Author name: Eddy Hirono

After the listless display in midweek, it was important for our Sailors to bounce back with a win in the domestic league. That, we did, and with minimal fuss. 4-1 was the scoreline, but it really should have been 6 or 7. And it wasn’t even like Tanjong Pagar were poor. I think they did pretty well, all circumstances considered, but the gulf in class was just huge, and it showed on the pitch. With the packed schedule ahead, three points and no injuries was the order of the day, and in that sense, Sunday was perfect for us. Let’s dive into some post-match thoughts. Thy Ceremony It’s been coming for some time, but Lennart Thy finally has his first hat-trick in Sailors colours. I think the fuss-free nature of the Sailors win was mirrored by Thy’s hat-trick. None of the three goals was particularly difficult. The first was by far the hardest, where Lennart had to be sharp to turn on the spot and finish with his left foot. The other two goals were basically tap-ins, but you do need to be in those spaces to score those goals. (Remember Dirk Kuyt’s hat-trick of goals against Manchester United in the 2010/2011 season where he basically scored 3 tap-ins from a combined total of 5 yards?) He’s had his critics, but I felt he led the line well last night, and he’s now top-scorer for LCS in the league this season, with 18 goals, 3 more than Shawal Anuar. That’s also his 7th Man-of-the-Match award this season from just 21 games. He’s finding his feet at the right time, and here’s hoping he brings along this form to the ACL2 as well, where we’ll really need to be clinical with our chances. Physicality – Up for the Fight Unlike on Thursday night, I felt our Sailors were really up for the fight, literally. Tanjong Pagar are a long way from their thuggish ways just a few seasons back, but I felt they were aggressive all night (not in a bad way). When you’re up against a side that is alot better in terms of quality, you have to fight, you have to make it uncomfortable for your opponents. I felt TPU did that, and generally didn’t cross the line. Hariss, Bailey, Song, and Maxime may disagree, as they were subject to some tough challenges, but I felt that these challenges were merely normal hard fouls. As the top team in the land, you’re gonna receive such fouls, it’s par for the course. So it was heartening to see that we gave as good as we got. Bailey was elbowed by Rezza Rezky when they challenged for a header, but he himself dished out some punishment to Syahadat in the 81st minute, bodying him off the ball with a tough challenge. Hariss as well, pushed by Matt Silva needlessly, dealt out his punishment to a couple of TPU players as well. Raihan was busy all night, tackling and fouling away, but we were able to look after ourselves, and more. And then we come to the Bart incident. I think Bart escapes a yellow card there. In my opinion, I think the ref giving a yellow card each would be a fair and expected outcome. Some TPU fans have expressed their opinion that Bart is holding back Faizal, and Faizal is just trying to escape Bart’s clutches. I think that’s true to a certain extent only. In my opinion, Faizal flings his arms back in an attempt to get free, yes, but I think he’s absolutely looking to also assert himself in that challenge. There is no excuse for your arms flailing around like that – it’s not a natural movement. Those who’ve played football before, we know, if we want to shield the ball, we will put our arm out straight, but it’s a stationary arm that acts as a barrier, it’s not an arm that’s constantly swinging looking to catch someone. Of course, Faizal does that because Bart is annoyingly grabbing on to him to prevent him from advancing, But that is no excuse for retaliation. Bart deserves a yellow, and Faizal does too – because his arms flailing around do not constitute a red card offence. It’s very common for refs to go “ah there’s a scuffle here, let me book both parties”. In fact, Sailors were on the end of that two games ago, when Diogo Costa puts in a nothing challenge on Naqiuddin Eunos, and Naqi aggressively shoves Diogo. It should be a yellow for Naqi and nothing for Diogo, cos it was just a normal foul, but the ref gives it to both, and not much is said about that. It’s only called into question now because it was a second yellow, and because Bart wasn’t booked. So anyway, TL;DR – Bart should have seen yellow too, ref could have been a bit more lenient considering that this was to be a second yellow, but by the letter of the law, the referee could do what he did. I just sympathise with TPU because it is abit harsh on them. Perhaps the ref was refereeing them based on how they had been tackling all night – which yes, is harsh on them cos each incident should be judged on its own merits. But this wasn’t a crazily bad decision – just harsh. A crazily bad decision is when Timur Talipov pulled off a basketball dribble in last week’s game and both the referee and the VAR cleared it. Anyway, back to the game, the red card came when we were 4-0 up so it didn’t really affect the result, if not there might be even more controversy. Hafiz Nor – A Hat-Trick of Misses Well, I wouldn’t have thought this would happen prior to the game. No exaggeration to say that on any other day, Hafiz Nor gets at least 1 goal from this trio of chances. Maxime Lestienne (more on him later), absolutely

It was a really difficult watch. Right from the get-go, Kaya FC showed their intentions with a long ball causing us some trouble. In the end we dealt with it, but it was a sign of things to come. In the end, I felt we were deserved losers even if the penalty call looked a little controversial. Let’s dive right into some post-match thoughts. Lack of Motivation? In the post-match interview with Bailey, I asked him straight up if the players lacked motivation because the match was a dead rubber. Kaya FC couldn’t overtake us, and we couldn’t qualify. We’d have to overtake Buriram, and that wasn’t possible even before Buriram took on (and beat) KL City FC. He denied that it was the case, and said the players prepared hard to win this game. I am not sure how much of that is him saying the right things, but I have to say certainly in the first half, it didn’t look that way. Bailey did hint at the pitch not helping the team’s cause to play football, but to this I have two things to say – 1) Kaya FC had to play on it too, and 2) this is not their home stadium, and they are actually used to playing on grass pitches, not this artificial turf. This is slightly worrying because if indeed we failed to adapt to pitch conditions, then this is the second time it’s happened this season. The first time was when we played Borneo FC and we were just so so so poor. We had this to say last time. Unfortunately, it would seem lessons were not learnt, or maybe just maybe, we were right that there was a subconscious lack of motivation heading into this game. Which is a shame, because if you look at the table, if we had won that game, we would have been above both KL City FC and Borneo FC. Which I think would be the natural order of things in this group. Progress must be made incrementally, and I think it’s an important psychological marker to drill home the message that while we’re not quite there yet when it comes to challenging Buriram and Cong An Ha Noi, we are better than Malaysian teams (bar JDT), better than Indonesian teams, and certainly better than Filipino teams. The Fringe Players I mentioned that this would be a chance for some fringe players to step up, and I thought they did alright. If anything, it was the big stars who didn’t quite show up for this game. Bil was brave on the ball, even though he was quite clearly targetted by Kaya FC as the weak link in the backline. He used the ball well and helped the Sailors play out of defence on occasion. Anu was his usual combative self, and I shudder to think what the score might have been without him because he seemed the only player winning his duels. Rasaq was starved of service, but most importantly, support. On a couple of occasions he held the ball up well but there just wasn’t any support forthcoming from his teammates and the chance passed. His link-up play also seemed quite rusty sometimes, and I think that’s a chemistry issue. Perhaps Rasaq should be given a little more gametime in games here and there, if not we’re never gonna see him back to the best version of Rasaq that we know and love. Another fringe player to start was Carmona. Diogo couldn’t play in this competition because he wasn’t registered. As expected, this game was too soon for Mamat as well. I think Carmona was some way off his best against Kaya, and I wonder if he’ll see many more opportunities to play this season, given Diogo’s arrival. But of course, if Anu’s situation has taught us anything, it’s never say never. Conclusion A disappointing night out made only a bit more bearable by the hospitality and warmth of the Filipino people everywhere we go. In the bars, on the streets, shops, wherever, they are always happy to chat, happy to give greet you with a great big smile. The supporters sang loud and proud, hoping to help the team preserve their unbeaten start to 2025, but alas it was not to be. I think it’s dangerous to stop winning momentum by taking a match lightly – and we’ll see if the team can pick up their form when we face in-form Tanjong Pagar United and the big one next week, Muangthong United. 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! Picture credit – Lion City Sailors

Prior to the game, many felt that this was a three-horse race, with BG Tampines and Geylang our closest rivals. This game was important from a points perspective – a win for Geylang would see our lead over them cut to only 2 points, although we would still have 2 games in hand. Now, it’s 8 points with 2 games in hand, and you have to think that gives us a bit of comfort at the top of the table, with probably only BG Tampines remaining to give us a threat. On that front too, there was good news, with Hougang brilliantly beating them 4-2 to extend our lead at the top of the table. But as the football cliche goes, we only need to focus on ourselves and make sure we continue picking up points. So let’s dive right into some of my post-match thoughts. Shakir Hamzah – Lucky Boy Let’s start with something that has been bugging me for a while. How was Shakir Hamzah’s attempted tackle not seen as a booking, or even a foul? Some would argue that with the way he lunged in, and how out of control he was, that he might even be red-carded. He didn’t make contact with Hami, but that’s because Hami hurdled the challenge brilliantly. Not sure which tackle I am referring to? Look at the still image below – And then head on down to Youtube to watch the tackle for yourself because still images shouldn’t be used to referee games. Shakir takes a heavy touch, and then lunges in out of control – he’s late, and his studs are showing. Hami has to take quick evasive action and he did so brilliantly, but I think the intent of the challenge must be that the referee does something about it. If Hami had tried to shield the ball there, or if he was slow to hurdle the challenge, we could be looking at a broken leg. Shakir is one of my favourite players, given that he was a real fighter whenever I watched him play for Home United. His spirit, skill and energy always lit up the left flank, but he does have an aggressive streak and I think he’s lucky that VAR wasn’t available earlier in his career. He’s a bit like Rooney in my opinion – in that it’s this aggressive streak that allows him to be such a good player, one you want on your team. However, occasionally, it does boil over and harms his own team, and in this case, potentially an opponent. I have alot of respect for Taqi’s refereeing, but for him to look at this challenge and not do anything about it, I think he himself will probably admit he got it wrong. Let’s hope the referees police the game properly so we don’t see more of these. Debut for Diogo Costa Eyebrows were raised when the lineups were released. Diogo Costa at leftback, straight into the starting 11. Little is known about him, especially because very irritatingly, he shares the exact same name as the Porto captain – so when you search for him on Youtube, you gotta go through tons of irrelevant videos. But what a way to introduce yourself to the Sailors fans. He was brave on the ball, the pace on his pass was good, and he shuttled between attack and defence seamlessly. He also showed that he has a great cross in his arsenal. He was booked for a tough challenge in the first half, but when Geylang’s players and bench tried to intimidate him, he just put his hands up and walked away. I have to admit I feared a little for him after that, because he had so long to play while still on a yellow card. One mistimed challenge, or an overzealous referee, and he’d be gone. In the end, Coach Ranko protected him and took him off in the second half because of his yellow card, but by then he had already done enough to impress me. I think he will be a valuable addition to our squad. I also spoke with Coach Ranko after the game and he shared that Diogo went right into the starting 11 because he had impressed in training. When I caught up with Coach Luka Lalic after the game, he told me that Diogo has much much more to show the Sailors fans. We can’t wait. Shawal the Postman We are so used to seeing the net bulge after Shawal takes a shot. But on Sunday night, he hit a unique hat-trick. He hit the post three times. The game could have been so much more comfortable for us had he taken his chances. Besides the post-hits, there was also one other gilt-edged chance which he put wide of the post. The finishing was so uncharacteristic of him, that when he did score later, Maxime was first to congratulate him, but also playfully slapped the back of his head, as if trying to wake him up. Shawal has been the difference-maker for us so many times since he joined us, so we’re gonna let this stinker of a game for him pass. At least he was in the right positions to score! This goal takes him to 15 goals for the season. Coupled with 11 assists, he is on 26 goal contributions for the season, only just behind Maxime’s 30. Also worth noting that Lennart Thy was the one who hooked the ball across the face of goal for Shawal to hit the post, and also the one who flicked the ball on superbly for Shawal to outpace Rio Sakuma and slot into the net past a stranded Rudy Khairullah. Our attack is starting to find these combinations and it is really great to see. Hami Syahin’s Superb Last-Ditch Tackle In the second half, with the score still at 1-1, Tomoyuki Doi strode forward and slipped a nice through pass for Ryoya Taniguchi. Ryoya was offside,

So it wasn’t to be. What we suspected all along was true – Buriram are a class side, and it would be difficult for our Sailors to keep alive our slim qualification hopes. We were given a huge slice of hope though, when a red card was shown to Kenneth Dougall, meaning we had a whole half to try to break down Buriram’s defence. However, despite many close shaves, we just couldn’t make it happen, and so we’re out. Some thoughts from an action-packed night despite the scoreline! The Red Card Let’s start easy. I’ve heard some people say that they don’t think it’s a red card. Well, pictures don’t lie, so let’s take a look at the replay. Oh, sorry that is a picture of a time-wasting buffoon celebrating winning the World Cup a draw against a team from a much weaker league. Am I being bitter? Yes. Do I give a shit? No. Ok I’ll carry on. For some reason, above-mentioned buffoon / clown / shithead was never punished by the referee despite multiple occasions of time-wasting, including doing freestyle tricks right under the nose of the ref. When Lennart Thy tried to dribble the ball back to the six yard area after the ball had gone out, to reduce the time wasted, he even tripped Lennart – and still the referee didn’t do a thing. Amazing, But we were talking about the red card, not random Thai clowns, so please refer to this still below instead. Maxime is just outside the box, with perhaps perhaps ONE covering defender about 8m away? I don’t think that defender gets to Maxime if Dougall didn’t trip him. Maxime would then be facing the keeper diagonally right, with his left foot primed to strike. It’s the perfect angle for him – he can even dink it over the keeper if he wants. It’s definitely denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity. We even almost scored from the resulting freekick too! But Thai clown made a great double save to deny Datkovic, and so we went into half-time 0-0. Before we move on to the rest of the article, I just wanted to point out how sharp Maxime is. If you look at the replay, once Lennart flicks it on, you can see that Max is already on the move, staring intently at the ball and closing Dougall down. He knows that Buriram like to play with the ball, and he’s likely to take a touch to bring it down, rather than just do the simple and head it clear or back to the keeper. He gambles, and it’s a disastrous touch for Dougall but a delightful one for Max. Matches can turn on the slightest of details, and had we gone on to find the winner in this game, there’s no doubt that this would be the key moment. To think that it could result from just 1 small decision to press. Toe to Toe Even before the red card, I was impressed with our Sailors. Sure, we had some nervy moments, but I had anticipated a full-on barrage from Buriram, and for us to be clinging on, and clearing every ball from our box. What we saw was quite different. Buriram were superior in midfield exchanges, and their pace of passing was superb, but the first half prior to the red card felt quite even, or 60-40 in Buriram’s favour. We even came closest to scoring a goal, with Maxime curling a fantastic shot against the bar. Clowny McClownface was well beaten. In the second half, with the man advantage, I thought Buriram did superb to deny the Sailors a goal. They stood firm on the edge of their box and on a few occasions, stopped promising through-balls into the box which would have helped us get behind their defence. For all our huff and puff, we never really got behind them, and our best chances came from crosses. Glorious chances though! In total, there were three opportunities right in front of goal, we just couldn’t take them. Lennart, Song and Toni will surely replay those chances in their heads for a while. Shawal too, had a decent chance by his standards, but he headed wide. Before the game, if you had told me we would be the side that looked more likely to win, I would have been very surprised. I think despite being dumped out of the competition, we can hold our heads high for this match. We kept a clean sheet against a side that scores goals for fun. And we came mighty close to writing a new chapter in our history of cup upsets. Attacking Intent Ranko has come under attack before for being a cautious, pragmatic coach. In my opinion, I like what I see because our Sailors have never looked this solid throughout the club’s history. But yesterday required a different approach after the red card – and I think you could finally see us throwing caution to the wind. The match ended with Rasaq, Lennart, Shawal, Bart, Maxime, Song all on the field. Each of those players were on the field because they are capable of getting us an important goal. At the death, supporters were also treated to the sight of Izwan making his way into the opposing penalty area. Scenes if he had scored then. I joked with Brandon, who was seated next to me, and said that in my visions, I can see the ball being cleared, and then Hafiz Nor strikes it on the volley from 30 yards and it sails into the top corner. Well, those visions were not accurate, to say the least. That’s why I am not a medium, I’m an XL. It may have been a 0-0, but from staff to players, everyone tried their darndest to pull off the latest upset at Jalan Besar Stadium. And I’m proud of the team. Just like in the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup, when Singapore teams come up

This used to be a top-of-the-table clash, one that the Sailors often found themselves losing. Since Albirex started playing by the same rules as everyone else, our Sailors have gone into every game as the favourites. So far, it’s 2 wins and a loss, but I think even the most die-hard Sailors fan wouldn’t have thought it was gonna be quite this straightforward. From start to finish, the Sailors were dominant, and aside from one crossbar hit from somebody I can’t remember, Albirex never threatened the Sailors’ goal. It is a little sad that this match used to keep supporters at the edge of their seats, but now by half-time, the game was essentially done, even though we rested Maxime Lestienne. Imagine resting our best player for this match last season – it would be unthinkable. Let’s dive into some post-match thoughts. Lennart Thy Man of the Match Lennart Thy picked up 2 goals and an assist on Friday, making him Sailors’ top-scorer in the league, 1 ahead of Shawal. Amazingly, it was also his 6th Man-of-the-Match award (if I counted it right) in just 19 league games. Wow. However, as stated in my previous article, I think some supporters still need a little convincing, and Albirex’s diminished profile probably doesn’t help him in this regard. Supporters are bound to take it a lot more seriously if he turns in such a performance against BG Tampines Rovers, or indeed, on the continental stage. Do well against Buriram, and maybe just maybe, those who aren’t fully convinced yet will be. For now though, let’s get behind him – it’s crazy that I need to say this when he is our top-scorer in the league. 15 goals in the league, with 4 assists. Left foot, right foot, headers, he scores them all. In a team where the goals are spread out, rather than having a Doi-shaped figure dominating the attack, these are very reasonable numbers. Long may this continue. Bart Ramselaar – His Best Game I am actually surprised that it wasn’t Bart who picked up the MOTM award. 2 assists and a goal, plus he also had a hand in Lenny’s 2nd goal when his shot was well-saved by Hassan Sunny. He ran Ryhan Stewart ragged down our left, and it was no surprise that 3 of our goals in the first half came down our left side. It was his well-placed cross that invited Hassan Sunny to rush out of goal to try to punch away, but of course we know that Shawal’s leap is magical and he managed to get to the ball ahead of Hassan. He then executed a quick 1-2 with Sergio Carmona Perez for the 3rd goal, before unleashing a rocket of a shot into the top corner. To round off the first half, he then showed good strength and skill to hold the ball up just enough to lay it off for Song to score the 4th. Aside from his goal contributions, he also kept things ticking very nicely in midfield, using turns and feints to ensure that Albirex were always chasing shadows when they tried to squeeze us in midfield. Bart’s season has been a little stop-start due to injury and suspension. He is on 8 goals and 6 assists from 12 league matches this year, which is already a very high tally, but I think his best game for us in a Sailors shirt is gonna spur him on to greater heights. Winning with Wingbacks With Albirex defending for their lives, it allowed our two wingbacks a lot of room to attack, and that they did. Carmona picked up an assist and a goal, while Chris van Huizen put in a number of dangerous balls from the right, and ended the night with a good assist for Carmona. For CvH, it was his 2nd assist in a week, and I think he is really relishing being able to push up during SPL games. Earlier this season, CvH would sometimes start as a fullback in a back 4, which naturally meant he sometimes had to curb his attacking instincts. Now, with three centrebacks at the back, you see how we attack, and how high Carmona and CvH get. It creates more options for us, and makes it harder for defenders to pick up players like Bart and Maxime who like to look for space between the fullbacks and the centrebacks. Carmona was also really exciting to watch down the left flank, and at times you can see his youthful exuberance. There was a moment where he tried to nutmeg someone in his own half, and it ultimately led to a half-chance for Albirex. He got absolutely chewed out for that by Hariss – and rightly so. It was not a good risk to take, and it could have ended badly for us on another day. He will only get better with time. Of course, I still believe that against a team like Buriram, we will see Hami Syahin back in the RWB role and our LWB will be asked to stay much deeper, as we look to have a bit more ball security in the middle. However, in the SPL, where we can afford to take a few more risks, we want to be entertained, and hopefully we get to see our wingbacks flying forward more often. Anu and Hariss To say that Anu and Hariss are not everyone’s cup of tea would be an understatement. However, they both turned in very tidy performances, especially Anu, who completed 90 minutes, made 94% of his passes, and snapped into a few challenges to regain possession for the team. He looked relatively untroubled all night and in a season where we will be playing in 4 competitions, we need someone like Anu in the squad even if he isn’t first choice. Rumours that he will go on loan to TPUFC hopefully stay as just rumours – there’s no way we should be letting go of