Author name: Eddy Hirono

[PREVIEW] LCS v Geylang International – Bouncing Back is Crucial

Before every game, we will do a short preview and share some of our thoughts, and also predictions. Starting this season, all 3 of us at SailorFanTalk will give you our predictions, and we will track these over the course of the year. 3 points for exact scoreline predicted correctly, 2 points for predicting the winner and margin of victory correctly (but not the exact scoreline), and 1 point for predicting the outcome correctly (win, lose or draw). Both teams come into this game on the back of a damaging loss. The Eagles went down meekly to Tanjong Pagar United after claiming in this Instagram post that they were “mentality monsters”, while our very own Sailors suffered a harsh red card, but even so, put in a performance that couldn’t really give the fans something to be energised about. I think we all felt that being down to 10 men, we wish the Sailors would show a bit more fight – but we went down and looked very tame. For more on this, check out Zach’s piece yesterday, where he particularly examined the lead-up to the 2-0 goal which put the game beyond our reach, even before the half-time whistle sounded. I don’t think there’s very much left for me to say in this piece, but here are a few talking points – How Will We Line Up in Attack? Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you will have heard by now that Kodai Tanaka has been ruled out for the season. Who starts in attack then? Will it be Shawal as a false 9? Maxime as a false 9? Haiqal Pashia brought into the side to accommodate this? Noone knows for sure how we’ll line up. There’s even the off-chance that Adam Swandi comes in to play a floating left-winger, so that Maxime can take the position up top. Whatever combination we settle on, what is clear is that the Sailors are still supposed to be favourites against a Geylang side with a much smaller budget. Just take a look at the potential line-up we can field: Zharfan Hafiz Nor, Bill, Lionel, CVH Hami, Hariss Haiqal Pashia, Diego, Maxime Shawal The above is a very strong line-up still, and certainly has a good mix of ability and experience that will start as favourites against the Eagles. As such, I hope that we get a positive result tonight, and if we don’t, please let’s not use Kodai’s absence as an excuse. Is Anu suspended? Who replaces him? There are a few ways to replace Anu, who is suspended for 2 matches as a result of his straight red card. One way is as shown in the line-up above, where Bill tucks into the middle, and Hafiz Nor or Arshad comes in at rightback. Super, our new signing, may also come in, though that’d be surprising unless he was already training with us prior to his unveiling. Hariss may also drop back into defence, and that would then see either Rusyaidi Salime or Adam Swandi coming on. I would worry that the midfield may lack some bite if it is Adam Swandi + Hami Syahin, two creative types. I guess we’ll see what Coach Risto comes up with. Geylang has not looked impressive so far These may very well be famous last words, but Geylang have not looked impressive thus far. Their two wins came against Young Lions and Hougang United. Young Lions are Young Lions – you are expected to beat them. Hougang United led when Kiki Krajcek was on the field. Once Kiki went off, the initiative swung to Geylang, but even then, they did not create a consistent threat in front of goal. They had to rely on some uncharacteristically poor goalkeeping from Zaiful Nizam to parry the ball into his own net after a shot from range from Vincent Bezecourt. That being said – we are coming off a 4-0 defeat, and Geylang had our number last season, performing well in every game they played against us. Conclusion Sailors should win this and I think if we are serious about our title ambitions, we have to win our games on our own patch, especially against Geylang. Score Prediction As mentioned above, this will be a continuing feature as the season goes on. Joseph, Ethan, and myself will predict the scores, and track our success in a table. Stay tuned to find out who is the prediction king! 3 points for exact scoreline predicted correctly, 2 points for predicting the winner and margin of victory correctly (but not the exact scoreline), and 1 point for predicting the outcome correctly (win, lose or draw). Eddy’s prediction: Sailors 2 Geylang 1 Ethan’s prediction: Sailors 2 Geylang 1 Joseph’s prediction: Sailors 2 Geylang 0 We are a little pressed for time, so we will do the leaderboard sometime later! Written by Eddy Hirono [UPDATE]: Get your new jerseys on Shopee!!!! If you click on the links below and make a purchase, SFT gets commission of like a dollar plus, and you don’t pay more. Show your support for the work we do! And don’t forget to use your vouchers if you are a member. Check out Lion City Sailors Football Club 2023 SPL Home Jersey for $65.00. Get it on Shopee now! https://shope.ee/5panI7G7On?share_channel_code=2 Check out Lion City Sailors Football Club 2023 SPL Away Jersey for $65.00. Get it on Shopee now! https://shope.ee/5AL6Uq6bH0?share_channel_code=2 Check out Lion City Sailors Football Club 2023 SPL Purple GK Jersey for $65.00. Get it on Shopee now! (this one is our favourite!) https://shope.ee/d0Nxqsd7?share_channel_code=2 Check out Lion City Sailors Football Club 2023 SPL Green GK Jersey for $65.00. Get it on Shopee now! https://shope.ee/5fHWk5vXwf?share_channel_code=2

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“Super” Signing – What Does It Mean for the Sailors’ Transfer Plans? How about Kodai?

Well, this came out of the blue. There were no rumours of this signing happening – all the usual people in the know had not hinted at this signing as well. Supporters all assumed that Pedro Henrique would be back in a Mattar of weeks, not months, so we thought the plan was just to sit tight until then and let him make his comeback slowly. After all, Pedro had already come back from Brazil, and had been spotted chatting with fans in the stands. In fact, one fan (thanks Ryan Lim) even mentioned that he had spoken to Pedro a few weeks back and he had said he might be back in around six weeks’ time. Well, apparently not, according to the club article accompanying the signing of Manuel Herrera Lopez (Super), which states that “Súper is poised to take the place of Pedro Henrique in the Sailors’ first-team squad as the team launches an assault for the 2023 league title, with the towering 30-year-old Brazilian still in recovery following a season-ending injury in a 3-1 defeat to Geylang International last September.“ So this naturally raised some questions in the SailorFanTalk Telegram chat, and I was also hit by a flurry of messages wondering what’s going on, and what this means for our allocation of foreigners in the squad. Let’s take some time to answer some commonly-asked questions. Does this mean that Pedro Henrique is going to be de-registered? We don’t know for sure, but it is highly likely. Let’s do the math. We have Maxime Lestienne, Diego Lopes, Kodai Tanaka, and of course, Pedro Henrique on our books. While we can add more foreigners to this list, we can only register 4 of them for Singapore Premier League games. Please see below, an excerpt from the Singapore Premier League Regulations for 2023. Maximum of 4 players – Diego and Maxime show no signs of leaving (God please don’t let that happen), while Kodai Tanaka’s injury has spurred talk of him being replaced, but if you look at the rules, he must be replaced by an Asian player, and Super is not Asian. (I checked lol, cos I thought maybe he would somehow qualify as Filipino with his years at Ceres Negros). So logically, that means the club’s statement is to be taken literally, and Pedro Henrique will not be registered for the SPL squad for now. His injury is probably worse than what we as supporters had hoped for. Take care and see you soon, Pedro! How about Kodai Tanaka? Is he going to be replaced? Well, as long as the transfer window remains open, the Sailors can replace him. It’s a crushing blow for both the club, and Kodai himself, and it’s the last thing we’d wanna see. However, the club would be placing a lot of faith in untested youngster Abdul Rasaq if they were to choose not to replace him. Summarised very neatly by Deepanraj Ganesan in the tweet above, the clock is ticking. Kodai’s replacement must be an Asian player. Will we sign another Asian forward? Or boost our midfield ranks with that Asian slot? Only time will tell. How about Obren Kljajic? Wait, who? Ok I guess we should devote a section to him too. How about Obren Kljajic? Apparently, we have a U21 player by the name of Obren Kljajic (it gets easier to spell every time I spell it). We have heard that in pre-season, he played upfront, while various online sources state that his position is right-wing. Could he then be the one to replace Kodai Tanaka’s place in the squad? Considering that he seems to have Australian citizenship, and could thus fulfil the requirement of registering an Asian player in our 4th foreigner slot? We know next to nothing about him, so it remains to be seen if he will be trusted as Kodai’s replacement, or if the club will go out and sign someone. An unexpectedly exciting end to the transfer window! Written by Eddy Hirono if you haven’t got this season’s threads yet, the new jerseys are out on Shopee!!!! If you click on the links below and make a purchase, SFT gets commission of like a dollar plus, and you don’t pay more. Show your support for the work we do! And don’t forget to use your vouchers if you are a member. Check out Lion City Sailors Football Club 2023 SPL Home Jersey for $65.00. Get it on Shopee now! https://shope.ee/5panI7G7On?share_channel_code=2 Check out Lion City Sailors Football Club 2023 SPL Away Jersey for $65.00. Get it on Shopee now! https://shope.ee/5AL6Uq6bH0?share_channel_code=2 Check out Lion City Sailors Football Club 2023 SPL Purple GK Jersey for $65.00. Get it on Shopee now! (this one is our favourite!) https://shope.ee/d0Nxqsd7?share_channel_code=2 Check out Lion City Sailors Football Club 2023 SPL Green GK Jersey for $65.00. Get it on Shopee now! https://shope.ee/5fHWk5vXwf?share_channel_code=2

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[POST-MATCH THOUGHTS] – Clear and Obvious Refereeing Error (Albirex 4 LCS 0)

The first 10min of the game was pretty even, and you probably know what happened after that, and what we are going to spend 99% of the time in this article talking about. Yes – it was that horrendous decision made by the refereeing team to send Anu off for an innocuous pull on Tadanari Lee on the halfway line. Let’s get this straight. Foul? Definitely yes. Yellow card? Definitely yes, it was cynical, calculated to stop an opponent from going past him. Red card? Nah you’re having a laugh. Anyone who’s ever played football knows this – if you’re gonna bring your man down, bring him down early. Do not let him go all the way into the penalty area, or just outside, where conceding a freekick or a penalty kick can have disastrous consequences. Manchester City practically turned this into an art form – the sight of Fernandinho putting on an innocent face after he trips someone on the counter is both annoying and also funny. Enough of the preamble – let’s dive right into it. I will try to be as objective as possible and lay down the facts as they are – feel free to let us know in the comments, or on our IG post if you have an alternative view. We’ll do a step-by-step analysis. We won’t even bother to talk about the rest of the game because once the red card was shown, the referee killed the game. Facing Albirex is tough enough with 11 men – with 10 men it’s almost impossible. Was it a foul? And was it a foul deserving of a yellow card? I don’t think Anu, or even the most hardened LCS fan will deny that this was 101% at least a yellow card. Tadanari Lee had cleverly flicked the ball around Anu, and was about to race onto it when he was pulled back slightly. I don’t even think Tadanari Lee made a meal of it. He was blameless in this – he tried to go for the ball, he was pulled, it was a tactical foul. Answer: Yes it was a foul, and yes, it definitely deserved a yellow. What is the VAR process? When can a VAR intervene? To answer this question, there is no better place to start than looking at what FAS themselves said in a press release prior to the start of the season. This is consistent with the International Football Association Board’s rules, specifically the VAR Protocol, which states that – Looking at the above rules, the VAR should assist the referee to check if a red-card offence has been committed. The on-pitch referee had given a yellow card, but it is appropriate for the VAR to check, and advise the referee if he feels there has been a mistake. In this case, we can assume that the VAR felt that this was a foul that denied a goal scoring opportunity. Not only that, but the VAR felt that this was a potential sending-off offence. Let’s look at IFAB’s rules when it comes to sending-offs for denying goal scoring opportunities. Focus on the wording here. The key words to look out for here have been highlighted in yellow. To qualify for a red card, the referee needs to be sure that Anu’s actions have denied a goal, or an OBVIOUS goal-scoring opportunity. There are two questions to then ask:- Was Anu’s foul a foul that denied an obvious goal scoring opportunity? I shall start referring to the denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity as a DOGSO offence for the ease of my typing and your reading. Whether or not Anu’s foul is a DOGSO, is dependent on four factors. These four factors are :- General direction of the play Let’s clear up the easy one – “general direction of the play”. This is an important factor to consider because even if the foul were to happen in the penalty area for example, which is obviously a dangerous area of the pitch – if the attacker was moving away from the goal to such an extent that he is unlikely to score, then it cannot be said that an OBVIOUS goal scoring opportunity has been denieed. In this case, I would say that Tadanari Lee’s push of the ball is right towards goal, and so factor no. 2 is fulfilled. Distance between the offence and the goal The next easy one is factor no. 1. There is obviously a reason for why distance between the offence and the goal is a factor to be considered. Generally, the further away from goal a player is, the more uncertainty there is when it comes to scoring the goal. Any number of things can happen – the player may lose control of the ball, the defenders may catch up, the keeper has more time to set himself, etc etc etc. Let’s take a look at the still image of when Anu fouls Tadanari Lee. Try not to chuckle (or chuckle in pain if you are me) when you see that the foul literally happens not just in the centre circle, but on the halfway line. An easy decision here on whether factor no. 1 is fulfilled – it is very far from goal and so this is a clear “no”. Likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball I think the touch taken by Tadanari Lee to bring it around Anu is a smart one, and I think he pushed it the right distance to still be able to get to the ball. As much as I hate to admit it, it was a very good touch, and Tadanari Lee would have been able to reach it and regained control of the ball. Factor no. 3 is thus fulfilled. Location and number of defenders I think this one is debatable. You can see in the image above that there are 2 other defenders with Anu. Bill is closer to his own touchline

[POST-MATCH THOUGHTS] – Clear and Obvious Refereeing Error (Albirex 4 LCS 0) Read More »

[PREVIEW] Albirex Niigata (S) vs LCS – Time to End The Streak

Before every game, we will do a short preview and share some of our thoughts, and also predictions. Starting this season, all 3 of us at SailorFanTalk will give you our predictions, and we will track these over the course of the year. 3 points for exact scoreline predicted correctly, 2 points for predicting the winner and margin of victory correctly (but not the exact scoreline), and 1 point for predicting the outcome correctly (win, lose or draw). You’ve heard it time and again from local football podcasters, rival clubs’ fans, press, etc. They say it in a variety of ways – some with a smirk, some matter-of-factly, some even with a sense of condescension, as if they had anything to do with the mighty Albirex team keeping up this impressive record. I am, of course, referring to the fact that LCS has still not beaten Albirex in competitive action (except in the Community Shield). It’s getting annoying to keep hearing this and while there is never a good time to play 5-time SPL champions Albirex, tonight’s game does fill me with some hope. Maybe it is because I am an optimist, maybe it is because I am an LCS fan. Or maybe I am just deluded – but if you’re still reading this, maybe you can see if you agree with me or you think I am grasping at straws. Albirex is a new team This is not a new problem, of course. I liken Albirex to a fearsome snake. Every year they shed 95% of their team, but somehow they still possess the ability to be so deadly, so dominant. Like a snake. Except snakes aren’t polite and do a cringeworthy dance with their supporters after every game. Ok ignore me – I am trying to generate some rivalry here. It is so difficult to hate Albirex. Their community outreach efforts are amazing, they have a fun academy dedicated to cheerleading, they play some lovely football, and most of all, they are always humble. Ok so maybe they are not like snakes at all. I digress. Back to the point about them being a new team, Albirex won the title last season but you may remember that they struggled at first. Out of the first 6 games, they dropped points in 4 (!) games, losing to Tanjong Pagar, and drawing with LCS, Hougang, and 10-man Geylang. This is unsurprising as unlike the other clubs who usually at least retain at least half a team, Albirex almost always have to start from scratch. In fact, it is amazing that they can always put up a strong showing, but that is probably testament to how strong the football scene is in Japan, such that even talent from their tertiary institutions and lower league clubs can thrive here. Like us, Albirex have already played two games this season, and recorded positive results in both. 3-0 vs Hougang in the Community Shield was followed by another 3-0 vs Young Lions in the League. However, that was about 2 weeks ago, and of course, the hope is that their team have not had a run of games to gel with each other yet. The form of Maxime Lestienne Maxime has started the season like a house on fire. 3 assists in the first game against Tanjong Pagar was followed by a good team goal against DPMM Brunei. Against DPMM, Maxime was unlucky not to add to his goal tally. A fizzing cross by Hafiz Nor was turned onto the post by him when it looked easier to score, while later in the game, he skipped through the whole DPMM midfield to fire a shot headed for the bottom corner, only for the keeper to deny him by pushing it against the post. He also came close to adding to his assists tally, while it was his searching cross that found Diego Lopes to head across goal for Kodai to find the crucial 2nd goal. He was a menace all night, and there is no reason that he can’t repeat the trick tonight. Crosses from Christopher van Huizen In Christopher van Huizen, Maxime has a very able ally down the left side of defence. We assume that Chris will start because Nur Adam’s injury means that the most likely U21 player to start will be Bill Mahmadou at rightback. While Chris is not the most robust of defenders, his ability to cross with both feet accurately and with pace make him a very valuable weapon down the left. As you can see from the Ball Touches Map from the last game against DPMM, Chris is not shy to get deep into enemy territory to support and/or offering a crossing option. This may mean that opponents will find it harder to double up on Maxime, because he will then be able to lay the ball back for Chris to put a dangerous cross into the box. With Kodai in the box, it has the potential to be a deadly combi as well, given Kodai’s aerial prowess. He has not had an assist yet, but mark my words, it will come. Who to look out for – Riku Fukashiro Of course, this preview would be too one-sided if I didn’t also highlight what we should fear from Albirex. Diminutive forward Riku has caught the eye despite not starting either of Albirex’s games. He has been a 2nd half substitute both against Hougang and against Young Lions. In that time, he has dazzled supporters with his nifty footwork, and sharp dribbling skills. He was a thorn in the side for both opponents and even managed a goal against Hougang. Even though he is a new player, there was already such an air of expectancy everytime he picked up the ball in or around the left touchline. He did not score against the Young Lions, but he was close – hitting the post barely 4 minutes after he came on. Watch him do his thing tomorrow –

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[POST-MATCH THOUGHTS] – Winning On A Cold Rainy Night In Bishan (LCS 3 DPMM 1)

Pre-game, the club cheekily said in their Instagram post that it was time to do it on a “cold rainy night in Bishan“. For those who may not be familiar with the reference, this is one of English football’s greatest cliches, where if you wanted cast doubt on a foreign signing, you would claim that while he may be a world-beater, you would question if he would be able to “do it on a cold rainy night in Stoke“. The origin of this phrase was from Andy Gray who in 2011 ridiculously claimed that while Messi was a world-class talent, he would not be able to do well in an away game at Stoke, presumably because the physicality of the Stoke players, and awful weather conditions would combine to nullify Messi. DPMM Playing Like Stoke? Enough with the history lesson. If there was any team that was going to be Stoke-like last night, it certainly wasn’t the Sailors. DPMM, making their comeback to the SPL were physical and robust all night, fighting and scrapping hard to try to wrestle some control of the game. In some ways, it was pretty admirable to watch, given that they managed to pump themselves up for the fight when they had not played a high-level competitive league game for three years. I had the privilege of speaking to Coach Adrian Pennock after the game, and he gave praise to his players for their attitude. He also said he was filled with enthusiasm after the performance especially because he was dealing with some injuries in the squad, and also because key midfielder Josip Balic was out. However, even though it pains me to say this because Coach Pennock was such a gent in the post-match interview, the fans (myself included) did get mighty pissed off by the time-wasting antics of the Bruneians in the first half before the goal went in. The keeper seemed to take an age with every goal kick. He Pickford-ed at every opportunity (do yourself a favour and check it up on youtube to see what I mean – but basically this means a keeper wasting time by dramatically falling onto the ball and taking a long time to get up even though it is a routine save). In fact, he wasted so much time that at one goal kick, a small boy in the stands behind me shouted “What’s wrong with this goalkeeper? He take one kick take 50 years ah?” Kids say the darndest things, don’t they – but in this case he wasn’t exactly off the mark. Perhaps if we can have some sympathy for them, this is their first competitive game in a while, and Coach Pennock also referred to the fatigue suffered by his players, especially in the second half, so maybe they were just trying to slow the pace of the game down a little. Still doesn’t make all that diving and time-wasting OK, but oh well we got the win, so, moving on. Defensive Frailty? Much like the Tanjong Pagar game, there is a bit of a worry within me watching our Sailors play because while we look to be in control for large parts of the game, when we come under some pressure, it really seems like a sense of panic spreads within the team, and this period of pressure becomes a little sustained. We then have to rely on excellent goalkeeping, or last-ditch tackles to really try and keep our opponents out. Last night, the goal came from an error by Zharfan Rohaizad, who up till then had been pretty decent. He was called upon to save a few shots, and he did that well. He was also good with distribution too. However, the error was a glaring one as he passed the ball straight to Varankow and this eventually led to a goal. I think this happens sometimes when we play out from the back, and I liked that Coach Risto played down the error when he said – Zharfan had a decent game otherwise, especially considering the wet conditions. He made saves when he had to, clung on to some of the crosses well, and although I am sure he will not be happy with his overall performance, it is definitely something to build on. Defensively, I thought Lionel Tan had a great game and he seemed to crunch into many challenges, getting on the nerves of the DPMM players, who repeatedly got into verbal tussles with him. He was involved in 15 challenges, and won 11 of them. Impressively, he only gave away one foul despite his front-foot approach towards defending which led to him sometimes being pulled out of his favoured central-defensive position. Also impressive was his 93% passing completion rate with 54 passes played – a high percentage considering one of the often-held criticisms about him is his lack of ball-playing ability. Anu won 82% of his challenges as well, and was generally untroubled until a spell in the second half, where the whole team seemed to lose composure for a little bit. In our post-match interview with Hami Syahin, he mentioned that there will inevitably be times in a game where the players lack a little focus, or the opponents look to be dominant in attack, but the team would rely on Hariss to calm them down and help them remain composed. I have to admit that from my perspective in the stands, it really did seem that the period before DPMM’s goal already showed us hints that DPMM were going to trouble the scoresheet soon – so I am not so sure that the composure was really visible to us fans. Why the apparent sudden defensive frailty in the 2nd half? Frankly I cannot tell. I’ve already tasked Zach to look into this, and hopefully he will have some answers for us in the Tactical Analysis piece that should come out in the next few days! Quick Thinking Makes the First Goal Before I

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[Preview] LCS v Brunei DPMM – Unknown Quantity

Before every game, we will do a short preview and share some of our thoughts, and also predictions. Starting this season, all 3 of us at SailorFanTalk will give you our predictions, and we will track these over the course of the year. 3 points for exact scoreline predicted correctly, 2 points for predicting the winner and margin of victory correctly (but not the exact scoreline), and 1 point for predicting the outcome correctly (win, lose or draw). If you have been following SPL preview shows, or talking to any ardent SPL fans, you would be sick of hearing this by now – “Brunei DPMM is an unknown quantity”. Heck, even Hafiz Nor said so in his pre-match preview, when he stated that the team “don’t really know what to expect from [DPMM]“. Sick of it or not, it’s because it’s true. We simply do not know what we should expect from them because they have not been in proper competitive action for a very long time. DPMM Brunei’s Absence from “Proper” Competition While Covid-19 ravaged the world, Brunei adopted a very strict stance on international travel, and thus the Singapore Premier League has not seen them since 2020. They played one game then, before the league was suspended. Even when the league resumed, they were unable to travel to Singapore to fulfil their fixtures, so they continued to sit out the remainder of the 2020 season. 2021 saw the same happen – they could not travel here, and thus could not take part in the SPL. However, they did play a handful of games in their Bruneian domestic league before it was suspended again due to Covid-19. 2022 saw them take part in Bruneian domestic competition. Once again, due to Covid-19, the league was abandoned, and thus they only played in the Brunei FA Cup. In this tournament, they recorded crazy scorelines such as 18-0, 8-0, 15-0, and won every game, sweeping all before them on their way to winning the Cup. It is not an understatement to say that this presented little to no challenge for them. It is certainly no replacement for proper competitive football, whatever your thoughts are on the quality of our SPL. It is perhaps also futile if we try to analyse their results from 2019 or 2020 (before Covid-19) to see if we can predict how they will fare later on against us, because it is too long ago. Maybe pre-season would be a better place to look? DPMM Brunei’s Pre-Season From their Instagram page, it seems that Brunei DPMM went to Thailand for pre-season and suffered a couple of defeats. Nothing too surprising or concerning given the quality of the Thai teams. They lost 2-0 to Chonburi FC (Thai T1 team), and 3-0 to Nakhonpathum United (Thai T2 team). They then went back to Brunei and beat a local team 3-0. There is perhaps not a lot you can glean from these results given that we have no idea who played for Chonburi or Nakhonpathum United. If those Thai teams played their full teams with their first-teamers (unlikely), then DPMM is probably going to ruffle a few feathers in the SPL this season. The SPL teams did not have a good time when they went abroad, so if you do some back-of-the-napkin calculations and deductions, DPMM not getting thrashed means they are better than our teams. (Yes, we are desperate to try to get some conclusions out of the little nuggets of information we have). Andrey Varankow How can we do a DPMM preview piece without talking about Andrey Varankow? In the picture you see Varankow (or Voronkov, there are so many spellings it’s insane), with the other 3 foreigners who are part of DPMM’s squad this season. Varankow scored 23 goals in 24 appearances the last time he played a full season in Singapore. Yes, those are stats you see in FIFA or Football Manager. Unsurprisingly, he finished as top-scorer by some margin, and DPMM won the league. Whenever he played, he was a constant threat, and Singaporean defences just did not manage to get a handle on him. However, and this is the big “however” – that was 4 years ago, when Varankow was 30. He is now 34. And it’s not just the age. He was out of contract in 2022, which means he did not even play in DPMM Brunei’s successful FA Cup campaign. His last football action was in the shortened Brunei Super League campaign in 2021, where he scored 23 goals in 6 games – once again highlighting the point that playing domestically in Brunei really isn’t competitive at all. He may struggle to find his feet in the league, and that’s certainly what we LCS fans will be hoping for later today. A quick side-note on the other foreigners – they all come with pretty good pedigree, having played in leagues such as the Greek Superleague and the Uzbek league. However, I will not pretend to know more about these players. We will just have to see how good they are for ourselves. Conclusion Given that DPMM are a bit of an unknown quantity and the bulk of their team is made up of the Brunei national team, who did not look great at the AFF ME Cup a few months back, and then factoring in their lack of practice in a competitive sense, we see the Sailors edging this one. Score Prediction As mentioned above, this will be a continuing feature as the season goes on. Joseph, Ethan, and myself will predict the scores, and track our success in a table. Stay tuned to find out who is the prediction king! 3 points for exact scoreline predicted correctly, 2 points for predicting the winner and margin of victory correctly (but not the exact scoreline), and 1 point for predicting the outcome correctly (win, lose or draw). Eddy’s prediction: 3-1 Sailors Ethan’s prediction: 2-1 Sailors Joseph’s prediction: 2-2 Draw Written by Eddy Hirono [UPDATE]:

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Post-Match Thoughts – Half-Fit Kodai With a Brace (LCS 3 Tanjong Pagar 1)

This season, SailorFanTalk endeavours to do a Post-Match Thoughts article after every game, followed by a Tactical Analysis column (usually written by Zach Wu). The former focuses more on thoughts and opinions from our perspective as fans watching the game, while the latter is more technical and seeks to be more neutral in its analysis of gameplay – after all, it is written by a Hougang United fan! It has been an exhausting week content-wise for us at SailorFanTalk. Monday saw Joseph and myself head down to Mattar Road (where the LCS Training Centre is located) for Media Open Day. Tuesday saw me heading to Yahoo SEA HQ to record a podcast with the affable pair of Han Keong and Neil Humphreys. Wednesday was spent trying to collate all the material gathered from Monday’s Media Open Day and publish it before the season opener. Thursday saw the first-ever SailorFanTalk and The Goal Difference collab, and then of course, the most important of all, Friday was matchday. Perhaps it’s just my conditioning as an Arsenal fan, maybe it was due to the Sailors’ implosion last year, or maybe it was just the fatigue built up over the week trying to juggle SailorFanTalk with a demanding full-time job – for some reason, I walked into Bishan Stadium today predicting a 2-1 win, but deep inside expecting a Tanjong Pagar upset. I know it’s strange given the Sailors are way stronger on paper, but when I saw the lineup had no Shawal, no Anu, had a half-fit Kodai leading the line, and a new-look backline of Bill and Lionel, I felt a little apprehensive. Add to that the number of former Protectors/Sailors in the opposing lineup, including Naqi, Faizal, Tajeli, Kenji, Shahrin and of course Shakir, and that apprehension turned into a real palpable sense of unease. And so when Mirko Sugic stepped up to take the penalty, the Arsenal fan in me went “Ah, here we go again, same old shit again“. The penalty came after a spell of pressure that Tanjong Pagar had put us under, pressure that was non-existent in the first half. Luckily for us, he missed, and we went on to win pretty comfortably – we were never troubled that much after the penalty miss. A few thoughts post-game – The Hami-Jonan Show I’ve said it before all the way back from Home United days – Hami Syahin is an absolute gem in midfield. He is the Singaporean Thiago. Always getting on the ball, always using deft little touches to maneouvre the ball away from his opponents, and then using a combination of short and long passes to keep the play moving. However, with Shahdan in the club, Hami never really got his chance to play much for the Sailors (7 appearances only last season). Shahdan is an absolute maestro, and almost anything Hami can do, Shahdan can do better, except maybe dribbling at speed with the ball. Even so, I did question last season whether players like Hami could have been relied more upon nearing the tail-end of the season Hami finally got a chance to start tonight and he was magnificent. I would love to see the stats when they come out to confirm that whatever the fans observed is true. He must have played many progressive passes, and maintained a high passing percentage. Despite his small frame, he also put himself about and bravely entered into duels with intensity. It was overall, a very impressive performance. Hami then came off injured in the 81st minute – hopefully it’s just cramps. He was replaced by Jonan Tan, and the young lad who turns 17 in June came on to rapturous applause from the Crew. I think the fans were very excited to see the debut of someone so young, partly because it fills us Sailors fans with hope that despite all the high-profile departures, the club still has a solid youth pipeline to supplement the first team with. And so it proved. Jonan was certainly not lacking in confidence. It started even before he came on. With the crowd cheering his name while he waited for the substitution to be called, he looked at the supporters half in amusement and half in appreciation. Where other young players making their debut might be experiencing all sorts of butterflies in their stomach, Jonan did not look unnerved at all. He was tidy with his passing, and even drove through midfield with the ball on occasion. He started the move for the crucial second goal, riding a half-challenge, and playing a pass into Lestienne on the left wing for him to set up Kodai’s goal (more on this later). It must have been a pretty sweet moment for Jonan, and we are certainly hoping for more to come from him. We leave you with an amazing little fact. Our current Academy General Manager, Tan Li Yu, was Jonan’s first coach when he was just 5 years old. We can confirm that we have seen a super-cute picture from Li Yu on this, and we are unfortunately unable to share this with you! Just have to take our word for it that it’s super cute. More to come from Jonan I am sure! Kodai is only Half-Fit Let that sink in. Kodai was injured in the back-end of the Singapore Cup last season. Funnily enough, his injury (fractured toe) was apparently caused by Lionel Tan – and they are teammates now. Not just teammates, but when asked by Grandstand, Kodai said Lionel’s his best friend in the club. He has not played football for 3 mths, and only resumed light training with the team 2 weeks ago. In fact, in the post-match conference, Kodai said that he ran to hug Coach Risto after his goal because he was so grateful that Coach Risto showed faith in him to start him despite him not being in peak physical condition. Coach Risto himself described Kodai as only 50% fit. And yet,

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Shawal to the Sailors – Lessons from Hougang’s semi-final win over Albirex

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 write about Sailors sometimes! Zach wrote this with a focus on how Shawal played against Albirex, our perennial rivals. Shawal Anuar is the highest-profile Singaporean that the Sailors snapped up in the off-season. His rise has been meteoric, from playing for Keppel Monaco with his $50 match allowance to earning a 5-figure salary playing for the Sailors. Arguably, he was one of the shining lights in a dire AFF Cup campaign for the national team, stepping up in the absence of the two Fandi attackers. Here, we shall focus on how Hougang played to his strengths last season and what he brings to the Lion City Sailors. We also take an in-depth look at how Hougang used Shawal to beat Albirex. Goal output (Appearance/Goals/Assists Table) Obviously, as an attacker, Shawal would be judged on this output, his goals and assists. Shawal really stepped up his output last season, locking down the right wing slot for Hougang. He was also second in the goalscoring charts of Hougang United, just behind Pedro Bortoluzo who took penalties for the team. His underlying xG (expected goals) was good too, with a slight overperformance of 11 goals vs 8.94 xG which shows that this is a somewhat sustainable return. He has created 24 big chances across the league season for his teammates, which shows he is very much a creative playmaker from the wing too. Shawal really made a significant step up for a Hougang team that had an inconsistent season, leading to lots of suitors home and abroad. Shawal’s first touch It is one thing to pluck the ball out of the air and to control it, it is another to make a meaningful first touch to advance play. What Shawal is so good at is his ability to evaluate the situation and make a good touch into space. He probably picked this up when largely playing on natural grass pitches, from his time with Geylang International at Bedok Stadium and then with Hougang United at Hougang stadium. With natural grass pitches, the uneven surface makes stopping the ball dead difficult or tricky and hence it might be more beneficial if one takes a good first touch into space instead. Shawal put it to good use here. For the opening goal at Hougang Stadium, Amy plays a brilliant ball behind Omori.  However, the ball takes an awkward bounce off the uneven turf just before it reaches Shawal. With Koga rushing out, a lesser attacker might take it first time, or a poor touch that loses control of the ball. Shawal intelligently flicks the ball up slightly with his first touch that flummoxes Koga, before placing the ball beyond Koga with his second touch. Shawal makes it look easy but it is no mean feat, given the uneven turf, the pressure of the occasion and running full pelt to connect with the through ball. Shawal’s threat in behind In the Singapore Cup semis, Hougang delivered a masterclass in how to beat Albirex, and they finally delivered a win for the ages, in one of the most crucial games of the season. The gameplan was simple. Hougang were never going to beat Albirex by hoarding possession of the ball, especially given the condition of Hougang’s home turf. Hougang understood that and decided to play on the transitions, hitting Albirex on the counter. A big reason that made this approach a success was Shawal Anuar, whose running in behind created the equalizer at Jurong East (top) and the opener at Hougang (bottom). In both goals, the Albirex defence was caught out by a simple direct ball behind which created both goals. Shawal defensively aware One of Shawal’s underrated qualities is his willingness to defend and his ability to read the game. Here, for Hougang’s first equalizer, an under-hit pass is played. Shawal without hesitation runs onto it and Sahil subsequently scores from it. In the league, Shawal has made 89 defensive challenges with 76 interceptions  which shows that he is willing to help out the team and is not a lazy attacker. This is pretty incredible considering he was out with injury for about a quarter of the season and only played 1872 minutes, just under 21 full 90 mins games. This is in contrast to Gabriel Quak (pink) in the Sailors’ opening ACL game, who was trotting back to cover his fullback Tajeli Salamat, allowing Urawa to send in an easy cross which led to the opening goal of the game. If you remember, this was so bad that he got hooked off by Kim Do-Hoon not long after. Given that the Sailors might not have so much midfield control this season with the departure of Shahdan Sulaiman, defensive cover may be crucial if the game is much more balanced – this may be where Shawal can make the difference to. Conclusion With bags of pace, a good touch allowing him to play on the turn while being defensively aware, he is the complete package needed to fit as the 4th attacker supplementing Tanaka, Lestienne and Diego Lopes. Sailors have a gem of an attacker on their hands, and it is up to the gaffer Vidaković to give him the right system to shine. Written by Zach Wu (Guest Writer)

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A Song in our Hearts

The season starts on Friday, and while I’m sure you’re all excited to see our beloved Sailors again, a part of me still feels a tinge of sadness that club legend Song Ui-Young is not going to feature this year, after his departure to Nongbua Pitchaya. So before we leave the past behind and bring you all sorts of content for the season ahead, let’s take one last look back. Song’s first appearance for us was in 2012 (for Home Utd), and his last appearance for us was in 2022, so that makes it a decade of solid service for the club. Someone give the man a testimonial match! During that time, he thrilled us all with his goals and assists, captivated us with the quality of some of his goals, and last but not least, he represented us fans on the pitch with his tireless running and constant battling. This article has taken longer than usual to write, in part because I have been procrastinating, but also because how do you write something fitting for a club legend, something that does justice to the impact he had, and the huge hole he left in the heart of us fans? In the end, I decided that nothing is going to do justice to his legacy, but something is better than nothing, so here goes. Here is why we love our Singaporean Song. End Product What an unsexy and transactional title for the first reason we’ll miss our Korean-Singaporean superstar. We can’t run away from the truth though – a huge reason why we will miss him is because his numbers. His goals and assists will need to be made up by the rest of the team. In our earlier article (written before Song’s transfer to Nongbua Pitchaya) talking about Kodai Tanaka’s transfer to the Sailors, I had this to say: Yuuuuuup, I apologise. Clearly, I jinxed it and now Song is no more. Why did I even write that in the first place though? Let’s take a look at the stats from the last 5 years, when he started being deployed in attack / attacking midfield. Year Games Played Goals (G) Assists (A) G/A per Game 2018 26 19 4 0.88 2019 25 11 4 0.60 2020 12 9 0 0.75 2021 15 7 1 0.53 2022 31 16 4 0.65 Stats taken from Instat Just drawing from the stats above, it is perhaps not a stretch to say that whenever Song is on the pitch, the Sailors are more likely to score. Bear in mind that 2021 and 2022 saw Song having to share his minutes with many talented teammates as the Sailors started stockpiling quality in every position. However, whenever he was on the pitch, he was a threat. In our debut AFC Champions League campaign last year, many supporters in fact wanted to see Song play more than Kim Shin-Wook, and who could blame them? Song delivered the goods when it mattered most. He finished that campaign with 3 goals from 6 games, including 2 goals over K-League opposition Daegu FC. I remember being in the stands in Buriram and cheering like a madman when Song looped a header over the Daegu keeper to open the scoring in what would eventually be an epic 3-0 win, the Sailors’ first-ever win in the Champions League. Part ecstasy, part shock maybe – he was doing this to K-League opposition! But perhaps I should not have been so shocked – us supporters have a little nickname for Song. We call him “AFC Cup Song” because there’s some magic in continental football which seems to bring out the best in him. Who can forget how round after round, Song performed miracles in the AFC Cup, scoring a total of 8 goals in 10 games which eventually culminated in us winning the Zonal Finals against Ceres Negros FC. Filipino opposition, Indonesian opposition in hostile away grounds, under the lights at Jalan Besar Stadium – whoever, whereever, whenever, he did it all. He even scored in North Korea when he was still a South Korean citizen (gasps). Back to Buriram, and the 2022 Champions League campaign. Song even repeated the trick against Daegu, scoring an improbable volley from long range to threaten an upset in our final group game where qualification for the knockout stages hung in the balance. Alas, it was not to be, as we were knocked out of the competition, and little did we know, that was the last we would see of Song in continental competition. No more “AFC Cup” Song, and now, no more Song at all. This leaves us dangerously thin should we see an injury or severe loss of form for Kodai Tanaka. Abdul Rasaq has shown shoots of promise in his appearances for Young Lions last season, but he is a raw talent with 5 goals in 19 appearances for Young Lions. It would be unrealistic and unfair for the Sailors to rely on him should something happen to Tanaka. Bangers, bangers, bangers Alright, a slightly less transactional title this time. Song has over the years scored some absolute bangers – and in important matches too. Don’t just take my word for it – check out this compilation video we put together to highlight some of the ridiculous goals he scored.   Once again, I will remind you that there is good reason to call him AFC Cup Song (hint: all the goals highlighted were from AFC competitions). Even in this small sample of goals we picked out, you will see that it consists of a left-foot banger from range, a right-foot banger from range, a looping header, and a placed finish after running past a whole bunch of defenders. A lot of variety for someone who is not just a goalscorer! An out-and-out striker would be pleased if he had such diversity in the goals he scored. The sheer quality of those goals captivated us. The crowd always went mad. Friends of mine

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Sailors Season Pass worth the money?

NOTE: This article was updated at 7:30pm on 11 Feb, roughly 24 hours after it was first published. The change is in the comparison table you will see below. A reader commented very helpfully that one advantage of the Season Pass holder is that they do not need to pay a SISTIC surcharge of S$1 per ticket. This SISTIC surcharge applies whether you buy a ticket in person at the ticketing counter, or online via SISTIC’s web portal. This thus makes a slight difference to how much you save as a Season Pass holder. However, the conclusion is still the same – the Season Pass seems a tad overpriced. Please continue reading this article to see my elaboration on that. This week saw the long-awaited release of Crew membership and Season Pass details by the club. I think it’s safe to say that there has been a lot of debate and unhappiness about the cost of the Season Pass (S$148), esp because it was priced at S$80 last year. In today’s post, I hope to be able to comprehensively present to you any and all facts that you may need to decide whether or not it’s worth it to get the Crew membership, and the Season Pass. First order of business, what is the difference? Crew Membership v Season Pass Crew Membership does NOT get you any tickets. It merely entitles you to a 20% discount on all home games (5 tickets per match). For popular games, you may still need to ensure you book early to secure your seat. From last year’s experience, this is not the case with the Season Pass, which guaranteed you a seat. However, to get the Season Pass, you need to first be a Crew member. What comes with the Crew Membership? What comes with the Season Pass? What about away games and home AFC games (i.e. Champions League or AFC Cup matches)? The Million-Dollar Question – Worth or not to sign up for Season Pass? Well not quite a million dollars, but it’s S$148 if you’re between the ages of 17 and 54. If you are 16 and below, or 55 and above, congrats – a Season Pass will only cost you S$88. So let’s do the math. I set out in a table below what you pay if you’re attending 10, 11, 12, or 15 games. This will hopefully provide a rough gauge for what you might want to go for, if you’re talking pure financial terms. Remember, it’s S$148 for the season pass, but I have factored in that you need to pay S$48 to be a Crew member before you can apply for the Season Pass, so the total is S$196. From the above tables, you can see how clear it is that being a Season Pass holder only makes sense if you are confident that you will be able to attend close to all of the games. It is a pretty high price and leaves very little “margin” for you to miss games. As we know, sometimes life gets busy, and you may have a work dinner, or someone’s birthday party to attend, and then have to miss a game or two. The most you can miss is 3 games, before it would be cheaper for you to just get the Crew membership. As for SISTIC, as mentioned above, this S$1 charge applies to tickets, even if you don’t use the SISTIC online portal. Tickets bought at the counter on matchday are also subject to this S$1 surcharge, Given that the financial incentive to sign up as a Season Pass holder is not the best, one difference I can think of is that Season Pass holders are assured a seat. They do not have to rush with the rest of the Crew members, or members of the public when seats are released. It’s not first-come-first-served basis for them, they get a guaranteed seat in the house. However, given that very few games sell out, this may or may not be something that features a lot in your thinking. How about sharing of Crew membership? Some ingenious ones among us have come up with the idea of sharing memberships. Since each Crew membership is allowed to purchase 5 tickets, how about we just share memberships, and buy tickets for each other? In theory, this is a brilliant idea. You still get discounted tickets, and you are still able to enjoy the merchandise discounts (just not as many vouchers for yourself since you are sharing with your friends). You and your friends can share a membership and still watch games together. Let me talk you through the down-side to ensure you are comfortable with this. Take note that Season Pass holders and Crew Members are registered individually. One Season Pass holder is one person – one Crew Member is also one person. On the website, you can see that part of being a Crew member is the privilege of receiving invites to “unique experiences that will bring you closer to the players and club that you love“. In the past few years in the teething stages of implementing the Crew membership, when it was cheaper (and for some, free), it was perhaps not easy for the club to receive a clear signal that the Crew members were fully onboard and passionate about the club. With the Crew membership being priced at S$48 now, you can be sure only true fans will sign up. True fans who intend on watching as many games as they can, who will check the scores of LCS matches even if they’re overseas, etc. This is the group of fans that surely the club will want to “reward” with the unique experiences. From previous years’ experience, the club has organised exclusive events for the bigger fans, such as player meet-and-greets, friendly games with other fans and staff, watch-along sessions in a booked-out theatre when the team was playing in the Champions League in Buriram, merchandise launch

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