The thing that struck me most from this match is Maxime on two occasions very deliberately passing the ball back to his teammates for them to shoot and score. First, Song Ui-Young, and then Lennart Thy. On both occasions, Maxime could well have finished off the chance himself, but he decided to set up his teammate. It made me feel like something has shifted. Although Maxime has never been an unselfish player (he finished last season with 21 assists), these two very deliberate acts of service can’t help but make me feel he’s embraced his role as one of the leaders of the team – it was a Michael Jordan moment essentially. Let me dive into that and more in my post-match thoughts.
Maxime Lestienne x Michael Jordan
The year is 1989. Phil Jackson took over a Chicago Bulls team that was performing well, but had never won the Championship. The Chicago Bulls had the brightest star in all of basketball, Michael Jordan. He was the scoring leader of the league as well, but yet the Bulls didn’t win a championship. Teams like the Detroit Pistons came up with the “Jordan Rules”, which basically meant that they doubled up on him and beat the shit out of him.
When Phil Jackson arrived, he spoke with Jordan and told him that in order for the Bulls to win the Championship, he might have to sacrifice being top-scorer. Jackson would institute the “triangle”, which meant that the ball would move quickly between all players of the team, not just Jordan. The ball would be kept moving, so it would be more difficult for teams to just target Jordan. For this to happen, Jordan would have to trust his teammates, and also actively get them into play and involve them more.
We know how this ends. Michael Jordan does indeed score less, and his ball-handling percentages went down too, but he won 6 Championships with the Bulls. Jordan’s (and Jackson’s) time with the Chicago Bulls makes for a fascinating read, but for the sake of brevity, I shan’t elaborate more. Basically, the rest of his teammates get involved more and become legends in their own right.
The parallels are obvious. Maxime Lestienne is far and away the best player in the league, but he will feel that he hasn’t won enough titles. And I feel like something clicked in his mind after the humiliation of the Tampines game. He must have felt like for the duration of that game, he was on an island, alone and separated from the rest of his teammates.
Don’t take my word for it, look at how long he had to hold up the ball for Song to arrive on the scene, before he squared it to Song for him to finish. Look at how the angle was perfect for a left-footer to caress into the far post once Lennart Thy played the pass to Max. On both occasions, it made sense for Max to shoot. Even if he had missed, noone would have accused him of being selfish.
But that’s why I ascribe so much significance to these moments. Context is all-important as well. I will break each chance down and go deeper into the context.
Song Ui-Young
Song has not been on his best form this season – far from it. He is less assured in possession, and while he still runs around like a Tasmanian devil (the Looney Tunes one) causing havoc wherever he goes, it has been less effective than Home United fans will remember. He may be struggling with his injury a little still, it may be psychological, noone knows. But something is not quite right and the team would definitely benefit from a Song that is firing on all cylinders.
Song had one brilliant move in the game where he beat Kan Kobayashi to the ball, chested it down, shielded the ball aggressively, and then curled a brilliant through pass behind the defensive line with his weaker foot. This eventually led to a goal for Maxime when Shawal expertly set him up at the edge of the area, but there was no doubt that Song truly excelled here.
However, earlier in the game, Song missed an absolute sitter. It is surely an early contender for Miss of the Season. Chris van Huizen whipped a low cross into the corridor of uncertainty between the centreback and the goalkeeper, and Song was right there to take advantage in front of an open goal.
From the above position, he only managed to scuff it back towards the keeper. A shocking miss.
You add that to his ongoing struggles with his injury and form, and you begin to see why Maxime might have held on to the ball for so long to pass to Song. He knew the goal was the bare minimum that Song needed to not feel like absolute shit after the game. Song’s lack of a celebration after the goal is telling as well – he realised that he should have scored far earlier than that when the score was 1-0 and the game was still in the balance.
Lennart Thy
I have spoken about Thy’s struggles before. I have always maintained that Lennart Thy is a good player who will really elevate the team. Goals-wise he may be struggling now, but I think we will see his true value come the continental games when we go up against stronger opponents. That is where attributes like tenacity, grit, and sheer dog-like hard work will come to the fore.
But the fans are not the only ones who think that Lennart Thy should score more. Lennart himself thinks it, and his teammates think it too. When we spoke with Toni Datkovic post-match, it was interesting that he said that while Lennart has been playing well, all strikers are affected when they don’t get goals. He also said that’s probably why Maxime so unselfishly set him up for a goal – he wanted Lennart back on the scoresheet again so it wouldn’t mess with his mind so much.
Similar to Song, Lennart also passed up a very presentable chance to score in this game.
From this position, he whacked it straight at Aizil Yazid. The contact was good, the run was good, but the finish itself needed a bit more finesse, or luck. Had he gone goalless against Young Lions when the team is racking up a huge scoreline, you can imagine it wouldn’t be good for his confidence at well.
So, when Lennart instinctively and expertly set Maxime up in the box during a counter-attack, we all expected Maxime to curl it into the far post, as he always does. He had time, he had space, and we all know he had the technique. We all know what happened – he chose to pass it to Lennart, who calmly put it in. Maxime’s look of delight in the background is very telling as he pumped his fist to celebrate Lennart.
Maxime perhaps now realises that he is not just the best player in the team – he is a leader as well. And as a leader, he needs to bring out the best versions of all these players on the field with him. Long may this continue.
The Goalkeeping Change
Goalkeeping changes are always hotly debated. There are those who say, “oh he’s done nothing wrong to deserve being dropped“, and yet there are also those who say “even if the keeper makes an error, it’s a bad look to drop him for the next game, it will kill the keeper’s confidence“.
Did Zharfan make a horrendous error in the Tampines game? Yes, he did. Did the rest of the team play horrendously too? Yes, they did. Coach Ranko will point to the fact that he made 5 changes to say that this wasn’t personal – he just wanted to shake things up. However, to me this had shades of the Arsenal goalkeeping situation between Bernd Leno and Aaron Ramsdale back in 2021. Bernd Leno started the first 3 Premier League games that season, but when Arsenal got whacked 5-0 by Manchester City, Aaron Ramsdale was brought in. I am not sure Bernd Leno deserved to be dropped – but it always looked like Arteta’s plan was to change the goalkeeper to someone who was a better distributor of the ball, and a big result was the catalyst he needed to make the change.
Aaron Ramsdale would hold on to his starting place, and Bernd Leno would never regain it. He eventually went to Fulham for first-team football.
Similarly, while Zharfan has saved us plenty of times in the past, but I do wonder if the coaching staff feel that Izwan may be the first choice going forward. With tons of club and international experience, and still relatively young for a goalkeeper (33 years old), Izwan is no slouch either, so I don’t think this change impacts us that much on the field. Izwan performed well in the last game, fielding a couple of relatively easy shots, and claiming well from some crosses.
Off the field, however, it is a show of ruthlessness, and a sure sign that your place in the first team isn’t secure. Maybe I am more of a pacifist, someone who believes in harmony more than performance, but I would have done it differently. I think Izwan could have been given the Shopee Cup games first, and only if he performed well there in a couple of games, will he be brought into the team, and not directly after a Zharfan clanger. I do fear that Zharfan’s confidence will be super-low, and if we need to rely on him from now till the end of the season, whether he can come back and be as confident as he always is.
The Rui-turn of Pires
Ok I know that was horrible, but surely you will allow me to feel happy that Rui Pires is back. Aside from being a nice guy off the field, I did mention in previous articles that I felt our team lacked a threat down the middle. Rui Pires definitely helped to provide that threat with his long-range passing, and we will be hoping to see more of him playing.
For the 2nd goal, he also showed his steel, snapping into a challenge to win the ball back before releasing Maxime and Shawal to do their magic. And then for the 5th goal, it was his sublime lofted through pass that set Maxime free for him to set up Song.
For the rest of the game, he was neat, tidy, and efficient in possession. He completed 48 out of 53 passes (91%) and was always available to his teammates for an easy pass.
It’s great to see him back, and here’s hoping we can rotate our foreign players efficiently to get the best out of them moving forward.
Shawal + Max Combo
Like Batman and Robin, like wine and cheese, like knife and fork, or more locally, like soybean milk and youtiao, Shawal and Max just click.
They combined thrice this game, with Max assisting Shawal twice, and Shawal assisting Max once. This is not a rare occurrence. Most famously, they combined to put a goal past Spurs last year.
This season alone, The Shawal-Max combi has happened 7 times already, and it shows no signs of stopping. These two really really get each other. They’re looking for each other and playing passes into spaces they know each other will occupy, even before the run is made.
Of Max’s 10 assists this season, 4 have been for Shawal. Of Shawal’s 6 assists this season, 3 have been for Max.
Just amazing.
Conclusion
A very satisfying win, and a much-needed one for our Sailors. Much will be made of the 4 assists Lestienne laid on for his teammates, but I don’t think I am over-thinking it to suggest that there is a deeper meaning behind 2 of those 4 assists, and they may be worth much much more than just statistics come the end of the season.
Written by Eddy Hirono
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