Lowdown on Sharjah FC by Joseph Chin Origin Sharjah was founded as al-Oruba Club in the Emirate of Sharjah back in 1966, predating the modern country we known as the United Arab Emirates (it was known back then as the Trucial States, built upon a complex relationship between the seven component Emirates and a rapidly decolonizing Britain that led to its independence in 1971). As the first official champions of the newly formed UAE League in 1974, their subsequent merger of the Khaleej club within the district and its consolidation as the main club in its Emirate saw them reign four more times as champions and provide 8 players in the UAE’s sole appearance at the World Cup in 1990. Their high point was the 1991 victory in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) Champions League, reigning supreme in a tournament amongst Arab clubs. Its modern history was marked by their first ever relegation in 2012, a wake-up call that was heeded as they finally started challenging for honours again towards the current decade, with 2 Presidents Cups and a 2019 league win. Famous Signings Miralem Pjanic: The first brand name signing in the modern era for the club, the former Juventus winger did play a part in winning silverware for the club, kickstarting its current upwardly mobile phase. Timur Kapadze: Well known to keen watchers of Asian football, the Uzbek centurion briefly appeared for Sharjah before finally retiring in the Uzbek league. Man In the Hot Seat Cosmin Olaroiu will leave Sharjah after this season, his achievements having secured the job of the head coach of the UAE National Team, just in time for the June World Cup qualifiers. As a player, The former centre-back does enjoy a more glowing reputation across Asia than in his home country of Romania, having served Suwon Bluewings with distinction as a two time K-League winner (in 1998 and 1999). As a manager, Olaroiu’s two stints with Bucharest giants National (where he was also a player) and Steaua in the volatile Romanian League prepared him for appointments as varied as Al Hilal, Al Sadd, the Saudi National Team and the defunct CSL champions Jiangsu Suning, places where impatience is the only constant. Even though he won Steaua Bucharest it is in the Middle East (Qatar and UAE) where his coaching abilities are best appreciated, having maintained a streak of winning silverware at each of his club stints since Steaua. Highlights include his serial league winners Al Ain and the 2014 treble of Shabab al Ahli that was the catalyst for its AFC Champions League final appearance in 2015. He is a serial winner – let’s make sure he doesn’t add to his count on Sunday. Dangermen Adel Taarabt: Having revived his career with Al Nasr in Dubai after a roller coaster European career that saw great success at QPR and Benfica, as well as abject failure at Tottenham and Milan, the Moroccan international brings big game experience to the team as one of their marquee players with European experience. Not as dangerous as Caio, but still a very good player on his day. Cho Yu-min: A familiar face to seven of our Lions, having featured in the June 2024 WCQ where we lost 7-0 to star studded South Korea, Hariss, Song and Co will be looking to avenge that defeat on the grandest of stages. Appearing in the 2022 World Cup with South Korea, the former Daejeon centre-back is now a regular starter for both club and country. One of the many former K-League stars now plying their trade in Arabia, away from the domestic press corps that seem to be more interested in his famous Kpop idol singer wife. Caio, Luanzinho, Marcus Meloni and Guilherme Biro: Collectively, these Brazilians represent the single biggest threat in midfield. The first three are now naturalized Emiratis playing a role in the UAE NT after satisfying FIFA residency rules, and it is likely that age-group international Biro will eventually look to follow suit once his loan move from Corinthians is made permanent. Caio is the pick of the bunch – he is their top-scorer and has 19 goals from 35 games, including 5 in the ACL2. He has also racked up 8 assists. Tyrone Conraad: while the former Feyenoord youth product hasn’t had the best of senior careers, the Suriname international’s time at the Eerste Divisie might provide solutions to counter the distinctly Dutch flavour of our football, especially as a viable wildcard option in attack from the bench. Leon Dajaku: Not a dangerman so far, but just an interesting thing to note. Leon was Bailey Wright’s team mate in Sunderland (2021-2023) and would probably want to prove a point against his former captain. Sharjah’s most recent signing to replace Paco Alcacer might be the secret weapon to turn things around late on. The former Bayern Munich reserve winger has been used sparingly from the bench since coming in from Croatia, but has experience in the Bundesliga with Union Berlin and in European competition with Hajduk Split. The Pitch Saga Thank you to Joseph for weighing in as he always does. It’s been such a joy reading his lowdowns on this ACL2 run, and I hope we get to see more over the coming years! But now, back to me, and let’s bring our minds back to Sharjah moaning about our pitch. You’ll remember of course, that Sharjah FC was so scared of Jalan Besar Stadium, and the illustrious opponents that we’ve dispatched there, that they put out an open letter addressed to AFC, demanding that

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[Preview] Lion City Sailors v Balestier Khalsa (Can’t Quite Give a Damn About This One)

Leave a Comment / Match Previews / Eddy Hirono

This is gonna be the shortest preview ever. Motivation to Win This Game Both Coach Ranko and Lionel said the right things in the build-up to this game. Lionel said on the official preview for the club website that anyone who puts on the Sailors shirt must bring that “character and winning mentality to the pitch” and “whoever lines up on the day will give everything to finish strong and take home the three points“. When I spoke with Coach Ranko after we sealed the title, he said that he would still put out a strong lineup, they still want to win the game, set new records etc. But come on – surely, surely, there will be one eye, or if not, both eyes on this Sunday’s final? It doesn’t get much bigger than a continental final against West Asian opponents Sh**jah FC. I hope this is seen as an opportunity to let our fringe players play, let those who need minutes or match sharpness play, and perhaps let our fans witness the promise of some of the U21 players. Let’s wrap people up in cotton wool and keep them ready for the final. Bart and Song Song injured his head against Young Lions, and it was pretty good to see him back in the team last time out. That meant the injury wasn’t as serious as first thought. Bart is a worry though – he is easily one of our 3 most important players, if not the most important based on performances over the ACL2 campaign. When he wasn’t in the lineup for the Geylang game, I assumed he was being rested, but as discussed in the post-match thoughts article after the Tanjong Pagar game, two absences in a row does not bode well. Let’s hope he sees some minutes tomorrow night! Sh**jah FC Resting Players Our opponents played in the President’s Cup Final 4 days ago, and fielded ostensibly their strongest line-up. However, last night, they started only 4 of the 11 that started on Sunday night. And of the 4, 3 of them were subbed off at half-time. Coach Ranko, please please consider doing the same. Maybe if I ask enough times, we will manifest it. Crucially, top-scorer Caio was fully rested. That’s not good. We’ll want our guys as fresh as possible. Balestier’s Form Balestier Khalsa come into this game in pretty good form. In fact, prior to Sunday’s topsy-turvy defeat to DPMM, they had been unbeaten since the middle of March, when we beat them 4-1. Since then, they’ve registered impressive wins against Hougang, Young Lions, and of course, BG Tampines, in a match that all but handed us the title. They will look to get a point or 3 to consolidate their grip on 4th spot, even though 3rd is out of reach. Masahiro Sugita will feature, after his suspension was successfully appealed by Balestier. Conclusion I don’t really give a damn what happens in this game. I’ll be there for the trophy lift, but really, I hope that none of our players go down with any injuries. That’s all. COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE! (but if the chance to siam a tackle is there, pls siam it) My predicted line-up Zharfan Rohaizad Akram Azman, Lionel Tan, Ali Alrina, Toni Datkovic, Sergio Carmona Song Ui-Young, Anu Obren Kljajic, Abdul Rasaq, Hafiz Nor 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 Balestier Khalsa 2 Joseph’s prediction: Sailors 1 Balestier Khalsa 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!

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[Post-Match Thoughts] Sailors Do Just Enough to Secure The Title (Tanjong Pagar United 0 Sailors 1)

Leave a Comment / Post-Match Thoughts / Eddy Hirono

On a night when the goals didn’t flow as expected, our Sailors did just enough to secure our 2nd-ever league title. A stone-wall penalty earned by Maxime was converted with ease, and that brought to an end 4 years of waiting for the league title. There are some people who felt it was soft, and to them, I say, maybe go and watch more football and brush up on the rules of the game. Or maybe get an eye/brain transplant – easier. Let’s dive into some post-match thoughts. Credit to Tanjong Pagar For a team derided as “rubbish” a mere few days ago, the players responded in the right way, fighting hard to prove their coach wrong. While the score of 1-0 was slightly flattering for them given the number of chances the Sailors squandered, the Tanjong Pagar players must be given immense credit. The way they kept their shape, the way they got after the Sailors players in advanced positions, and yet ran back when their press was broken – amazing. Even when the goalie was finally beaten in the 2nd half, they got back on the line to clear Maxime’s effort. For a team that was already guaranteed to finish bottom of the table, that kind of intensity and determination was very good to watch. The gulf in quality is huge, and it is some feat to keep the Sailors to 1 goal. Worry about Bart As expected, Coach Ranko started a strong lineup from the beginning, as the intention was to not prolong the title race. Win at Jurong East Stadium, seal the title, and then plan accordingly for the big final on 18 May. However, a glaring absentee from the lineup was Bart Ramselaar. I know there’s the foreigners quota, but a 1-game absence I could put it down to rotation. When it’s 2 games in a row, and it’s 2 games with a strong lineup, then there is some worry that there may be an injury. He was present at Jurong East Stadium, watching the game, and he was walking without issue. However, he did have a little guard around his calf, so I do worry. Bart has been a key player for the Sailors since the turn of the year, and that was brought to the fore more after Maxime’s absence from the team. It’s as if he realised the playmaking burden fell on him now, and he took it upon himself to drive the team towards victory. I think a fit-and-firing Bart Ramselaar will be crucial to the way our Sailors line up against Sh**jah. Not only does Bart add the threat of goals and assists, his defensive industry will also be much needed against these very tough opponents. Let’s hope Coach Ranko is just being cautious, rather than it being a bad injury! Bond with the Fans There were some nice scenes at the end of the game, with the players cheering on with the fans, and Toni Datkovic even led the fans with a “COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE” chant. Some really nice scenes, which makes me very happy both for the team and the fans. It has been a marathon season, and it was kinda poetic that we won the league exactly 1 year after we kicked off the league season. Amazingly, we still have two more games to play in the league, on top of the Singapore Cup games, and of course, the 18 May date with Sh**jah FC. I think the numerous occasions where the players have seen the passion of the fans up close has strengthened the bond and it is nice to see the fans being appreciated for their tireless effort week in week out. I’ve seen up close and personal how certain members of the Crew meet up regularly to work on their drumming. I’ve seen how much effort and money the Crew puts in to remember players’ birthdays, buy cakes, write cards, buy gifts, etc. I’ve seen how much time and effort the logistics team puts in to ensure that on matchday, the flags are there, the drums are where they need to be, etc. I could go on and on, and I could also highlight how much effort the staff puts in to assist the Crew as well. It’s just amazing, and in a season where it looks like everything could be aligning for a dream end, I think it’s important to remember the process as well. Not just for the fans – but also for the players. Let’s remember the journey that everyone has come on thus far. Conclusion A low-key win to secure a very important title. With the resources at our disposal, the Sailors are always expected to win the title. However, with the multiple continental distractions (not just ACL2, but Shopee Cup as well), and progress in the Singapore Cup, our Sailors must be given immense credit for not taking our eye off the ball. Post-match, I spoke with Coach Ranko about the impact of the 5-0 loss to BG Tampines – I asked him if that defeat came at the right time. He agreed – saying that for a while this season it looked pretty comfortable for our Sailors, and we didn’t up our performances accordingly, but perhaps the 5-0 defeat shocked us into action, and we have since played far better. Now that the title has been secured, I really hope that Coach Ranko departs from his usual ways, and really rests everyone for the Balestier Khalsa game. I really don’t give a shit if we lose 8-0 or whatever – let’s see some of our U21 talent, let’s let some of our fringe players get a runout. The futures of some of our players don’t look promising, but we fans would still want to cheer them a final time. Could we see the likes of Anu and Mamat start, so that the fans can give them the applause they deserve for being great servants

[Post-Match Thoughts] Sailors Do Just Enough to Secure The Title (Tanjong Pagar United 0 Sailors 1) Read More »

[Preview] Tanjong Pagar United v Lion City Sailors (Chance to Win our 2nd League Title)

Leave a Comment / Match Previews / Eddy Hirono

Both teams come into this after what I would say is a negative result. For our Sailors, well you know, we gave up a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 to Geylang. For our opponents, well, they didn’t lose, and in the context of this season, a 1-1 draw against Young Lions isn’t that bad a result. However, after the game, TPU’s coach Noh Alam Shah went on camera to say that his team was “rubbish”. So – both teams head into this one on a bit of a downer. Let’s dive straight into the preview. Chance to Win the First of Three Major Trophies Amid the excitement surrounding our ACL2 run and all the controversy ignited by Sh**jah FC, I think the possibility of us achieving only our 2nd league title has sort of faded into semi-oblivion. But make no mistake about it – it is not just a big achievement, it is also a very important one. In the past 2 seasons, while the Sailors had a bigger budget than all the other teams, one reason (or some may say “excuse”) for the Sailors failing to win the title was simply that Albirex Niigata (S) had an unfair advantage, being able to field more foreigners than any other team in the league. Well, in the first season without that being a factor, we then became the overwhelming favourites to win the title. Make no mistake about it – I am pretty sure Coach Ranko would have been relieved of his duties had we not been on course to win the title. There were some early hiccups in the first part of the season, but after losses to BG Tampines and Albirex, we kept up a long unbeaten streak which was ended in our last game by Geylang. Along the way, BG Tampines lost their star striker Boris Kopitovic, and then inexplicably started losing / drawing random games. Our title never really looked in doubt, until recently when we picked up a couple of draws and a defeat. All eyes were on Jalan Besar Stadium on Wednesday, to see if Balestier Khalsa could do us a favour. And they did – led by heroic performances across the park, aided by the superb Kodai Tanaka, and in the later stages of the game, Abdil Qaiyyim. The result was made even sweeter by the fact that BG Tampines played with a man up after Shah Shahiran made the most of minimal contact to get his opponent sent off. Shah had initially sparked off the whole incident, mind, by leaving his foot in a challenge and tripping his opponent. Unfortunately, the referee only penalised the retaliation, and did not give Shah a deserved yellow card for the part he had to play in this. But enough of that rant – it was a great performance by Balestier Khalsa. So instead of heading into tomorrow’s game with a lot of pressure after seeing BG Tampines capitalise on our slip, we go into tomorrow’s game knowing that a win seals the title. A draw practically seals it, given our huge advantage on goal difference. But ideally, we get the win. And it will be a massive moment. Let’s hope there will be a big turnout tomorrow at Jurong East Stadium to celebrate our 2nd ever title. Tanjong Pagar’s Dreadful Form Tanjong Pagar have won only 2 of their 13 games in 2025. And this is already improved from their form in the first half of the season, and before they signed a keeper reinforcement in the shape of Matt Silva. In that time, they’ve also lost 4-1 to us twice, adding on to their 3-0 and 6-0 defeats to us earlier this season. I don’t think there’s any need to analyse this game further – they are in very poor form, and have just been criticised publicly by their coach. They will want to bounce back, but unfortunately, I think they caught us at the wrong time. We, too, will be itching to bounce back after the terrible play against Geylang. We also have the added incentive of making sure that we win so that the top players can be rested for Wednesday’s game against Balestier Khalsa. Conclusion Just win please. And let’s celebrate winning the title at the home of Albirex. We’ve had some painful memories in that stadium – let’s make a happy one tomorrow. COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE! My predicted line-up Izwan Mahbud Chris van Huizen, Hariss Harun, Bailey Wright, Toni Datkovic, Diogo Costa Hami Syahin, Rui Pires Maxime Lestienne, Shawal Anuar, 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! Eddy’s prediction: TPU 0 Sailors 5 Joseph’s prediction: TPU 0 Sailors 2 Written by Eddy Hirono Picture Credit – Singapore Premier League 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!

[Preview] Tanjong Pagar United v Lion City Sailors (Chance to Win our 2nd League Title) Read More »

[Post-Match Thoughts] First Defeat In 9 Months For Tired Sailors (Sailors 2 Geylang 3)

Leave a Comment / Post-Match Thoughts / Eddy Hirono

2-0 up and cruising – what happened after that? It was an uncharacteristically sloppy performance from our Sailors as we threw away 3 points to make the title race unnecessarily tense. In any other season, this wouldn’t seem like so much of a waste, as I think we should be able to win 2 out of our last 3 games (even if BG Tampines wins every remaining one of their matches). However, in a season where we have our sights set on securing the biggest trophy in our history (the ACL2), this slip has meant that we cannot now turn 100% of our focus to that competition. We must still bounce back and get the wins against Tanjong Pagar United, and Balestier Khalsa. We’ve made it unnecessarily difficult for ourselves. Let’s dive into some quick post-match thoughts. Tired Bodies, Tired Minds Sunday’s game was the 51st match of our campaign. Geylang International unsurprisingly looked a lot fresher, given the far fewer games because of a lack of continental competition for them, and the one extra day of rest. Coach Ranko mentioned in the post-match interview that the players seemed to lack intensity, and that’s where I felt we should have switched things up a little. I remember thinking in the second half, when both Hami and Rui were on yellow cards – could Anu not have come on and added some fresh legs in midfield? Or Lionel Tan in defence, so that Hariss could push up into midfield? In the build-up to Geylang’s winning goal, Rui Pires was clearly running on fumes – he couldn’t sprint anymore to try to put pressure on Vincent Bezecourt. I feel like had Anu been there, he would have been able and willing to chop Bezecourt down at the expense of a yellow card. Rui and Hami couldn’t do that. They weren’t just tired with a lot of minutes on them, they were also walking a disciplinary tightrope. One stray tackle would have seen them miss out on the next game, and that wouldn’t be great considering we are already thin on central midfield options after Song’s injury and Adam Swandi’s retirement. Chris van Huizen is also one who has played quite a bit of football recently, and I wonder why Akram Azman is seeing so little game time, especially when he looked promising in his first few games. We even have Mamat back from injury, so the options are there at rightback, without needing to run the same players into the ground all the time. I spoke with Bailey after the game, and he mentioned that players will always want to play, every single game, every single minute. And I guess that’s why I think Coach Ranko has to be the one to shuffle his pack. We’re also reaching the business end of the season so I think there is some benefit to keeping our fringe players match-fit and sharp as well – you never know when they might have to come in and fill a spot in very important games. The Positives Maxime with 2 glorious assists. A disguised reverse pass into the feet of Lennart Thy, and a trademark left-footed cross onto the head of Shawal Anuar, led to our first 2 goals. After a run of games where he didn’t register goal contributions, he got one last game, and now two. Logic dictates that he will get three goal contributions next game eh? Diogo Costa had yet another game where he really put on a show. He dazzled the crowd with his skill and footwork, and always looked dangerous down the left. The team kept trying, even when it looked like we were running out of ideas. That’s about it. Touchline Shenanigans If you watched the Bailey interview, you will also see that I asked him about Hasrin Jailani putting a second ball on the pitch when we were trying our best to take a quick free-kick. Bailey was philosophical about it – graciously stating that we would have done the same, and have done the same in the past. Erm, no we haven’t. And while I think players have definitely wasted time before, faking injury and all that, I don’t remember many coaches interfering with the game like that. And when they do, they get called out for it. So I’mma say what Bailey can’t say on camera. Hasrin, that was disgraceful and pretty unbecoming of a coach. Go see it for yourself. Hasrin rolled back the years to his playing days and backheeled the ball back onto the pitch to delay the restart. While that probably didn’t have any effect on the game, it is not the first time that Hasrin has been involved in some touchline trouble. You’ll remember his middle finger aimed at the Sailors bench the last time we played Geylang. He was also involved in some touchline drama, along with Coach Noh Alam Shah in a match against BG Tampines a couple of years ago when he was at Tanjong Pagar United. While I think Bailey was right to say that Geylang was just doing their job, I wonder if the officials should have taken a dimmer view of such conduct. Delaying the start of play by a team official is not only a bookable offence – you can actually be sent off for that. In this game, Geylang had already received 4 yellow cards, so if Hasrin had received a yellow too, Geylang would actually have been on the end of a monetary fine. Teams are always gonna wanna gain an advantage here and there. That’s to be expected – however our officials should also be able to deter such conduct by meting out the right punishments. Conclusion I know Bailey didn’t blame the lack of rotation, but I stand by my view. Coach Ranko himself admitted it when he said there was a lack of intensity. We have a deep squad and we should trust the quality of our reserves a

[Post-Match Thoughts] First Defeat In 9 Months For Tired Sailors (Sailors 2 Geylang 3) Read More »

[Preview] Lion City Sailors v Geylang International (Geylang Not at Their Sparkling Best)

Leave a Comment / Match Previews / Eddy Hirono

After Tampines recovered from an early setback to beat Hougang last night, our lead at the top of the table remains at 8 points. That leaves us needing to win two of our remaining four games to clinch the title. Tampines deserved their win, but Hougang, why oh why did you have to allow Taufik Suparno to score? Great goal by the way, great finish, but does the world really need to be subjected to a Taufik Suparno dancing celebration? There are not many things in the world worse than that – I’d say it’s even worse than being trapped in a lift with “Despacito” playing on loop. And “Despacito” is being sung by Samuel Lee. Anyway, on to the rest of the preview. Geylang’s Poor Form in 2025 In 2025, Geylang have played 12 games in all competitions, but only won 3 of them. They have drawn 2 and lost a whopping 7. That run has seen them completely out of the running in the league, not even able to push for 2nd place ahead of BG Tampines anymore. It has also seen them dumped out of the Singapore Cup. After what was a very promising first half of the season, it seems the wheels have come off a little. if they’re not careful, Balestier Khalsa in 4th place may even catch them, something that was unthinkable just a couple of months ago. Tomoyuki Doi is still banging in the goals – he is the league’s top scorer with 42 goals, along with a very healthy 9 assists to go with it. Lennart Thy, by comparison, has 27 goals in the league. Doi’s Golden Boot looks very safe, barring a freak run of games (and goals) for Lennart. As crazy as it is to say, Doi’s form has also tailed off. This, despite him scoring 5 goals in the last 6 games. Fans of the SPL will remember that in the first half of the season he was scoring hat-tricks every other game and definitely had more than a goal a game. It would seem harsh to label him as the problem though. The problems are elsewhere – Geylang’s small squad depth seems to have caught up with them, and they are not able to keep up the high-octane performances of the first half of the season. We are unbeaten against Geylang this season, with 2 draws and a win in the league, along with the most recent 3-1 win over them in the Singapore Cup. We should be confident coming into this one, seeing that we have almost a full squad available (besides Song’s injury which I assume will keep him out for at least a week even if it wasn’t super serious). Delightful Diogo Costa Ahead of tomorrow’s game, the club’s preview article focuses on Diogo Costa, our mid-season loan signing who has really passed all his tests with flying colours thus far in the short time that he has been here. Amazingly, the article highlights how Diogo Costa has already racked up 10 assists since joining us. That is very impressive. For comparison, in all competitions, Bart Ramselaar has 11 assists, Shawal Anuar has 15 assists, and Song Ui-Young has 4 assists. Maxime Lestienne has 27 assists – but he is Maxime after all. He talks about how he enjoys life in Singapore so far with his girlfriend, and how he would be happy to stay. I think his signing has been a transformative one and immediately added quality to our starting 11. Said it before, will say it again, Forrest, please sign him up! Conclusion A short look at tomorrow’s game, where a win would take us ever closer to the title. As has been mentioned for the past few articles already, really hope we get the next 2 wins so that we can deploy a shadow squad against Balestier Khalsa. Against a Geylang side that has really fallen off of late, we have every chance of continuing our winning streak. COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE! My predicted line-up Izwan Mahbud Akram Azman, Hariss Harun, Bailey Wright, Toni Datkovic, Diogo Costa Hami Syahin, Rui Pires Shawal Anuar, 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! Eddy’s prediction: Sailors 3 Geylang 0 Joseph’s prediction: Sailors 2 Geylang 0 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!

[Preview] Lion City Sailors v Geylang International (Geylang Not at Their Sparkling Best) Read More »