[Post-Match Thoughts] It’s The Hope That Kills You (Albirex 3 Sailors 1)

I should have seen it coming, I should have read the signs. Anyway (anywaaaay), I guess it’s over. The last time we played Albirex, we used a Westlife song in our reel to accompany footage of Hafiz Nor flying through the air to execute a brilliant off-the-line clearance, so I thought it was perhaps fitting that this time around, Westlife gets a mention again. If you didn’t spot the Westlife reference, it’s probably cos you’re too young. No matter. Head on down to Youtube and watch tons of Westlife music videos and thank me later.

When we scored in the 73rd minute, I genuinely thought we had done it and secured a much-needed win to really open up the title race. But what was I thinking? I have been brought up in the Arsenal school of raised expectations and I really should have guarded myself against having hope. It was a game where I thought we did pretty well in the first half, lost abit of control in the second half before we scored, and then we saw an amazing fightback from Albirex. Heartbreaking – I thought we might be able to cling on for a slightly unlikely victory. Before I share some thoughts with you, can I just say what a delight it was to witness a sold-out crowd in Jurong East Stadium? Fans from both sides were absolutely brilliant in creating a great atmosphere. What an advert for the league. Ok, on to my thoughts.

Hassan Sunny

First things first, the injury looked very bad and we hope he’s fine. For those not present at the game, you will be relieved to know that the crowd gave Hassan a very warm reception, and when he was injured, there was no booing or unpleasant remarks except for perhaps 1 or 2 unidentified black sheep in the crowd. Upon hearing these remarks, the Crew decided to respond in the best way possible, encouraging each other to chant louder so that we could drown out the noises of a negative few.

I think most football fans know that there is a line that should not be crossed. They sometimes shout “Diver!” at players who take a tumble, and boo as the player stays on the ground. However, in a matter of seconds, once it becomes clear that it is a real injury, and the player is receiving treatment, even the most hard-hearted opposition supporter will keep quiet and allow the treatment to proceed. I am pleased and relieved that Hassan could receive his treatment in peace.

We are pleased to update that when we spoke to Swan Army (Albirex fan club) members, they informed us that Hassan should be fine as he was discharged on the day itself.

The Blame Game

In the aftermath of the game, Lionel and Anu copped most of the flak for the late defeat. Fingers were pointed at them for the first two goals conceded, and I think it’s a little harsh. Could they have done better? Yes. But could Hariss have perhaps done better to shuffle over to make a tackle / block instead of holding off to prevent a cutback across goal since Mamat was already covering that option? Perhaps. Could Zharfan have come out of goal faster and just dived at Yokoyama’s feet, or closed the angle better? Yes, perhaps. Could Coach Ranko also be at fault for switching to 5 at the back after we took the lead? This meant that Diego and Hami were tasked to protect the space in front of the 3 centre-backs, not a task they are particularly suited for. Yes, perhaps Coach Ranko was at fault too.

If you’re wondering what the point I am making is, the point is that hindsight is 20/20. When Lionel stepped out to make the challenge, more often than not he will win the ball or give away a foul given his physical defending style. This time Kunori did well (with a bit of luck) to hold on to the ball and divert it into the path of Yokoyama. If you ask Kunori himself whether he thought his little flick of the boot would work so well, he’ll probably chuckle and tell you “No”. It worked because Anu moved across just a little bit for the ball to squirt through to him. For a goal to happen, lots of little things have to go right for the scoring team, and the team that conceded can always find something that can be done better. And with the benefit of hindsight, some of these little decisions always look worse than they do in real time.

I think instead of blaming individuals, we should instead give credit to Albirex for what they did. If you look at how they played in the entirety of the second half, and how they responded after going behind, I think immense credit should be given to them. Let’s put it this way – when the Sailors overcame a 2-0 deficit at Bishan Stadium earlier this season against Albirex, did we credit it more to our own efforts, or did we pick out Albirex’s mistakes leading up to those goals? Yup. Exactly.

Look at the above screencap. It’s the 79th minute, and yet they have so much confidence to take the game to us. I have highlighted in pink five Albirex players, while there is another one to the right that is not captured, hence I used a pink arrow to indicate where he is. Lesser teams might think – what if we lose the ball here? We would have committed 6 people into the penalty area or around it, and there are only 3 outfielders left to defend it. But not Albirex. They pushed up, knowing that it was essential that their right-back stays all the way wide, so as to force LCS to spread out their defenders. If the right-back didn’t make such a deep run, then Nur Adam would be able to tuck in, and correspondingly, Anu would also be able to stay closer to the middle. The gaps would not appear so readily and maybe it would have been easier to defend.

For the second goal, you have got to give credit to Riku, whose turn of pace deceived Mamat a little, and then the perfect little cutback found Seia Kunori again whose goalbound effort was turned into goal by Tadanari Lee with a clever touch. Can we assign any blame here? Maybe you can blame the midfield for not tracking back into the box to defend a cutback to the penalty spot. Maybe you can blame Mamat for being beaten. Maybe you can blame Lionel/Hariss for not stepping up to defend the cutback. However, everything happened in a flash, and once again, I am choosing to just give credit to Albirex for believing in themselves, and for scoring a good goal. It was pretty telling that after the equaliser, they decided to run back to the centre circle with the ball, pushing for the winner. All they needed was a draw from this game.

Can we also blame Abdul Rasaq for missing in front of goal? The score was 2-1 only, and had he scored, it would have been 2-2. Why don’t we blame Maxime for not scoring or assisting for the second match in a row? The possibilities are endless.

Football is a team game, and we win or lose together, supporters included. Let me also clarify that I think it is good that we all have our opinions on whether this player or that player was at fault for a goal. Football is also a game of many differing opinions and the beauty of it is that oftentimes there is no right or wrong answer. But I think what really drove me to write this section of the post-match thoughts is seeing the many vile comments online – directed at individual players. In fact, some of these commenters even tagged the players in their comments. My suggestion is simple – whatever you comment online, you must also dare to say to the player face to face. So if you wanna tell Lionel that he should “go retire better”, then please say it to his face, don’t hide behind Internet anonymity to say what you want to say.

In fact, this applies to everything, not just football. In the wake of the double alleged affair scandals rocking the nation, there have been tons of vile comments on the parties and the people involved. These people love taking a pot-shot but would not dare to say any of these hurtful and insensitive comments in person, or even show their face in their profiles. It is cowardly behaviour.

Look, I get that you are upset that the Sailors lost, but it is important to realise that these results hurt the players just as much, or even more. Let’s not pile on the misery, let’s strive to comment responsibly, and if there is any criticism of the team, let’s keep it respectful.

Richairo Zivkovic

Flowers for this man. I thought he was very good throughout the game.

Richairo looked a completely different player compared to just a few days ago. He was lively throughout the game, and he has shown glimpses of how he is gonna be super difficult to defend for SPL teams. While he is primarily right-footed, he is no slouch on his left either, and he showed that twice, when he drove to the byline and put in decent crosses, which had to be very well dealt with by the Albirex defence.

His disallowed goal in the first half was a thing of beauty. Even though the ball wouldn’t settle nicely into his stride, he continued running at pace, and at one moment, even used his thigh to keep it going without losing momentum. When it came to the finish, he waited for Hassan to go down, and then used the ground to bounce the ball over the stranded keeper. Excellent composure, excellent technique – pity he was offside.

His penalty was also another example of his composure. Having seen his teammate Maxime miss in the previous game, and having had to wait super-long for a VAR check to be complete, he kept his calm and tucked the penalty away with aplomb.

The moment in the first half which led to Hassan Sunny getting injured was also another moment where Zivkovic shone. Picking the ball up on the left, he made the Albirex defenders look stupid as he cut into the box and laid it off for Maxime. Admittedly, Maxime’s finish could have been better, but on another day, that would have gone in, and we’d be talking about that assist for days to come.

Zharfan Rohaizad

In the first half, Seia Kunori got a half-volley on target and it was caught so sweetly. Sailors fans thought it was definitely going in because it was headed for the bottom corner. However, Zharfan did so well to fully extend himself and get his top hand to it to push it away. Amazing save.

Other than this moment, he also looked assured in dealing with other saves and crosses, while also excelling in the 1v1 with Tadanari Lee.

In a day of few positives, Zharfan shone and as a result, he is back on top of the list of keepers with most saves in the league (lol). Regular readers will know by now this is a recurring joke I like to refer to – because if the keeper has to make the most saves in the league, that’s not a ringing endorsement for how the rest of the team is protecting the keeper.

Referee

Last but not least – the referee. I thought Andrea Verolino was stellar in his officiating of this game. In a titanic clash of title rivals, he did not have to resort to yellow or red cards to control the flow of the game. When there was a VAR check, the VAR advised him to go to the monitor – usually when this happens, statistics show that the referee will change his mind. However he remained firm and stuck to his initial decision which was the correct one.

I’ve seen some arguments about how it was “ball-to-hand” or that it was a clearance or that the Albirex player could not get out of the way. I would disagree with these arguments because I think the rules are clear in that if your hands are in an unnatural position and it enlarges your silhouette, then it’s a handball. Bad luck, lack of intention, etc, don’t factor into the equation.

An excellent display by the referee, despite the result. We hope to see more of such controlled, confident refereeing.

Conclusion

We are definitely out of the title race, so it’s congratulations Albirex! Well worthy of being champions, unless they slip up catastrophically and allow Tampines back in somehow. Ultimately, it is dropping points so regularly against minnows of the league that will hurt more than losing to Albirex. Had we picked up 3 points on those occasions, we’d still be in the fight.

For now, we can only concentrate on trying to win all our remaining games to pick up some momentum so that we can put up a good showing in the Champions League. COME ON YOU SAILORS, let’s show some effin’ pride.

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!