Author name: Eddy Hirono

[Preview] Lion City Sailors v Persib Bandung (A Huge Chance for the Sailors in the Blue and White Derby)

Why is the Bandung drink more expensive when our opponents sell it? Because they charge per-sip. Ok now that we got that horrible joke out of the way, let’s talk about some serious stuff. If we win against Persib tonight, and Port notch a win away from home in Zhejiang, we are through. That’s how crazy it is. Lose the game, and if Zhejiang get a point or a win, and the group is blown wide open. Such are the margins and possibilities in this group. Let’s take a look, and then dive right into the preview. Manage Expectations and Get Behind the Team After giving it the good ol’ buildup, that must be a very downer title to read. Potong steam, as we say. Expectations are high because we’ve beaten Zhejiang at home, and then got 2 very creditable away results. People will also remember that last year, we put in a performance for the ages, defeating Korean giants Jeonbuk on home soil. (Sidenote – can you say home soil, considering artificial turf has no soil? Something to think about) However, our Sailors also lost at home to Bangkok United, and more surprisingly, Kitchee FC last year. Also, let’s not forget that Persib is a team that is still unbeaten domestically (5 wins and 5 draws), and is only 1 point off the top of the table. Their star striker David Da Silva is also back from injury. and his record last season was stellar. 30 matches, 26 goals, 8 assists in the league – surely someone to fear. I can’t say I’ve seen much of him but I get a little scared reading the record. We don’t really know what we can expect from Persib considering that when we played them, they played almost half the game with 10 men. The fact that we couldn’t break them down after gives me a bit of cause for worry as well. Oh, and of course, it was the night where Bart Ramselaar got sent off, and is thus unavailable for us again tonight. Thus, cautious optimism is what I preach, and more importantly, get behind the team. If we concede an early goal, or two, just keep going. As fans, we can be a part of this very special night. Every footballer I speak with tells me that they get a little extra boost when they can feel the crowd behind them. They go into tackles more confident, there’s a swagger when they go on a dribble, there’s that extra bit of oomph when they head a ball away. Coach Ranko in his press conference today has called for a full stadium to roar the boys on, and I hope we will see that. Persib fans will definitely bring the noise, so let’s be on our best form too in the stands. Bart’s Suspension – Lack of Creativity? I am a little worried about our creativity against Persib. Reason? I suspect they will sit back and try to hit us on the counter with their pacy players. The second-half performance in the first game will give them all the confidence that they can hold us at bay. Aside from the header they conceded from a very good Maxime cross, I cannot really remember when we really threatened their goal. And that was with 10 men. Even though Bart has only 5 assists in all competitions, without the threat through the middle of midfield that Bart sometimes provides, and the shooting ability which may help to open up space for his fellow midfielders, I fear that Persib will double-team Maxime and realise that nullifying him means taking away a large part of the Sailors threat. From the right of midfield, the threat is clear, Maxime Lestienne – 19 assists in the league after 17 games played. Surprisingly, of the 6 goals we’ve scored in the ACL2, only 2 saw a direct involvement from Maxime – 1 goal and 1 assist. I think you’ll agree with me here when I say that it’s a matter of time before we see a greater contribution from our brilliant Belgian. Where else do we turn for creativity? Shawal has 10 assists in the league, Lennart Thy has 3. Song Ui Young? Zero assists. But it’s to the latter 2 where I feel the “creativity” can come. Just like in the game against Port, I have a feeling that hard work is what will reap rewards for us. What we may lack in craft, we can certainly make up for it in graft. Graft, by the way is one of the English language’s shitty words. Graft could mean hard work, but could also mean shady, corrupt practices. So while I could be saying that we can create our own chances through sheer hard work and grit, it may be misinterpreted by some to mean we can go right ahead and bribe the referee. For the avoidance of doubt, that is not what I mean. We’re gonna press them from the front, and force them into mistakes. Lennart Thy and Song will play a big part in that. Speaking of Song … Song Has a Point to Prove There was an interesting moment in the pre-match press conference held yesterday when a reporter asked Coach Ranko is Song Ui Young was injured. The reason for asking? The NT call-ups have been announced, and one notable exclusion is Song Ui-Young. This has caught some by surprise because he finally looks to be playing himself into some kind of form. He’s scored in his last game in the league, as well as the ACL2. Both goals highlight his ability to sniff out a chance, and make a late run to escape the attention of defenders. Of course, he has done this for years, but recently he just lost his way a little. What is surprising is that when he finallly plays himself back into some form, and seems to be one of the few NT players able to

[Preview] Lion City Sailors v Persib Bandung (A Huge Chance for the Sailors in the Blue and White Derby) Read More »

[Post-Match Thoughts] Im-Port-Ant Win (Port FC 1 Sailors 3)

What. A. Win. I didn’t see it coming at all, and if you had offered me a chance to take a point away from home against in my opinion, the strongest team in the group, I would have taken it, no questions asked. I suspect many supporters would have done the same, having seen us get pummeled away from home 3-0, and 5-0 this season in continental competition. Yes, Port dominated the ball, and made a heckload of passes. See below. But when it mattered, we came up with the goods. Besides goals, another key stat to look out for is big chances created – interestingly, Port had nothing on that front. Izwan hardly had a save to make all night. Let’s talk about some of what we saw in an important and potentially historic away victory that puts us in a very good place with half the group matches done. Intensity Wins Games In continental games, especially away fixtures, I would love to see how much additional effort our players have to expend. Our Sailors can be accused of taking it a little easy in domestic fixtures, but you can really see them running their socks off whenever they come up against better opposition. I don’t think it’s just a motivation issue – it simply is about survival. If you don’t run, if you don’t close down the spaces, you get punished big time on the continental stage, purely because of the greater quality of our opponents. And when we talk about intensity, our fans, especially those who have supported since the Home Utd days will think of Song Uiyoung. This season, we have not seen him at his sparkling best, but the image of Song sprinting around the pitch, sometimes seemingly like a headless chicken is one we will associate with him always. He was undoubtedly the star of the show two ACL campaigns ago, as we downed K-league side Daegu once, and almost did it twice. He was also the star of many AFC Cup games back in the red and white of Home United. I think it’s fair to say that this season, we have not seen the best of him yet. And it looked likely to continue as he blasted over when presented with a half-chance in the box. The score was 2-0 then, and I feared that it would be a costly miss. Of course, we now know that he would score from a heavily-deflected shot in the second half to seal the points for us, but I wanna talk about his intensity instead. From the first whistle, he sprinted around like a man possessed. I have been critical of Song this season in some games when I felt like he wasn’t at his best, but this was the Song I know and love. Not the biggest guy, but always pressing, always scrapping, always getting his arms and elbows and legs in the way of opponents, making it hard for them to settle. And it was this quality that brought us our crucial second goal, when he fought for the ball that wasn’t even 50-50. I think it was 30-70. Noboru always looked likely to win it. However, Song’s presence meant that Noboru didn’t get a clean connection with the ball and only managed to scuff it into an area where Shawal could pounce on and capitalise. Song’s robust presence in midfield (along with some reliable passing – 13 out of 16 successful passes) let our opponents know that we were up for the fight. While that intensity may have been set by some early Song duels, but it was seen in every single person out there. You think about how our central defensive trio reacted when put under some intense pressure in the second half, you think about how much defending Lennart Thy and Shawal Anuar had to do, often helping out as far back as in the flanks outside our penalty area, and you can see how such results are borne out of a lot of hard work. But of course, hard work alone isn’t a guarantee of success, you still need some quality. And that brings us to … Shawal Anuar the Superstar Everytime we see Shawal Anuar put in such a performance, it is worth thinking about how difficult this journey of his to the top has been. He is 33 this year and isn’t getting any younger, but some of his best football has been seen after he turned 30. Coach Ranko often calls Shawal his MVP, his superstar, and with such performances, it’s easy to see why. If you don’t know how difficult his journey was, I suggest you check out this excellent article by Straits Times writer Deepanraj Ganesan. From cleaning glass panels in shopping malls while getting paid a S$50 allowance to play, to cleaning the floor with his opponents in the ACL2, he has certainly come a long way. The first goal was a simple finish for him, set up by an inch-perfect cross by Chris van Huizen (whose name was mispronounced about 400 times by the commentator that night), but it was an example of him making the right run into the right space. I would also like to point out that Lennart Thy and Shawal Anuar both saw the play unfold, and worked together as a strike duo to make the right runs. Shawal burst into the area in front of goal, while Lennart was on his bike as well, but upon seeing Shawal in that position, occupied the area behind Shawal in case of a cutback from Chris. The second goal is by far the more impressive one. First, he had to have the instinct to sniff that the ball was going to reach him. If you watch the replay, you will see that he already started his run even when the ball was still in the air. He sensed that Song might win that aerial challenge, and while Song didn’t,

[Post-Match Thoughts] Im-Port-Ant Win (Port FC 1 Sailors 3) Read More »

[Preview] Lion City Sailors v Hougang United (Matches Are Finally Back)

After what seems like forever, especially after our Sailors had their last match in Bangkok postponed, we finally see our boys in action again. Apologies for the late preview – it’s gonna be really short as well. I’ve come down with a heat exhaustion injury + food poisoning over the last couple of days, and my body has been doing all sorts of horrible things. But never mind, off to the preview we go. The last 2 times we faced Hougang resulted in very routine victories – 4-1 and 7-1, and both times our players didn’t have to break a sweat. More of the same this time? The Obvious Dangermen – Stjepan Plazonja and Dejan Racic I referred to this guy as the SPL Podolski from the first time I started researching on him for the first preview article and all that I’ve seen so far has reinforced that opinion. It is genuinely impressive how powerful and direct he is on the left flank. Plazonja has 8 goals and 7 assists from Hougang’s 16 games so far, which works out to about a goal contribution per game. Truly impressive considering Hougang is a pretty goal-shy team. Of course of his 8 goals, 7 have been on his left foot, with the remaining goal taken on his right foot. We’ll go a long way if we can show him onto his right foot – but I’m guessing every team in the league knows that and still finds it incredibly difficult to stop. If Plazonja is the threat from the left, then Dejan Racic is absolutely the dangerman in front. With 12 goals he is the top-scorer in Hougang, and he profits a lot from Plazonja’s exploits down the left. 2 goals off his head, 3 on his left foot, and 7 on his right foot proves he is a versatile finisher, and we have to stop the service to him. The Return of Shahdan Sulaiman The last time we played Hougang, Shahdan was playing, but he was nowhere near his best as we easily demolished Hougang 7-1. That was 3 months ago when he just came back from injury, though, and in recent games we’ve seen him go back to his usual self. He has 1 goal and 3 assists this season, but more importantly, he has brought back some midfield presence to this Hougang team, which has added another dimension to the team – instead of just their usual long ball from the back. We’re gonna have to keep Shahdan quiet in midfield, and this seems like a game fit for someone like Song Ui-Young to play, because of his physicality, which may help to upset Shahdan’s rhythm a little. The Table Doesn’t Lie With all the nice stuff I said about Hougang in the above two sections, it would seem like I am predicting a really difficult game for the Sailors. However, despite the recent resurgence, Hougang still lie second from bottom, only above Tanjong Pagar United. Also, they are still goal-shy and the list of scorers is not a diverse one. Shut down Racic and shut down Plazonja and we should be fine. Conclusion I wonder if Coach Ranko will rotate again, given that we have a tough away trip in 5 days’ time against Persib, Whatever it is, I hope we have enough strength either in our starting XI or on the bench to save the game should it not go according to plan. COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE! My predicted line-up Izwan Mahbud Hafiz Nor, Lionel Tan, Bailey Wright, Toni Datkovic, Chris van Huizen Song Ui-Young, Hami Syahin Maxime Lestienne, Lennart Thy, Bart Ramselaar Score Prediction Joseph and I 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 4 Hougang 2 Joseph’s prediction: Sailors 6 Hougang 0 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!

[Preview] Lion City Sailors v Hougang United (Matches Are Finally Back) Read More »

[Preview] Port FC v Lion City Sailors (Can We Finally Score Away From Home?)

Again, I take a bit of a backseat this time as Joseph Chin (not to be mistaken with Joseph Jireh) very helpfully did all of the heavy lifting for this article, and I am very grateful. I present to you his lowdown on Port FC, and will then add on some of my thoughts and predictions at the end. The Lowdown on Port FC The Name Why are they named Port? A tribute to the Portuguese wine usually paired with dessert? Or are they located by the sea? Well, Port FC are founded and sponsored by the Port Authority of Thailand, and are one of the oldest clubs in the country. They had some initial successes in the 1960s before their current post-millenium golden era. The Port Authority of Thailand Stadium doesn’t pass muster for AFC competitions, so this match will be held in BG Stadium, familiar surroundings for our former player Irfan Fandi (Home United in 2016 and 2017), who just last season was part of the BG Pathum side who plays their matches there. Asian Pedigree Port FC faced Geylang United (aka International) in the 2010 AFC Cup Group Stage. The Eagles drew 2-2 away but lost 1-0 in Singapore. Port FC then managed to go all the way to the quarter-finals before they lost out to Kuwaiti team Qadsia SC. More recently, they had their best campaign in 2021 when they beat a weakened Guangzhou twice. Playoff round losses to Ulsan and Zhejiang in 2021/2022 and 2023/2024 meant they didn’t qualify for the Champions League again. The Man at the Helm Rangsan Viwatchaichok. Young rising manager who won the treble with Buriram in 2011 as a player, and served his original club BEC/Police Tero with distinction both as a player and manager. The former left back/defensive mid was capped 29 times for Thailand. Interestingly, he has played for Geylang United before from 2006 to 2007, and he holds the record for most appearances in the Thai League 1 with 439 appearances. Some Dangermen to Look Out For Port FC look fairly stacked from their recent recruitment drive, so here’s some players to keep an eye out for. Irfan Fandi: For the first time in continental competition, we face a Singaporean doing well overseas. With Isaac Honny (Ghana) and Noboru Shimura (Japan) also in contention at CB, their defence might be a tough one to break down, [Editor’s note – Think Noboru Shimura might be injured, he came off injured during the match against Buriram FC a fewe weeks ago] Frans Putros: Denmark born Iraqi CB/RB who was out injured before his callup against Oman in the recent international window. Recovered well enough to be on the bench against Prachuap last week. He also represented Denmark at the youth levels before being capped for Iraq 19 times. Asnawi Muangkalam: This name will be familiar to all Singapore fans, for what he did to Faris Ramli after he missed a penalty playing against Indonesia. What better way to avenge (then Sailor) Faris’s AFF Cup debacle when Shawal zips past the troll at full back and scores a long ranger (either by himself or have Maxime bend it in like against Zhejiang). and give him the ultimate back-handed compliment by (not) celebrating it in his face. Willen Mota: A familiar face since our encounters with BUTD last season. Last seen coming out as a super sub to score the late winner against Persib. Might end up going for the same trick again to catch our tired Sailors in defence when Felipe Amorim is subbed out. Bordin Phala: A mainstay for Port at club since 2018, and a scourge for our NT at various big tournaments (but thankfully not scored against our national team). A tricky winger who poses a threat himself, or when laying on the assists for his teammates, as you can see above. Playing Style Rangsan generally sets his teams up in a 4-3-3 formation, although he sometimes switches to a 3-4-3 or a 4-2-3-1. Against Persib, he opted for a rare 3-5-1-1. And that’s the Lowdown by Joseph Chin! Away Woes Set to Continue? I don’t quite know what it is, but our Sailors seem to be a completely different team when we play at home vs when we play away. It won’t help that Port is probably one of the strongest teams we will face this season. If you look at all our opponents, I think besides Buriram, no other team comes even close to the quality Port has. Buriram and Port of course, also benefit from playing in a much faster-paced league. As the saying goes – “iron sharpens iron”. Playing week in week out in a league of much higher intensity will mean that our Sailors will have to hang in there for long periods in this game. We will need to “suffer” before we can even think of playing our football. Before the match against CAHN, I hoped that we would do better than we did against Borneo. We can all see how that turned out. One thing that struck me about the CAHN game is how much faster the Vietnamese players looked compared to us, and we might see the same again tonight. They are 2nd in the table, behind the Buriram juggernaut. A few weeks ago, they managed to eke out a 0-0 draw against Buriram, while last week they fell 2-1 to fellow challengers BG Pathum. Do not be fooled by their recent run of form in the league, where they are winless in 4. They are still dominating games, and even in their loss against BG Pathum, they were far and away the better team, and made BG Pathum look like a mid-table team. A combination of poor finishing, bad luck and occasional bad defending has led to this run, but I believe it is nothing more than a slight blip for them. Conclusion I cannot in good conscience predict that our Sailors can go up there and

[Preview] Port FC v Lion City Sailors (Can We Finally Score Away From Home?) Read More »

[Post-Match Thoughts] Ranko’s Gamble Paid Off (Tampines 2 Sailors 2)

I won’t be the only one who felt a little apprehensive when I saw the starting lineup for our Sailors on Sunday evening. Maxime on the bench, no Bart and Lenny at all in the squad. Haiqal Pashia playing right wing-back. Youngsters like Bill and Carmona, starting in defence, Obren starting on the wing. On paper, this was certainly not the strongest Sailors line-up. My immediate thought was that this was a huge gamble, one with the upcoming fixture against Port FC in mind. Thankfully, the gamble paid off, and Tampines were unable to gain any ground on us. Let’s dive into some of my post-match thoughts. That Equaliser – Did we Get Lucky? There’s nowhere else to start, is there? Tampines looked on the verge of getting a crucial win with some good play in the second half, but were denied when Shawal Anuar leapt high into the air to plant a header on target. What happened next is the subject of much controversy. Syazwan grabbed the ball – but where? Was it over the line? The referee and assistant referee didn’t give it. The Sailors players were livid, and play continued for a bit before the ball finally went out of play. VAR continued checking, and in the end, the goal was given. But was it a slice of luck for us? In my opinion, yes. When the assistant referee and referee don’t see the ball cross the line, they cannot give the goal. So they didn’t. What comes next is while the play carries on, the VAR is checking to see if the ball did cross the line. Unlike in the English Premier League, there is no goal-line technology. There are also probably fewer camera angles, which is why the best angles were this two angles. With the greatest of respect to the VAR team, I am not sure that you can clearly give a goal with these 2 angles as your evidence. Other circumstantial factors come into play, such as Syazwan’s guilty look on his face, him having to roll the ball forward after accidentally taking it backwards, and the vehement protests of the Sailors players. All these may convince the refereeing and VAR team that the ball did indeed cross the line – however, none of this is 100%. Why does it need to be 100%? Well, because once the goal isn’t given, then the threshold for VAR to intervene and reverse that call is that it must be a “clear and obvious error”. The green between the ball and the line shows that it must have been really close, but it is not in and of itself a factor that guarantees the ball did cross the line. In my opinion, we got lucky here. Had the roles been reversed and Sailors conceded such a goal, I’d be livid. Shawal Anuar – Defying His Age Shawal gets better with age, doesn’t he? How does this man keep doing it? Speed of feet is one thing, speed of thought is another. For the first goal, we saw both. The former contributed to him outpacing Shah Shahiran, a man much younger than him. The latter contributed to him taking the shot on early, with his weaker foot, reading the situation quickly to realise that he just had to lift it above the retreating Syazwan. The former meant that he could close down Shah Shahiran’s shot in the first place, but it was the latter that saw the danger and responded to it. Sometimes you can try to analyse goals, but if you look at the paragraph above and break it down, you miss the point of the goal, the artistry of the goal. It would be like me trying to describe why Sydney Sweeney is a very good-looking person. Don’t do it, just enjoy. What a goal it was, and it will live long in the memory. If we thought that Shawal’s goal last season against Balestier Khalsa (also a left-footed first-time shot from near the halfway line) was good, then this is about 15458x better. Then the 2nd goal – just when I was remarking to the fans seated near me that we were not going anywhere with our repeated crosses into the box, Shawal leapt up like a salmon and proved me wrong. I should have never doubted him. Izwan + Zharfan I am so happy for Izwan. Right after I publish a long article discussing in detail how he could have done better in Hanoi, he goes and does this. A mature performance (both goals were not his fault), and a penalty save to boot. The perfect way to bounce back. On the flip-side though, you do feel for Zharfan. Imagine what’s going through his mind. He was replaced when the team was trashed 5-0 and he made 1 mistake. In midweek, Izwan made a couple of mistakes and the team was trashed 5-0. The next couple of days, he would have had to play the role of supportive teammate to Izwan, but inside he would have been wondering – “is this my chance?” Then came matchday, and the announcement of the starting lineup, and he would have felt a minor setback. If that wasn’t enough to reinstate him into the team, even in a rotated lineup, when will the chance come? To then sit on the bench, and watch as the rival for your place in the team saves a penalty – that must have led to all manner of conflicting emotions for him. Some fans remarked that while the team was being serenaded by the fans after the final whistle, he abruptly left and headed for the dressing room. I say we cut him some slack – it’s a tough situation to be in, and he is human after all. We are blessed to have two of the best goalkeepers in the land in our team (perhaps only bettered by Hassan Sunny and Naumovski) – so here’s hoping there’s some way

[Post-Match Thoughts] Ranko’s Gamble Paid Off (Tampines 2 Sailors 2) Read More »

[Preview] Tampines Rovers v Sailors (Please Guys, Don’t Make Us Chant Lima Kosong Again)

The 5-0 scoreline is a haunting one. To concede that number of goals, and to not even score 1 – it’s not a great day out whether you’re a player or a supporter. Unfortunately, we’ve done it twice this season. In Hanoi, the Crew found some time for gallows humour and started chanting “Lima Kosong” as we exited the stadium. Lol. While CAHN is a good team in a good league and you can half-explain it away as a bad day at the office against superior opposition, there can be no such excuses for losing 5-0 to Tampines Rovers. It was so, so poor. The last time we lost 5-0, we picked ourselves up and responded a few days later with a big win against Young Lions, so here’s hoping we can do similar this time round. Let’s dive into some pre-match thoughts. Tampines Not in the Best of Form Oh dear me, the last time I wrote about a team not being on form, it was CAHN and see what they did to us! At the risk of jinxing it though, I am gonna stick to my guns here. Tampines are on a run of 5 matches without a win, and have lost their last 2. It seems that their packed schedule might be getting to them as well, both in terms of fatigue and rotation. They left out Faris and Glenn in their match against Young Lions with an eye on the Bangkok United game in midweek, and they didn’t really get going until both of them were subbed on, eventually clawing back a 2-goal deficit. Unluckily for us this time, it is us who do not have the benefit of a week’s rest and training before the game, as Tampines did not have any midweek games this time round. You can thus be sure that their A-team, including Faris and Glenn will play, and we will need to be wary of their threat. Tampines play a very good brand of football, but it seems that the blueprint to beat/hold them has been repeatedly put on show in the previous few games. Just stay tight at the back, and hit them on the counter-attack. Luckily for us, that’s exactly what we like to do, so I think this is where we might capitalise. As for staying solid at the back, two big questions pop up ahead of this match. First, do we stick with 3 centre-backs at the back, or do we go with 2? Second, is Ranko gonna swap keeper like the last time he did when we lost 5-0 and our keeper made an error? How Many at the Back? Ok you have 5 seconds to decide which you would do if you were Coach Ranko. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Ok I’d prefer if we go with 3 centre-backs at the back for the added solidity. I wonder what the fans think, and I don’t think there is a right answer for this. But here’s why I prefer 5 at the back. First, 4 at the back means Lionel Tan at right-back. I am not super convinced with that, but I don’t feel like there’s better options as well. We all saw Hafiz Nor’s defensive deficiencies against CAHN, while Chris van Huizen also endured a tough time in Hanoi. We desperately need Mamat back, don’t we! If you look at the 5-0 game against Tampines again, we looked good and solid for the 45min, but were undone the moment someone stepped out of the compact backline. Datkovic tried to guess where Irfan Najeeb’s pass was going, and he squeezed up without the other 2 centrebacks following his line. This left a gaping hole for Boris Kopitovic to exploit, and that he did with aplomb. After that, came the dreadful Zharfan error, and as a result of that, he didn’t play for us in the 9 games after. But the defensive performance in the first half was not at all bad. We limited Tampines to very few chances. Where it got disastrous for me, is in the second half, when Lionel was taken off and we moved to a back 4. Suddenly, Faris and Glenn had the time of their lives. Glenn killed Carmona on the left flank to get the crucial 3rd goal, while Faris was left with all the space in the world to curl in a great 4th goal from the left wing. Given that we have been playing with this system against better opponents in the ACL, ACL2, and the Shopee Cup, I think we will continue sticking with it against Tampines, a sign that we take them seriously. Interestingly, in the SPL, the first time we played 5 at the back was against Tampines as well, while our last SPL game against Balestier Khalsa also saw us going back to a back 5. We did not play this formation for the rest of our games – as far as I can remember. I think there is a good reason for playing against better teams with 5 at the back. For all the qualities our Sailors players have, one thing I feel we lack is the ability to cover large spaces while defending. We look so much more solid when we have 3 centre-backs on the pitch. Against teams like Tanjong Pagar, we can get away with anything at the back, but I think against Tampines, it might be wise to stay solid, and hit them on the transitions, which is their weak point. Do We Switch the Keeper? This is a tough one. I think swapping keepers after they make an error is not something I’d do as a coach. Mistakes happen. I wasn’t a fan of Zharfan being dropped for his error, although I do feel it was a decision made not just because of his one error. He had looked a little unconvincing this season in some games when coming out to claim crosses, and Izwan is just

[Preview] Tampines Rovers v Sailors (Please Guys, Don’t Make Us Chant Lima Kosong Again) Read More »

[Post-Match Thoughts] Our Away Duck Continues (CAHN 5 Sailors 0)

Wow, that was terrible wasn’t it? If you haven’t caught the preview yet, please go take a look at how I said that while CAHN is not easy opposition, this was the perfect time to face them. OK I guess not. 5-0 and a game where I don’t think we really tested their keeper much. What went wrong? Or are we just not at the level required to compete against other ASEAN teams when we play away? Some thoughts this way. Are We Too Defensive? My short answer to this is “No”. Some may point at our away duck in terms of not just getting results, but also getting just goals, and say we have been too defensive. Besides the Kitchee game, we have failed to score in our last few away matches. 3-0 to Jeonbuk, 1-0 to Bangkok United, 3-0 to Borneo. It doesn’t make for pretty reading. And when you’re not scoring goals, then you’d hope the defence is solid. I think the Jeonbuk game people can understand the magnitude of the challenge, but against Bangkok and Borneo, I think fans can be excused for expecting a little better. We fell to a late heartbreaking goal against Bangkok, and this time against CAHN, we conceded 1 in the first half to a very well-worked goal. Some quick passing between the men in red led to what you see above. A great through pass into the box for their right wing-back to latch on to. Look at the top – Hafiz Nor is caught ball-watching and doesn’t realise the danger of his man running past his blind spot and eventually into position to score. In what was a superbly well-worked goal, this was perhaps the only error that was made – the only thing that made it more “preventable”. You can see by the time that the cross comes in, Hafiz Nor is nowhere near his man. It’s not a pace issue, Hafiz Nor is rapid. He was just caught ball-watching – this is where his lack of defensive instincts perhaps shows. He is after all, a winger, not a wingback. What I think is worth talking about is before this well-worked goal, CAHN hardly troubled us. We hardly troubled them as well besides some speculative attempts, including one from Lestienne in the opening minutes that curled just wide – but in an away game, we stayed solid and hard to break down, and I don’t think that’s the wrong way to play. We do have a backline that is not blessed with pace, while our strength as a team lies in how we counter-attack. In an away game against superior opposition, I think we have to be smart and play to our strengths. Had we continued to keep up the solid display at the back, frustration will creep in from the home side and their fans, and that’s when they start to lose focus or over-commit on attack. Also, you saw what CAHN did to us on the counter-attack when we lost the ball. They are a rapid team on transition as well, and if you’re gonna find yourself in 1v1 situations with them – be it striker vs centreback, or winger vs fullback, I guarantee you they beat us 8 out of 10 times. You saw what Quang Hai did to Bailey in the 48th minute – his twinkle toes bamboozling our defence before he nutmegged Bailey easily, and then laid it on a plate for Vitao, who didn’t impress with his finish. They are just a quality team, and against quality teams, you have to play smart. It is a pity that we didn’t manage to hold on till half-time. Half-time 0-0 and the game turns out very different. But these are the margins in continental football. Local teams just don’t have the quality to hurt you in the same way. Izwan Will Be Disappointed with Himself I don’t particularly like singling out players for criticism – but I feel that he would be disappointed with his performance in this one. Just as we lauded him (and the whole Singapore team) for the battling 0-0 in the Saitama Stadium against Japan all those years back, by the same token he should be open to being criticised for his performance in Hanoi. Football is a very funny game in that unless you watch full games, you never quite know whether a team DESERVES a result. 5-0 in this case, I genuinely feel it was undeserved because Izwan had such a poor game by his own lofty standards. On any other day, this would have been a 2-0 or a 3-0, a result that is much easier to take, and much less embarrassing. I’ll talk about some of the goals, and you can be your own judge of whether Izwan could have done better. Let’s start with the 2nd goal – he’s beaten at the near post and that got him quite a bit of criticism. However, I think it’s not easy when a shot comes through a sea of bodies, and the quality on the strike – not just how hard and well-placed it is, but also the guile to disguise the shot means that the keeper may be half-expecting a shot towards the far post. Izwan does well to get down to the shot despite all this, but it just wasn’t enough. Not his fault, this one. Maybe Hafiz Nor and Lionel could have done a bit better to block the shot? The 3rd, 4th, and 5th goal though – in my opinion there’s something to be said about Izwan for all these goals. 3rd Goal In the 65th minute, there’s a corner kick, there’s a big shout of “KEEPER!” and Izwan comes out to deal with the arcing ball. Now, you’ll see a rather weak punch and I am no professional goalkeeper of course, so take my words with a pinch of salt here – but I think he gets caught in 2 minds

[Post-Match Thoughts] Our Away Duck Continues (CAHN 5 Sailors 0) Read More »

[Preview] Cong An Ha Noi v Sailors (Not Easy Opposition, But No Better Time to Face Them)

I must confess two things first before you read this preview. First, I am typing this barely hours before I fly off to Hanoi and so the research is unlikely to be great. I have not packed either – I am starting to get used to this routine of having to clear as much work as I can before I fly off to support the Sailors in whatever part of the world. My suitcase-packing skills have greatly improved though! Chuck, chuck, chuck, chuck, in and out in 10min. Second, I don’t know a lot about V-League football, besides knowing that Vietnamese players, particularly those who play for the national team, are of a pretty high quality. And with that disclaimer out of the way, let’s talk about why CAHN are probably a good team, but there is no better time to play them. Their Season Just Started Unlike our Sailors, who are thick in the middle of our season, CAHN’s season is barely 3 games old, 1 win in the Shopee Cup, 1 draw and 1 loss in the V-League. While their win against a second-string (but still strong) Buriram United is impressive, they looked very lacklustre in their domestic games. A possible reason for this is that their new signings are still gelling. After all, it takes time for players to settle, and get used to each other. Maxime Lestienne was not an overnight sensation when he joined us – he too, took a while before becoming this absolute machine that he is now. Another possible reason is match fitness – perhaps they really just need a run of games to get going. I am sure you will remember how our own Sailors started this season as well – the articles were very similar. Each article talked about how the Sailors were winning but unconvincing. Perhaps CAHN is going through the same thing too. And then perhaps because of this need to gel, if you take a look at the highlights of their two league games so far, they look far from convincing in defence. Many times the defence is caught flat-footed, and they are just staring at each other, waiting for the other defenders to take action. This is hopefully something we can capitalise on. Not as Many Foreign Players V-League rules dictate that teams can only use up to 3 foreign players and 2 naturalised Vietnamese in domestic games. As such, you see that their squad contains only 4 foreign players. Jason Pendant may look like a foreign name but he has a Vietnamese mother, and when you realise his full name is Jason Pendant Quang Vinh, it starts sounding a lot more Vietnamese, don’t it. To make matters worse for them, Grafite, their hero on Matchday 1 against Buriram sustained an injury and will not be available for this game. So, we have more foreigners than them in our squad, and I think the better foreigners as well, if you just compare CVs. This should help to counter the advantage that CAHN FC has when it comes to the standard of the local players. Vietnam > Singapore is my simplistic analysis of this of course. The Vietnamese Players We are a bit lucky that star defender Doan Van Hau (19 caps for Vietnam) is injured for this one and doesn’t look likely to play. But he’s definitely not the biggest star in the squad. Foreigner or local, it doesn’t matter, the shining star of this team is the Vietnamese Messi, Nguyen Quang Hai. Captain of the team, the little magician has a wand of a left foot, and stands at 1.68m tall, so you can already see why the comparisons to Messi exist. Despite his height, he is a huge figure in Vietnamese football and Vietnam, in general. His recent marriage to Vietnamese influencer Chu Thanh Huyen was widely covered in Vietnam, and only served to boost his celebrity status. His career seems to have not hit the heights that some have predicted in the past. Look at this list of achievements. Superb achievements, but you will notice a distinct lack of accolades after 2021. His career has stalled a little, after his move to Pau FC, a French Ligue 2 side. That spell wasn’t as successful as his fans would have hoped, and he will now be looking to impress after coming back to the V-League. In the games this season, he has shown his creativity and consistent delivery. He already notched one assist, and but for poor finishing from his teammates, could easily have had a couple more. He is certainly the dangerman and we would do well to stop service to him, and from him. Rest and Rotation Having seen our lineup in the last game against Balestier Khalsa, it is pretty clear that Coach Ranko treats the Shopee Cup seriously, and is preserving the likes of Maxime Lestienne, Lennart Thy and Bart Ramselaar for this game. This might work to our advantage as well, because CAHN FC had to grind hard over the weekend with their first team, and still ended up losing to Thanh Hoa FC. The legs might just be feeling a little heavy heading into this one. Conclusion The official preview written by the club is fantastic, and I highly recommend checking it out. We are abit pampered in that the club really puts in effort to deliver such quality content, so we should definitely appreciate that. The preview does talk a lot about CAHN coach Mano Polking perhaps having a lot of knowledge about the Singaporean players due to his long stint as coach for the Thailand national team. While that may be true, I am optimistic still, considering all the reasons above. Let’s just not play like how we did in Borneo please. COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE! My predicted line-up Izwan Mahbud Hafiz Nor, Lionel Tan, Bailey Wright, Toni Datkovic, Obren Kljajic Hariss Harun, Hami Syahin Maxime Lestienne, Lennart Thy, Bart Ramselaar Score Prediction

[Preview] Cong An Ha Noi v Sailors (Not Easy Opposition, But No Better Time to Face Them) Read More »

[Post-Match Thoughts] Balestier Came Bearing Gifts (Sailors 3 Balestier Khalsa 1)

When you have a potential banana peel of a game, the two things you want most are your opponents not turning up for the fight, and your opponents handing you gifts. Both happened in the first half of the game against Balestier Khalsa, and so despite rotating half the team, we managed to navigate this difficult fixture. The Spill There seemed to be little on when a routine cross was played into the box by Carmona. The cross had too much height and too little pace – so Hafiz Ahmad had all the time in the world to come out and gather it. However, maybe Shawal Anuar knows something we don’t. If you watch the replay, he is looking at the ball the entire time, and almost half-expecting the keeper to spill it. In fact, what is most impressive about the goal is that when Hafiz Ahmad spills it, Shawal Anuar receives the ball and controls it even before it hits the floor. It looked like one fluid motion for him to control the spilled ball, put it in front of him in his stride, and then cut it back for a gleeful Abdul Rasaq who can’t quite believe his luck I think. Regardless of how it was scored, this was a gift, and Hafiz Ahmad immediately put his hand up to apologise to his team. The gifts didn’t stop though. The Defence Was Out of Sorts Even before Chris van Huizen tucked the ball into an empty net from outside the box, Balestier Khalsa already looked out of sorts in defence. Not to overstate the importance of one player, but perhaps this is where the experience of Madhu was sorely missed. Take a look at this situation for example. Hami picks up the ball in midfield, and that is possibly the worst-looking defensive line you’ll see. Basic football 101 – if there is no pressure on the ball-passer, the defensive line must drop back to deal with a potential through pass. In this moment, Jordan Emaviwe is distracted by Abdul Rasaq trying to fend him off and doesn’t call his defenders back. Haiqal Pashia (left wing) is completely free and there is an easy pass to be played to him. To make matters worse, Shawal Anuar (right wing) is on his bike and ready to go, but Masahiro Sugita doesn’t realise it. 2 seconds later, Shawal Anuar is now in acres of space, and having had the run on Masahiro Sugita, in a great position to score. We all know what happened next. Somehow, from this position, Shawal didn’t capitalise. He tried a dink over the keeper and got it badly wrong. If I could have one criticism of how this situation was handled, I feel Haiqal Pashia should perhaps have continued his run at full pace, to ensure that not only does Shawal have an option of squaring it to him, the keeper may also be distracted in having to deal with 2 threats. As it is, because Pashia didn’t offer himself as an option, Jordan’s recovery run covers him and the keeper can fully concentrate on Shawal. Shawal should still have scored though. Then of course, came the killer moment which led to van Huizen’s goal. Fudhil’s backpass was criminally underhit, and Rasaq was quick onto it, forcing Hafiz Ahmad to make a desperate tackle. At the moment I couldn’t tell if it was a penalty or not, but it didn’t matter because the ball broke to Chris van Huizen outside the box and he was calm enough to stroke it back on target into an empty net. A calamitous goal for Balestier Khalsa to concede, and really necessary for us especially as we had heavily rotated. Heavy Rotation Against one of the best sides in the league, you would normally not expect half the team to change. However, circumstances really dictate how much we can push our A-team. We all saw how much defensive effort was necessary against Zhejiang FC. We also know that Cong An Ha Noi is perhaps one of the best opponents we will face in the Shopee Cup – and we face them away from home. Then factor in the fact that we face a potentially title-defining clash against Tampines Rovers at the weekend – a Rovers team that will have the benefit of a full week’s rest while we have to travel to Vietnam and play a difficult game. With all those factors in mind, it was hard to see anything else but a heavily-rotated team. I wrote about how Hariss and Hami may have to play the whole game because Anu was suspended and Adam Swandi injured. However, I did not foresee that Coach Ranko would trust Song Uiyoung as one of the 2 central midfielders. I always believe that Song does his best work when he is not confined to a single position and can run free like a horse with no jockey. However, he turned in a disciplined, mature, and fighting performance in midfield which I think set the stage for us to come away with a relatively untroubled win. There was a sequence in the first half where he snapped into 3 tackles consecutively and the fans lapped it up. More of this Song, please! Other people who came in who were not first-team regulars were Abdul Rasaq, Carmona, and Haiqal Pashia. Carmona kept up his run of attacking contributions, with a crucial third goal just when Balestier had scored one goal to get back into the game. (Sidenote – that was some terrible defending from Lionel and Toni Datkovic, who seemed to confuse each other and allow Emaviwe to score from a Kodai corner kick). Carmona would add some of his usual good crosses into the box from a left-wing position, and it really seems like even though defensively he was badly exposed against Tampines, perhaps this attacking side of his game is something that we should really look to take advantage of, especially in

[Post-Match Thoughts] Balestier Came Bearing Gifts (Sailors 3 Balestier Khalsa 1) Read More »

[Preview] Lion City Sailors v Balestier Khalsa (A Test for the Legs)

After a hard-fought 2-0 victory on Thursday, rotation is gonna be the name of the game this weekend as we take on Balestier Khalsa, one of the most entertaining sides in the league. They are in 4th place, and come into this game unbeaten in 6, winning and drawing 3 each. On paper this is a going to be a difficult game, so let’s dive straight into some pre-match thoughts. Attacking Prowess It is no secret that Balestier don’t really have trouble scoring goals. With 46 goals scored, they have the 3rd-best offensive record in the league, second only to Geylang’s 52 and Sailors’ 49. Kodai Tanaka leads the way for them with 15 goals, but as you can probably tell, the goals are well spread out. Ismail Sassi has 12 goals, Ignatius Ang has 5, Riku Fukashiro has 4, and Alen Kozar has 4. This is a team that has multiple routes to goal, unlike Geylang, where if you stop Tomoyuki Doi, you probably shut them down entirely. This difference with Geylang is especially stark when you consider that in the last few games, Kodai Tanaka has struggled to find the net. In the last 3 games where Balestier have plundered a total of 12 goals, Kodai does not have a single goal to his name. However, in those games, he has 4 assists, and has been part of a free-flowing attack. I am sure he wants to be back on the scoresheet soon, but till that happens, at least he will feel like he’s contributing. His 4 assists takes his season total to 8 assists, which is very impressive considering he is the striker and is expected to bang in the goals. If you watch Balestier games you will notice also that even though he is the main striker, he has no qualms dropping out to the wings in order to receive the passes and help to stretch the play, and eventually cross the ball in. This shows he’s truly a team player and is willing to do whatever is necessary for the team to win. We would do well not to over-commit to merely take care of Kodai. He is well capable of creating for his teammates too. No Madhu, Welcome Back Tajeli In the previous match against DPMM, Madhu rather harshly saw red for an elbow to the DPMM opponent’s face. Bad news for him, but great news for us. Not only is Madhu an integral part of their defence, he also has scored once and assisted 5 times this season. For context, Alen Kozar has 4, and Riku Fukashiro has 6, so he is right smack in between. He also has that ability to put shivers down the spines of many a supporter whenever he lines up for a long throw. Tajeli is eligible to play this game because he has already served out his suspension for a violent attack on an opponent two months ago. Will he come straight in? Will Coach de Roo continue to punish him for his ill behaviour? Whatever it is and whoever it is that starts in the middle, the defence will not be as good as it was before, and we have to capitalise on this unfamiliarity. How to Rotate? I am sure right now, Anu will be kicking himself, wondering why he got himself sent off so unnecessarily last week. Maybe it’s the curse of Jurong East – bad things always happen to Anu there. As it stands, he is not available for us for a number of games, and it is a crucial absence particularly because Rui Pires also seems to have a hand injury. He was spotted at JBS having his hand wrapped up in a bandage of sorts, and while it doesnt’ look too serious, the fact that he didn’t play any part in the wiin against Zhejiang, and the quick turnaround makes us wonder about his injury status going into this game. That leaves Hariss and Hami in the middle, because Adam Swandi is also going through some health scare of his own. We are not privy to information about the players the way that the coaching staff do, so we can only guess that it might be too soon for Adam Swandi to help out also. Of course, there is soome worry. Should Hariss or Hami be overplayed, then they might put themselves at risk of injury, and we really cannot afford to lose any midfielders. Conclusion A short one today because of the rushed schedule – SailorFanTalk needs squad rotation too haha. An important game in a packed schedule for us – the one thing I would say about our opponents is they don’t like to sit back and hold everyone behind the ball, so perhaps we will have space to thrive on in the counter-attack. That may lead to goals for us. Hopefully it plays out that way. COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE! My predicted line-up Izwan Mahbud Lionel Tan, Bailey Wright, Toni Datkovic, Obren Kljajic Rui Pires, Bart Ramselaar, Hami Syahin Abdul Rasaq, Shawal Anuar, Song Ui-Young Score Prediction Joseph and I 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 3 Balestier Khalsa 1 Joseph’s prediction: Sailors 2 Balestier Khalsa 0 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!

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