[Post-Match Thoughts] Dropped Points, Again

When you want to win a title, you cannot afford to drop points in games you completely dominate. This was Young Lions, all over again. When you take a look at the advanced statistics, Young Lions and DPMM are comfortably the worst sides in the league, so it is very disappointing that we gave up 3 very poor goals and failed to get the 3 points we needed to close the gap on the leaders Albirex before we play them this weekend.

How did we end up drawing a game where we looked so comfortable? Let’s take a look at a few points.

Height Differential

You may have noticed, that for all 3 DPMM goals, we were beaten in the air. The first goal came from a corner, where somehow Voronkov was marked by Adam Swandi. The second goal came when Voronkov won a header in the box and then we did not deal well with the second ball and the resulting shot. The third goal came when Adam Swandi was once again beaten in the air and the flick-on left DPMM with a numerical overload to attack our box.

If you think I am blaming Adam Swandi for the goals, let me clarify that I am not. In the absence of Hariss Harun, Coach Risto decided for a midfield of Adam Swandi and Hami Syahin, which is a technically secure midfield, but one that lacks the size and height in my opinion, to deal with the physical threat of DPMM. For context, Adam Swandi is 171cm, and Voronkov is 187cm.

Quite why Adam Swandi was detailed to pick up Voronkov for a corner kick, I will never know. If I have some sympathy for the coach, we had a very short team – the average height was definitely lower than DPMM’s. However, if you look at the graphic below, could Anu not have been the one assigned to man-mark Voronkov, while Adam Swandi defends the space in front of the keeper?

Anyway, we can file this away as a good set piece from DPMM which gave them an early lead. However, Sailors did so well to come back and be in a winning position. This inability to deal with the aerial challenges would surface again later in our 2nd and 3rd goal. At some point you have to wonder, should we perhaps have started with someone taller?

One solution might have been to start Bill at centreback with Lionel, and then shift Anu up into midfield. That would have given us a bit more height, and perhaps we’d be better equipped to deal with the aerial threat of DPMM? At this point I may sound like I am contradicting myself, because it was also Anu who was beaten for the 2nd goal. However, I guess all I am saying is that when faced with a team containing quite a few players who are pretty short, it becomes clear that we may struggle defensively. And so that leads us on to the next point of discussion.

Is Bernie Struggling?

Let’s discuss Bernie’s impact on the team. I’ve seen the memes floating around – he’s the next 007, 0 goals 0 assists in 7 games (or so opposition supporters hope). However I think this was the first time I thought Bernie actually moved well. If you look at the replays of the goals, it is his runs which help to pull the defence away, giving space for Lestienne to score.

Here above, you see him highlighted in yellow, and his run has created the space for Diego to ghost into the area to finish with aplomb for the 1st goal.

You see in the build-up to the 2nd goal, Maxime is all the way on the right and is trying to make up the ground to get involved in this attack.

It is Bernie’s unselfish run into the space ahead of him that drags his defender away from Maxime, and results in Maxime receiving the pass in acres of space, and with tons of time too – so all he needs is to pick his head up and curl it into the far corner. It is the same for the 3rd goal, where he drags his defender away from Maxime, giving him the space to cut in and shoot. Three goals, three unselfish runs. If Bernie isn’t scoring goals, then hey at least he’s contributing to his teammates scoring goals. Of course, I still hope we can see him break his duck soon, and be more of a goal threat himself. He’s a huge guy, and I would ideally like to see him physically bully opposing centrebacks.

Attack – Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

It’s very strange how in the first half, our attack looked so free-flowing, and it looked like we were gonna end the night with a huge scoreline of 5,6,7 goals, but in the second half, we were kinda toothless. Here’s a stat for you – all 6 of our shots on target came in the first half. I am not a master tactician or something, so I can’t put my finger on why the second half saw us not register a single shot on target. I know we tried, but it was just not to be.

One thing I noticed that I felt was quite strange was we did not seem to be targeting the players who were already on yellow cards and clearly tiring. The DPMM defence picked up 4 yellow cards in the space of 10 minutes in the second half as they struggled to cope with the pace and intensity of our players. I felt we should have kept that going – and it was notable that Coach Risto did not send on our substitutes who might have helped to really up the intensity with their fresh legs. The only sub he made was Abdul Rasaq for Bernie in the 75th minute.

Coach Risto has to figure out why the second half performance was in such stark contrast to the first half, which leads us into the next topic for discussion …

Coach Risto

Speaking with fellow supporters, the general consensus I get from them is that they can’t really tell what Coach Risto’s brand of football is. What is Risto-ball? To me, it looks like most of our goals are scored on the counter-attack, where we absorb a bit of pressure, win it in our own half, and then spring a quick attack. The plan for when teams are already set in their defensive shape isn’t so clear to me.

The question has to be asked though – for a team that has the most resources in the land, are we content with being a counter-attacking team? In our championship-winning season, I think the only times we played on the counter-attack was when we faced Albirex. I can sort of understand sitting back against Albirex, given that Albirex have superior technical quality. However, this season, without actually analysing each goal one by one, I dare say that our goals have been obtained mainly during our transitions.

Nothing wrong with that – but I am just wondering if we can perhaps impose ourselves on our opponents a bit more. Is it too much to expect a team of our resources to be coached in a way such that we have a clear identity of what we are trying to achieve and how we are trying to achieve it?

More worrying than a lack of identity perhaps, is our inability to hold on to a lead and close out the game. Our 3-3 draw against DPMM was the 3rd time this season when we dropped points despite being in the lead at some point in the game. Is it a tactical thing? A discipline thing? I don’t know, but I sure hope Coach Risto fixes it soon.

Voronkov

He was just brilliant. For a guy his age, to still be so sharp and dominant, takes some doing – especially when because of Covid, he hasn’t been playing at a high level for a couple of years, he is just amazing. A hattrick that owed much to quickness of thought, and also calmness in his finishing. His second goal saw him react faster than Anu when the ball broke free – his third goal saw him win a header, then continue his run to receive a layoff and finish. He didn’t snatch at the ball in either occasion – just a calm finish into the back of the net.

He sort of reminds me of Kodai Tanaka in the way he finishes – just so calm. For such players, it’s almost as if the world slows down for them to do their magic. They are always cool and collected, and know they have a bit more time than the supporters on the sidelines feel they have. While people are screaming their heads off yelling “SHOOT!”, they take a touch to steady themselves, then “BANG!”, back of the net.

Very impressive player with a very impressive performance, unfortunately for us.

Positives

You know what’s coming here. Maxime and Diego were electric out there. They were just unstoppable and they are a cut above the opposition. There’s no real need to elaborate on this – all 3 goals were scored as a result of their combinations. Maxime now leads the league in both goals and assists (10 goals, 9 assists), while Diego has 3 goals and 8 assists. We will need this pair to have a big game to have any chance of taking points off Albirex this weekend.

Conclusion

Overall, a very disappointing match, and I am not sure our form recently leaves me with much confidence for the Albirex game. But you know, never say never!

COME ON YOU SAILORS

Written by Eddy Hirono

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