The following tactical analysis is from Zach Wu, who’s not a Sailors fan, but we just thought it would be good for someone without rose-tinted glasses to analyse the tactics of our games. We hope to make this a regular column so that we can better appreciate what is going on in our games from a tactical perspective.
Last time these 2 teams met, Balestier romped to a 5-3 win in rainy conditions, albeit helped by the Toa Payoh pitch which stunted the Sailors’ passing game. Here, the rematch was at Jalan Besar Stadium which allowed both teams to keep the ball and play some thrilling football.
While the top 2 of each group would progress to the next stage, it was imperative that the Sailors finish top, to possibly draw the (potentially weaker) runner-up team and to possibly gain some morale and confidence, having just lost the title to Albirex.
1st Half
LCS’s shape
Here off the ball, LCS went into a flat 451 shape, intending to prevent Balestier from playing through their centre and force the play out wide. LCS hoped by forcing the play out wide, they would be able to use their superior individual quality to win the duels out there.
On the ball, LCS played a curious 433 shape with Shahdan Sulaiman the most advanced of the midfield 3. While Shahdan has played there before, he has not played there of late, and it certainly showed.
Early on, Lalic encouraged his keeper Izwan Mahbud to come out of his box and play. With Balestier leaving Hoshino upfront with Kondo slightly behind, Lalic could then create a 3 vs 1 scenario to play around Hoshino’s solo press and give his centrebacks Hariss and Amirul more time and space to drive the ball forward unopposed.
LCS wing dynamics
Interestingly, down the 2 wings, LCS had slightly different patterns. Hafiz Nor acted as a traditional overlapping fullback, allowing Faris inside and to operate in more central areas. On the other side, Nur Adam Abdullah had a more flexible role, sometimes joining the other 2 centrebacks as a back 3 in buildup, sometimes overlapping Lestienne or even inverting infield when Lestienne held the width.
LCS’s wing rotations were stifled by heavy man marking by Balestier. As Faris Ramli cuts infield (yellow), he is closely followed by Delwinder Singh which opens the (blue) space behind. Hafiz Nor (purple) tries to exploit this space with an underlapping run. However, Ho Wai Loon (purple) has tracked this run, making LCS play the ball backwards to recycle.
Balestier’s gameplan
Balestier’s gameplan was simple but solid. Sit in two solid disciplined banks of four (purple) and take advantage of transitions to pick off LCS. Kuraba Kondo (yellow) the central playmaker was also tasked in blocking passing lanes into the Sailors’ centre midfielders. With Sailors missing creative players, this defensive setup would indeed prove troublesome for the Sailors.
LCS lack of players in the box
LCS were already struggling to get into wide positions due to Balestier’s gameplan previously mentioned. Furthermore, LCS seemed very hesitant to use crosses to attack the box, unwilling to use Kim Shin Wook’s aerial prowess. Instead, they wanted to play through Balestier.
It was possibly an intentional tactic from LCS, to prevent the loss of the ball to the opponent, hence saving energy for this busy period ahead. On most days it might have worked but the LCS’s attackers had an off day in general in the first half.
2nd Half
At the break, there were no changes in personnel. Both sides made small tweaks to their gameplan. Peter de Roo having seen his side concede from a cross with no pressure put onto it asked his team to be far more aggressive when closing down their direct opponents while Luka Lalic ditched asking Izwan to come out for build-ups having seen the potency of Balestier’s counters. Instead, Nur Adam usually dropped to form a third centreback in buildup.
Hafiz Nor switches off
While Hafiz Nor has been impressive cover at Right Back ever since the departure of Tajeli Salamat, this match showed why he may not be the perfect fit there. While good on the ball and has decent 1 vs 1 ability, this match showed his lack of defensive awareness in covering space.
Here, for the second Balestier goal, Hafiz is just attracted to the ball which is played infield to Shuhei Hoshino (yellow). He does not look around and scan, fails to recognize that Kuraba Kondo (blue) is making a run to attack the space and cannot get back in time, resulting in Kondo getting the second goal for Balestier.
Here, for the third goal Hafiz makes the same mistake again. He is again attracted to the ball, not realizing there is a blind side runner on him (red). Here Delwinder Singh (red), ghosts in on Hafiz’s blind side untracked which causes the scramble that led to Balestier putting in their 3rd of the night.
Hence, it was no surprise when Hafiz Nor was hooked for Saifullah Akbar who played a like-for-like role, even hitting the post with his left foot.
Substitutions
Balestier, persisted with their approach from the first half (albeit with greater intensity) and all substitutes were like for like bar Aidil Johari, who was sent on to run the flank after Daniel Goh went off with cramp.
The Sailors however, made an offensive change, taking off the ineffective Shahdan Sulaiman and bringing on Gabriel Quak. This meant that Faris was shifted to the #10 role and the Sailors were in a more familiar 4231 shape. It very nearly worked, with Gabriel’s goal being wrongly ruled out for offside, much to the Sailors’ dismay.
Conclusion
Lalic must be extremely frustrated, given the way that the Sailors gave up their goals even when using a supposedly more conservative approach with 3 midfielders meant to cover the centre. Realistically, they must now beat Albirex to have any chance to top the group which they have only done once in their history.
Peter de Roo must have been delighted in how this side responded trice to going behind while still missing key playmaker Ryoya Taniguchi. They are very much a work in progress and would need to take points off Albirex (and possibly rack up a big win against the Young Lions) to have a chance of qualifying for the knockout rounds of the Singapore Cup. That said, if Balestier can retain this crop of players, Peter de Roo would have a good base to build his football ideas.
Written by Zach Wu (Guest Writer)
