Eddy Hirono – Page 6 – SailorFanTalk

[Preview] Brunei DPMM v Sailors (Clash of the Perfect Records)

1 Comment / Match Previews / Eddy Hirono

Yes. That’s a picture of me at the Hassanal Bolkiah Stadium, home of Brunei DPMM. On 15 June 2024. Matchday – or at least it was supposed to be. Brunei DPMM unfortunately did not inform the fans that there was gonna be a rescheduling of the game, until 8 days before. Which was way after Chin Heng and I had already booked our air tickets to Bandar Seri Begawan. Of course, when we first heard about it, we were livid. How inept does DPMM have to be when you had a whole year and a half to renovate the stadium, such that now when the season has already started, you are still facing technical issues? But you know what they say about life when it throws you lemons. You make lemonade. In this case, our lemonade was deciding that since our tickets were non-refundable, we would go to Brunei anyway, to experience the local culture, speak to locals, and just have a good time. So, lemonade became teh ais limau. After a great day of food and sightseeing, I am now in the hotel room typing all this. A preview of the Brunei game, written in Brunei. Apt! Advantage Sailors Leaving aside the complete disregard for fans who may have made plans to travel, this inconsiderate move by DPMM actually benefits the Sailors. We have to play 4 league fixtures against them, 2 home, 2 away. But now, due to the stadium issues, we have to play 2 home, 1 away, and 1 neutral game. Of course, the neutral ground is one we know well, and will require our opponents to take a 2h flight to travel to Singapore for. The Crew will also be there, and in full voice, what with the match now being in Singapore, so there won’t be just Chin Heng and myself. The close proximity from the stands to the field at JBS will also help make our presence felt. Location aside, the slight postponement of the game from 15th to 18th June also means that our national team players have a little bit more time to rest those tired legs after international duty. Bad for Chin Heng and I, but overall better for the larger group of fans, and the club itself. That doesn’t mean that DPMM if you are reading this, you shouldn’t compensate us. GIVE US A FREE JERSEY OR SOMETHING PLEASE. DPMM Firepower If you’ve watched DPMM this season, you will know from that limited sample size of two games that their attack is looking scary. Last season, Hakeme Yazid was the shining star, as he got goals and assists galore and was their top-scorer. This season though? He’s played a more supporting role, allowing the other attacking talents alongside him to shine. Gone is the ageing Andrei Voronkow, in comes Julio Cruz and Miguel Oliveira. These two have looked to be real threats, and I think will give many SPL defences nightmares for the rest of the season. Julio Cruz, in particular, has looked really lively and in just one match has shown the full range of his abilities. Against Albirex, not only did he clinically net a close-range goal from a cross with his right foot, he also made 2 assists, one with his head, and another with a sumptuous through pass using his left foot. He looked like a complete player, and that’s just on his league debut! You can almost tell that this is a player who is used to operating at higher levels, which is what his CV suggests. Just 3 years ago, he was the top-scorer in Mexico’s 2nd division. Miguel Oliveira has already shown he has a left foot to be feared. Already scoring three times this season, he is a threat in and around the box, while his pace also means that he will be dangerous on the counter, along with Hakeme Yazid. It is worth noting that his 3 goals come from a cumulative xG of just 0.76 – and it shows in the goals he has scored. For all 3 goals, he was in a difficult position but managed to find the back of the net. Zharfan will need to be at his best to stop Oliveira once he gets a shot in. Flottman Injury Their attack may be firing on all cylinders, but unfortunately for DPMM they may have an issue at the back for this game, and also for a long time more. Patrick Flottman, their foreign signing at centreback has unfortunately suffered a recurrence of his ACL injury, and will likely miss many months of the season. We wish him all the best. It leaves them a little weak at the back. This season they’ve conceded 2 goals, and both were from set pieces. It is definitely something we should look to exploit. Lionel Tan will be back for this one, so I hope he gets the memo. Sailors’ Own Strength Perhaps not more needs to be said about this. I focused on Oliveira and Hakeme and Julio Cruz – but if any frontline is scarier than that, it is gonna be Thy, Lestienne, Bart. And that is exactly how they may line up. I am not sure about whether Shawal will start given that he took some time off from the national team so as not to miss his wife’s delivery date. Song Ui-Young also looks a doubt because he was unable to play against Thailand. I know I said in my last piece about Lennart that he may not start given that he just finished a long season in the Eredivisie, but if these two players don’t make it, he may be tossed right in. Mr. Thy has already made a goalscoring contribution in the Sailors shirt, albeit just in a friendly game against JDT II one week ago. Let’s see him score for real on Tuesday! Conclusion One of the two remaining perfect records in the league has to come to an end. I

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[Player Profile] A Real Quali-Thy Addition

Leave a Comment / Player Profiles / Eddy Hirono

Ok – glad to get that pun out of the way, now we can start talking about our latest signing without too many bad jokes sprinkled in gratuitously. If you are still unsure about how his name is pronounced, “thy” is pronounced like “tea” – or if your mum has an interest in Taiwanese dramas, the “ti” sound in “WA MENG TI, WA MENG TI”. Ok now we can finally get it out of the way. Let’s dive into what an amazing signing this is. Goalscoring Record – The Inevitable Richi Comparison When bringing in a striker, usually the first thing that people check is how many goals the striker is going to bring. Lennart Thy comes in with huge expectations. After all, he is replacing Richairo Zivkovic, who struck 15 goals in 19 games for us last season. Richi was also a big-game player, scoring in games against Tampines, Albirex, Jeonbuk, Kitchee, and of course, in the Singapore Cup final. Many questioned Richi’s departure when it was announced, but I guess we can’t say that we didn’t see it coming. In my preview article last year, I mentioned that the short-term nature of the deal (1 year) might see Richi use us as a stepping stone to bigger clubs, and it seems that might have been what happened. So yes, that happened. It is interesting to note though, that Richi arrived on our shores off the back of a season in the Eredivisie, which allows us to draw an apples-to-apples comparison with Lennart. Richi had one season with Emmen where he was a regular starter, and contributed 6 goals in all competitions. Lennart comes to us also as a regular starter with his PEC Zwolle side, but with a very impressive 13 goals from 32 games in all competitions. It’s not an exact science of course, but you’d think someone who can plunder 13 goals for a mid-table side in a much more challenging league than the SPL should be able to get goals galore in Singapore. Not that the goal record matters that much imo – but I wrote enough about this in last year’s Richi article, so make sure to check that out for a detailed analysis for why it’s really OK if your incoming striker doesn’t have a great goalscoring record in a tougher league. We’re definitely gonna miss Richi’s goals, and his great off-the-pitch personality, but the evidence suggests that Thy is more than capable of filling his shoes. Thy No Spring Chicken – But Will He Rule The Roost? Writing about chicken past midnight is always a bad idea – especially when you have Netflix’s Korean Fried Chicken Rhapsody playing in the background. (I usually write articles while watching something else, like football, or Netflix or sometimes random music videos, which may explain my scattergun approach to writing). Hmm I am hungry. I’ve seen some people have reservations about Lennart’s age. Some idiot online even said he was gonna be the next Jermaine Pennant. I don’t wish to be harsh but I think if you’re too lazy to do your own research on a player, then maybe you should keep your opinion to yourself. Which is a nice way of saying – if you volunteer your organs to be donated when you pass on, please indicate to the hospital that you don’t wish to donate your brain. Please. It’s one thing to wonder if Lennart will do well, it’s another to write him off even before he’s kicked a ball. (I swear donation of organs is somewhat related to Lennart Thy – this to come later). I would like to assure people reading this that I don’t think his age will be a huge concern. When I first heard rumours of his signing about 2 months ago, I could barely contain my excitement and I was watching all sorts of highlights on Youtube. There weren’t many compilations so I had to search up PEC Zwolle’s individual game highlights to see what kind of player we were getting. And the conclusion? He really really doesn’t play like a man his age. He presses people like a man possessed, and he never gives up on a lost cause – just look at Exhibit A here. The way he chases what looks to be a lost cause, nips in to steal the ball, and then drives with purpose into the box is impressive enough. But then he only goes and finishes with his weaker left foot. Just amazing. Of his 13 goals last season, 8 of them were scored with his left foot. This two-footedness will make him that much more difficult to predict when he’s on the ball, and I think SPL defenders are in for a tough time. I also leave you with these comments from Ranko, which back up what I have seen from highlights. Heart of Gold Of course, there’s no telling whether this is just something nice that Badri is saying about our newest signing – dressing room dynamics aren’t always easy for external observers. However, Lennart Thy has a truly unique story which prompted me to title this section “Heart of Gold”. Without knowing much about the procedures involved, he signed up to become a stem cell donor, and eventually that ended up saving the life of someone in America many miles away. It was an entirely selfless act because he had to take some time out of his season to do this literally draining activity. He was eventually awarded the FIFA Fair Play Award, and also prompted 20,000 people signing up to be stem cell donors. Read more about it here. Conclusion I think the only reservations about Lennart Thy have to do with his age. Everything else looks perfect. If you look at Bart Ramselaar, he’s come in the supposed prime of his career, but he’s had a bad injury that perhaps dissuaded some European clubs from going in for him. How about Lennart? His last major injury

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[Specials] New Season, Same Shirt – Time to Move on from Puma?

Leave a Comment / Specials / Eddy Hirono

This is a bit of a late one, due to my busy work schedule. I remember when the 2024/2025 Home shirt was first unveiled, I felt super underwhelmed. It looked a lot like last year’s shirt. Same material, same collar, same colour, just a slightly different pattern on the shirt. And the pattern is so subtle that you can’t even really tell the difference at first glance. Take a look for yourself. The angry comments came. There were even accusations of LCS staff being lazy to design a different shirt. The memes came as well. In the off-season, fans have very little entertainment to themselves. There’s no watching the Sailors anywhere, and Singapore football doesn’t have a thriving ecosystem when it comes to transfer rumours and contract negotiation rumours. Without much else to excite us, one of the few things fans can really look forward to is the unveiling of the new shirt for the season ahead. So why did the Sailors not design something that excited the fans? Something fun, something edgy, something … different? Let’s start by clearing up the obvious. LCS Designers Are Not Lazy The least possible reason in my opinion is that the LCS designers just got lazy. Believe me, as much as these designs dismayed Sailors fans, the designs would have absolutely killed the designers. I bet a part of their souls died when they realised that this design would be the one used. The graphics dude in LCS is one Najwan Noor, who is known for his stellar design work. Don’t just take it from me, go take a look at his Twitter account yourself. Or I could walk you through a few examples – I mean, just look at that amount of effort for a regular, run-of-the-mill league game. The attention to lighting and detail is quite frankly amazing. More recently, there was this – If you look closely, you will see that the books on the shelves spell out chant lyrics that the Crew uses, while the TV features a Crew sticker on the left side as well. Of course, if you have a keen eye, you would also have spotted that near the left finger, there’s SailorFanTalk’s banner right there, hiding in plain sight. The attention to detail, and to fan service does not tally with the view that the club just didn’t give a shit about the fans. If the designers put in so much effort for a matchday poster that will be forgotten after weeks, or even days, would they not want to give their 110% for a shirt that they will look at for months on end? Go figure. So if it’s not the club, then is it Puma? Puma Just Not Very Inspired The short answer is “Yes”. For me at least. There was recently an article which ranked the best Puma kits of all time, and I’d urge you to go take a look. All I’ll say is Puma, if that’s your top 10, I don’t wanna know what’s your bottom 10 designs. Very uninspired, very boring, very template. You can imagine a Nike or Adidas top 10 list would look so so sick and spark much debate about which shirt is the true GOAT. Puma’s list just leaves you wondering how they even made the top 10 at all. To make matters worse, as some may know, we don’t even get Puma’s best designers to aid us with coming up with a design – given LCS’s status as a “small” club, we get our designs from the teamwear catalogue. I hope this doesn’t come as a shock to those who don’t know. So if we wanted a white shirt, our options were kinda limited if you take a look at this catalogue. Well that’s Option 1. It would have looked very similar, and no less boring. One point to note is that this is made out of Ultraweave material, which you may remember as the material for last year’s blue away kit. Apparently the players did not like Ultraweave as they felt it clung on to their body too much, and it was thus uncomfortable to play in. So, let’s knock out Option 1. Well that’s Option 2. Hmm. The less said about this the better. A truly ugly shirt. It looks like you wore a white shirt and then got run over by a car. Or you’re a zebra that really likes 50 Shades of Gray. Next. Option 3. I fell asleep assessing this picture. Boring. Drycell material, dry in creativity as well. And guess what, that’s that. I should have known, given that I am an Arsenal fan and Puma was far and away the worst kit sponsor Arsenal had in their entire history. I don’t think LCS were given much to work with. Had they picked any of these options, I think the fans would still have been very underwhelmed. It would at least be different, I guess, and there is some utility in that. In that regard, I wonder if SEA or Forrest may have considered using another logo as the official “sponsor” on the shirt, just to switch things up. Maybe SeaMoney instead of the SEA logo? Why are Puma Able to Customise Kits for Other Clubs? Because those clubs sell kits, and are viewed as priority for Puma. That is the sad truth, I guess. Look at those numbers. While these do not represent the total number sold, because a good amount of business is probably done at the stadium, these numbers are nowhere near what the top clubs generate. Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan, who are all sponsored by Puma, generated €73 million, €54 million and €47 million respectively. It is thus perhaps understandable that Puma would rather not spend too much resources on manufacturing a custom kit for LCS. But should we settle for this? Maybe LCS Needs a Supplier in the Same Position As Us The Sailors shirt looking so similar to

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[Preview] Sailors v Young Lions – No Pushovers

1 Comment / Match Previews / Eddy Hirono

As our Sailors get ready to take on the Young Lions, it’s a very different Young Lions from last season, but yet there will be a strange sense of familiarity. Nur Adam, Jonan, Danish Qayyum, and Khairin Nadim, were all just with LCS before their National Service obligations kicked in. Does this make the Young Lions game easier or harder for us? We’ll explore that in this article. On a random note, that’s Simba from The Lion King in the cover photo. If Young Lions is Simba, then who is Mufasa (the kind King who got killed), and who is Scar (the jealous brother of the King who got the King killed so that he could take his place)? Are we Scar? Is Mufasa Home United? Ooof that hits too close to home. Ok I digress. On to the preview. Same Same But Different The Young Lions are not the same proposition as they were last season. I could write long paragraphs about it, but these tweets from Deepanraj Ganesan sum it up very well. Not the same team as last season at all. They now have more familiar names than usual seasons, plus a smattering of quality from foreign lands. Take a look at last week’s lineup. Aside from goalkeeper Travis Ang and the foreigners, every single name in there is someone who has played SPL football before, or is familiar to us. Even on the bench, you see players like Khairin Nadim and Danish Qayyum, who have experience playing in this league before. It’s not gonna be the usual Young Lions experience, where there are newbies everywhere you look. There’s even 3 title-winners in there (Kaisei Ogawa, Jun Kobayashi, Kan Kobayashi). At this point I have to remind yall that even though there were newbies left right centre in the last 2 seasons we faced Young Lions, we drew with them TWICE. UGH. The experience of the boys playing, added to the foreigners will make them a much harder outfit to beat this time. They were unlucky to lose in their opener to DPMM. DPMM’s keeper Naumovski had a great game, and one save in particular from livewire Farhan Zulkifli was particularly impressive, given that the move had “Goal” written all over it. So if DPMM is touted by some as a dark horse for the title, and Young Lions almost held/beat them, then I don’t think we should be taking them lightly at all. The Boys from LCS Nur Adam is definitely no stranger to us. He has played 57 times for the Sailors in the past few years, and has always been a fan favourite, marauding up and down the left flank. His talents were on full display for the Young Lions last weekend, and he was involved in a fair few attacking moves. Further upfield, Jonan was used in a right-wing role. We only saw him come on for 2 cameos last season, but I remember being impressed by his confidence and directness, especially in the 3-0 victory over Balestier Khalsa. He lasted 1 half last week but some of his touches looked really good, so it would be nice to see him again. Danish Qayyum (1 min) and Khairin Nadim (0 min) have not seen much gametime at all for the senior Sailors, but these 4 should still know a thing or two about their opponents this weekend. Knowing them and stopping them is two different things though – and you would expect that in a game like this, the goalkeeper for Young Lions will be very important. Travis Ang was also a former Sailors academy player, and he will be disappointed with the concession of last week’s equaliser to DPMM. It was a tight angle for the forward, but he managed to squeeze a shot in at the near post, just beyond Travis’s dive. Not a howler – but he would have felt he could have done better. He doesn’t have much SPL experience, so I think the Sailors will want to put as much pressure on him as possible, from every conceivable situation. Crosses, setpieces, through balls in the space between the centre-back and the keeper – let’s try to maximise the chances of mistakes happening. Enomoto – The Spearhead I can’t say I know too much about Enomoto, but I like what I saw from him in pre-season. He can score, he has a bit of presence about him (186cm), and with him on the pitch, Young Lions do not look as toothless as they have done in recent years. In terms of CV, he has easily the most impressive one, given that he featured quite regularly in J3 football in Japan, and also featured in J2. His goalscoring record there wasn’t stellar though – only managing 9 goals in 78 appearances. What is remarkable about him is that he won many aerial duels when he featured in J3, featuring in the 91st percentile league-wide of aerial duels won despite not featuring as regularly as regular starters from other clubs. Given his aerial prowess, this should be a challenge that Bailey and Toni will be looking forward to! Conclusion I think our Sailors should have too much for the Young Lions, despite them strengthening very well. I think the Young Lions are not going to finish bottom this year, but I would still be very surprised if the Sailors firepower isn’t enough to overcome this challenge. Rui Pires looks to be back in training as well, I wonder if he will feature at some point. Our last 2 games have seen us barely break a sweat, and it looks like some connections are still in the process of being formed. Still, the Young Lions team look like they always have a mistake or two in them, and I think the Sailors attack has enough firepower to punish any errors. My predicted line-up – Zharfan Rohaizad Lionel Tan, Bailey Wright, Toni Datkovic, Obren Kljajic Song, Hariss, Hami Maxime, Shawal, Bart COME

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[Preview] Hougang United v Sailors – Season Opener, Plenty of Unknowns

1 Comment / Match Previews / Eddy Hirono

So after the excitement of lifting the Community Shield, we finally have the real season opener, a match with proper consequences, the first chance to get 3 points on the board. What can we expect from a heavily-revamped Hougang United? Let’s dive right into it. Still no Kiki Krajcek As has been mentioned on this site many times before, Krajcek is the heartbeat of this Hougang team. No Krajcek, no party. The only time they managed to even escape defeat against us without Krajcek was last season in the Singapore Cup when we had all but qualified from the group stage and we fielded an almost-entirely-local starting XI. Well Krajcek is still out, and is not expected to make his return for a couple of months still. He has been out and about doing community work for the team, but we understand from the Hougang fans that he will not be playing this week. His absence is perhaps going to be less fatal this time as compared to last season, because Shahdan has been getting some minutes in pre-season, and also because of a signing that has largely been slept on – Shodai Yokoyama. For me, Shodai Yokoyama was one of the standouts in last year’s Albirex team. A left-footed Steven Gerrard. Capable of scoring off late runs into the box, or with belters from range. Last year, he scored a total of 7 goals (if you count the Community Shield), and got 8 assists. That’s a very healthy goal contribution rate. They don’t have Zulfahmi Arifin anymore and so will miss his left foot, but in my opinion, Shodai is more than an adequate replacement. Some of his goals for you to check out. Here, here, and here. The Unknown Strikers I know jackshit about Hougang’s new strikers, Petar Banovic and Stjepan Plazonja. Let’s first check out what our friends from hougangunitedfans.com have to say about them. As part of my due diligence, I didn’t take what the Hougang fans said as gospel. I also did a real deep dive. No actually I didn’t. I pulled up a Youtube video set to shitty techno music. Of course, such compilation videos you have to take with a huge pinch of salt. What I’d add to their summaries, is that Stjepan Plazonja really really reminds me of Lukas Podolski. Booming left foot? Check. One-dimensional running without any tricks up his sleeve? Check. One-footedness which means no shots on the right foot, ever? Check. But let’s really not allow him to use his left foot in the box, lads. It is very lethal. He’s also really quite fast. He likes to push and run a lot, so we’re gonna have to be wary of that. It’s quite a sight, really, seeing someone so tall sprint so much! Petar Banovic – has a decent goalscoring record in the Prva Liga FBIH. But it’s hard to know how that translates to SPL prowess. Probably not as hard as trying to pronounce “Prva Liga FBIH” without sounding like you are replicating a fart in amateurish fashion – but still hard. We’ve spoken before about how Sime Zuzul had a shit record before coming to Singapore shores and tearing it up. Đorđe Maksimović as well, who has of course, left Hougang, did really well last season but thankfully is no longer around. So goalscoring records in other leagues don’t really tell the full story. For context, in case you are an expert in obscure European leagues, Prva Liga FBIH is the first division of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Both of them are really tall too, by the way. One is 1.88m, while the other is 1.92m. It’s good that Lionel is playing rightback, because I think they are going to rely on the long diagonal into the air for their twin towers to attack. If Hafiz Nor is played there, then we’re really left to making sure we get to the second balls from the knockdowns. And I am sure Datkovic will share some banter with this duo as well. Let’s hope it gets spicy! The Unknown Centreback (no plural this time) There is no plural this time because one of the centrebacks is Ensar Bruncevic (usually referred to as Bruno in his time at Balestier Khalsa). He did not really impress last time out, and was almost always referred to as one of the worst foreigners in the league. Has he improved? Well I don’t know because I don’t watch the Serbian Super League. And even if I did, I don’t think I’d be able to glean much, seeing as he only made a handful of appearances. But it’s not likely to matter much – because it’s not like Hougang’s Japanese pair at the back were super impressive. So if he does an average job, then there won’t be much of a difference to last season. Unless of course, his partner, Faris Hasic, is really solid. He’s a 20 year old centreback, hailing once again from the Prva Liga FBIH. Unlike Ensar, he actually started a whole bunch of games. And just like Plazonja above, I did the dirty work, I sat through a video set to some shitty music. Let me clarify that statement. Faded by Alan Walker is not a shitty song. But stupid remixes of the song? Yes, shitty. Football compilation videos love to use the song “Faded“, which is ironic. “Faded” shouldn’t be used on a promising young centreback. It should be used on people like Pogba, or Casemiro, or Varane, or Maguire, or Erik Ten Hag. Ok you get the point, I don’t really like Manchester United. Faded can also be used on our 2022 title challenge after we sacked Kim Do Hoon. Ooof. #toosoon I digress. Back to the point – Faded by Alan Walker is an OK song, but football compilation videos tend to use shitty remixes of it in their video. This offending video even manages to use TWO different stupid shitty remixes of

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[Post-Match Thoughts] Routine Win But Both Sides Will Improve (Sailors 2 Albirex 0)

Leave a Comment / Post-Match Thoughts / Eddy Hirono

This may seem harsh, but at no point in the game did I feel the Sailors were not gonna win. It was a really routine victory and 2-0 could and should have been way more. Barring a moment in the second half where Zharfan will feel he should have done better, Albirex had nothing on us. I believe the freekick chance they had was their only shot on target. It was such a foreign experience for me, considering that we are so used to sitting back and weathering all the pressure that Albirex would put on our defence. In particular, the first half felt really really comfortable. And this is why. 0 shots in the first half. That’s not at all what we are used to. But I like it. Let’s keep it this way. Period of Adaptation Jokes aside, while I do hope that this match is fully representative of what’s to come, we have to remind ourselves that Albirex are traditionally slow starters, but yet after the mid-point of the season, they usually really turn it on and then they just start this unstoppable charge towards the title. Much like how Manchester City does it, except without the (alleged) financial doping. There is a good reason for this of course – there is usually a huge squad renewal process for Albirex, and their players will also need time to get used to the hot and humid playing conditions in Singapore. Something I observed when watching the game was that it was not easy to tell the Singapore players from the Japanese players. You know how on TV, your non-football-watching friends sometimes marvel at the fact that you can name the players just by looking at their head and body shape from far away? Well, given that Albirex is a brand new team essentially, it will take me a while before I get to know them just by the way they look and the way they carry the ball. I don’t know whether it’s more of a compliment to Albirex’s local boys, or something negative to be said about their Japanese imports, but there did not seem to be a gulf in quality as there usually is. The foreign players are supposed to be noticeably better than the local players, and that was simply not the case. They looked really, really ordinary. One of the moments in the game that really stuck out to me was when Albirex got a freekick in their own half, and usually they’d look to keep the ball moving, pass it quickly on the floor to someone, and then start their passing triangles. But no, not this time. The ball was launched towards the Sailors box, with noone even near the vicinity. It was an aimless long ball presumably looking for Shuhei to try to cushion it down for his teammates. That is not the Albirex way. But maybe they just need some time. As a Sailors fan, let’s hope they never get back their mojo haha. Obren Continues to Impress In the preview article, I didn’t mention that Obren was an option to start at leftback. Which was pretty forgetful of me, considering that in the post-JDT article, Ernest and I waxed lyrical about him when he came on to play left wing-back. Again, he put in a good shift on Saturday, and his direct opponent, Daniel Goh, got very little out of him. Albirex’s tactic was to try to look for Daniel Goh alot in the first half, so it was important that Obren was alert and ready to deal with him. On attack, he was powerful and direct. Nothing too fancy, just a couple of drives down the left flank, before cutting back for a teammate in the penalty area. One of these runs led to a cutback that Song almost converted from. More of this from Obren please! He reminds me a little of Sead Kolasinac and how he would bomb up and down the left flank for Arsenal and Schalke 04. On a separate slightly-related note, I wonder if the Sailors are gonna get more goals from setpieces this year, considering that our backline is physically very imposing. We have our two hulking centrebacks of course, but we also have Lionel Tan playing rightback, and Obren at leftback. Tall! Maxime is a Machine By all accounts, I don’t think it can be said Maxime had a good game. It seemed like he was snatching at his chances a lot, putting shots way over the bar, and some of his passes went astray too. But – he ended up with a goal and an assist. And he was responsible for winning the penalty too! If you’re still wondering whether it was a harsh penalty, watch this. In the stadium, I thought it was a harsh call, as it didn’t look like much contact, but this angle shows that the refereeing team did brilliant. We are harsh on the refs when they get shit wrong, let’s give them their flowers when they get difficult decisions right. Anyway back to the point, Maxime has picked up where he left off last season, and he can only get better! Datkovic’s Range of Passing On more than a couple of occasions, the ball was played to Datkovic, and with little pressure on him, he managed to come up with raking long passes out to Maxime Lestienne on the right wing. Big booming balls from left to right, and very very accurate. With Albirex looking to keep the middle compact, as many teams are likely to do this season against us, we had to sometimes mix it up and add a bit of variety to our passing. From a passing perspective, I guess it’s really good that we now have a left-footed centreback playing on the left side of central defence, because it opens up different passing angles. Let’s pray for his health and hope that he gets to play a lot more than

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[Preview] Sailors v Albirex – Not a Trophy, But a Chance to Lay Down a Marker

Leave a Comment / Match Previews / Eddy Hirono

You know what people always say – the Community Shield is not a trophy if another club wins it, but if your team wins it, then yes, yes it’s absolutely a trophy. Well, not for me. I am quite clear in my opinion that it’s not really a trophy. Just 1 game to win it, it doesn’t feel hard-earned, y’know? If some people can dismiss Greece’s run to Euro 2004 victory as a fluke, even though they had to play a total of 6 games, then surely just winning 1 game can be a fluke as well, and it just doesn’t seem to count. (But of course, I am of the opinion that Greece’s win was no fluke – for those much younger please enjoy this video which shows their amazing run. They faced France, Czech Republic and Portugal in the knockout rounds, and won 1-0 on each occasion. NO GOALS CONCEDED IN THE KNOCKOUT STAGES. Oh, and Portugal were playing this tournament at home, yet were beaten twice by Greece, once in the group stage and once when it mattered most in the final.) But I digress. As so often happens on this site. Sorry. This year I will try to keep the articles shorter and more to the point. Maybe. Don’t bet on it. But anyway, don’t take it from me, take it from legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who said that he “never included extras like the Charity Shield and the European Super Cup because they are won with a single victory“. If it’s good enough for one of the most decorated managers of all times, it’s good enough for me. The Community Shield doesn’t count as a trophy. But Is It Still Important? Yes – it’s very important to win the game. I may sound like I am contradicting myself now, but hear me out. The Community Shield isn’t important because it’s a trophy. It’s important because of who we are playing. It is our old foes, Albirex Niigata (S). This year, they are more (S) than ever, because they are finally playing with the same rules as everyone else. Finally, they no longer get to fill their team with Japanese imports from a superior grassroots system, and then have people bleating on and on about how they are winning the title with kids. Yes, they are kids, but they are kids from a far superior system! The fact is that when our national team do their training camps in Japan, they sometimes play university opposition – this should show the gulf between the two nations when it comes to footballing standards. This year, we don’t have that reason / excuse anymore. They have the same number of Singaporeans as we do – we get to sign the foreigners we want, they get to sign the foreigners they want. If anything, they are a bit restricted in that they can only really sign Japanese players because that is more on-brand, while we get our pick from the whole world, essentially. As for the local players, they have signed good players in the likes of Ho Wai Loon, Daniel Goh, Arshad Shamim, etc, but it would be a stretch to suggest that these players are better than the locals in the Sailors ranks. And so this is why the match takes on such importance – if we lose, you can expect the knives to come out already. People will use the result of a glorified friendly to say that King Kazu is indeed the king, being able to lead a reset team to victory over the Sailors, who have much more in terms of resources, and also a settled core of the team. And they’d be quite right to say so – provided of course he can keep it up over the course of the long season. So yes, this match is still important, and unlike a traditional preview where we try and predict what the key battles are going to be, given that Albirex is pretty much an unknown quantity, let’s explore what we can look forward to tomorrow. How Will Bart Fit In? So far, Bart has looked good in pre-season. Or at least, what we got to see in the two friendlies against JDT. He was tidy with his passing, and brave with his running. He would frequently collect the ball in our half, turn, retain the ball, and then drive forwards looking to link up with his teammates. As he settles more and more into the team, these combinations are gonna pay off in a big way, but for now, I think we are all keenly anticipating his impact on the team. We wrote a little article about him, and focused on how interestingly for someone playing in midfield, he scores more than he creates. Maxime and him thus sound like a match made in Heaven, because Maxime loves providing an assist. Jokes aside, will Bart line up in the middle next to Maxime on the right, so that the two of them can do their own little 1-2s all the way into the box, the way Diego and Maxime used to? Or will Bart play where he lined up against JDT, nominally on the left, drifting in to create havoc? There are pros and cons of each approach of course, and I guess it comes down to whether Coach Ranko wants to concentrate the threat in one area, or spread it out, given that Bart seems just as capable of creating magic without Maxime next to him. Whether Song plays is also something that may affect this. Like Bart, Song is a midfielder who gets more goals than assists. If Song plays, Bart may take up a slightly more withdrawn position so he can feed Song and Shawal ahead of him. Shawal to Start? Where is Richairo? So yes, I mentioned Shawal to start in attack. Rasaq is on the mend after a long injury, and may not be seen as

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[Specials] The Deck – A Bold Initiative Aimed at Drawing New Fans

Leave a Comment / Specials / Eddy Hirono

I know, I know. You are a little angry about the underwhelming kit launch, especially for the white kit. First thing I’ll say is there will be a video and article dealing with that in due course, but not yet, I need to talk about membership first because the club hasn’t announced full details yet, and I am hoping somehow that this article will give them some food for thought. Also – don’t buy the shirts yet, if you were planning to. Let’s wait and see if membership brings with it any other discounts. If you wanna buy a shirt and you can’t wait, may I suggest you just buy last season’s kit instead. It’s so similar – and it is a whole S$15 cheaper. Do the smart thing haha. The Deck Some weeks back, the club announced that they are doing away with season passes, and instead would be launching a whole new membership program. Four main features of the new membership program are that 1) it’s free to join, 2) the first match ticket for a home game is free, 3) tickets thereafter are permanently 50% off, and 4) you scale up the membership tiers as you attend more and more home games – in the process “unlocking a treasure trove of rewards“. There has been no release of details on what these rewards may be, or what other stuff this membership program entails. The club has said that come May, they will be revealing more details. Crucially, and back on the topic of jerseys – the kit launch has happened but we still do not know if there will be discounts on the shirts. Hopefully this is addressed quickly, but my advice is don’t buy first, adopt a wait-and-see approach. The Benefits of this Radical New Approach When I first heard of this new approach, I thought it was certainly a bold one. It does a few things – Allow me to elaborate. More People in the Stadium Last season, games cost S$16 including the Sistic charge for non-members, and S$13 for members. Assuming ticket prices do not go above S$22 (it is rumoured to be S$20), then we are looking at a saving for all members. Given that membership is free, it would be somewhat odd that you wouldn’t sign up for membership, so I think we can assume there will be a lot of “members” who are actually neutral, or even support other clubs. (Kinda like the time I signed up to be a Spurs member just so I could watch the Champions League game between FC Barcelona and Spurs, and witness first-hand Messi destroying the team I hate so much. All while sat in their stands pretending to be their fan. Oh, memories.) But therein lies a chance to convert these people. Assuming that the away fans are gonna prefer to sit on the away end, what we might end up having is neutrals curious to watch a game, especially with the first ticket being absolutely free. What is key now is thus the matchday experience for these fans. Is the club confident that these fans will like what they see? Not just on the pitch but off it as well? I hope the Crew can do its part to create an atmosphere that everyone can be proud of. If you are reading this and you’d like to be part of the Crew, roaring on our boys week in week out, do drop me a DM on Instagram or Twitter, and we’d love to have you on board! More Targetted Benefits and Perks Fans have said that they feel the Sailors can do more for their fans. If you haven’t read it yet, please read Chin Heng’s wishlist for this season, and he perfectly encapsulates the thoughts of some fans – basically better fan engagement, and more peripheral activities for fans. However, for this to happen, I agree with the way the club has done it – it needs an accurate way to identify who are the hardcore fans. It is easy to point to people like myself and Joseph as “hardcore fans”, because we are loud, we set up a fan media channel, and we are always front and centre – interviewing players, interviewing fans, shouting our lungs out week in week out. But that’s not all the hardcore fans. Some fans prefer to support the club in a more understated way. Currently, it is harder to identify people like that, because they might come every week, but they might be tucked away in the corners of the ground, sitting near the back. Unless they come forward and make friends with the Crew, or with club staff, they might feel a bit neglected when it comes to club-organised events. So with the new structure, there will be objective proof of how “hardcore” you are. If the club wants to organise an intimate BBQ party featuring some players and some fans, but they only have 50 slots, the club will then have a list on their hands, and sort out who may be most “deserving” of a slot in the party. This is not foolproof by the way. If it comes down to a drummer for the Crew who has attended 15 games that season, and drummed non-stop for 90min on each occasion, but missed some games due to work, and someone who quietly sits in a corner with his family but has attended 16 games that season, who is more deserving of a slot at the BBQ party? There is no correct answer here I guess. Other Cons of this New Approach As for the cons – I immediately thought of one when I first assessed this new initiative. I can be quite busy at work sometimes, and the last thing I want to worry about is whether or not I am assured a seat at the game. Last season, having a season pass meant that I never needed to worry about

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[Post-Match Thoughts] Early Observations (Sailors 1 JDT 2)

2 Comments / Post-Match Thoughts / Eddy Hirono

It’s a pre-season friendly, and you can’t really read too much into these games, but the quality of the opponent I think should fill us with some optimism. It was a very good performance, especially for this stage of pre-season, and taking into account that we played Malaysia’s No. 1 side with 10 men for a third of the game, thanks to (imo) some over-zealous refereeing. I think it also goes without saying that Maxime is a real gem, and we love him very much. There was no doubt when the ball left his boot that he was gonna score. We’ve really been pampered by his quality in the last couple of years. But what about other observations? I sat down with Crew member Ernest to talk about the game, and these are some of our thoughts! Overall Thoughts Ernest – We can compete, even if JDT were missing some key players. Yes, we know several key players were not in the squad but many of our own were playing together for the first time too. We cannot read too much into the what if’s, only the performance and scoreline. It was a respectable one, Sailors had less possession of the ball but always looked dangerous on the break. Eddy – For a team that played a third of the game with a man down, I cannot remember Zharfan having to make too many saves. There was one good one in the first half, but other than that, the team did very well to limit JDT to half-chances. Considering JDT was more advanced in their pre-season than we were, I think it was a very positive outing. Toni Datkovic said in his interview with us that the players only got together to train for the first time a few days ago, so I am taking the positives! Speaking of Toni Datkovic… Toni Datković – Combative Croat Ernest – Very, very solid. Left-footed option, can be a Pedro Henrique replacement. I can see why his nickname El Sicario stuck. Strong in the tackle and in the air, unfortunate for the goals conceded. Eddy – I thought the defensive unit including Toni did well to limit JDT to so few chances, and Toni was part of that performance. I am sure they will look at the two goals conceded and feel that they should have done way better on the goals considering one goal originated from a hopeful cross, while the other was an uncontested header. With greater chemistry, we should see an improvement on this front. A promising first look at our big Croatian defender. Return of Song Ernest – Suitable for midfield. Solid 60min outing. Song’s return to LCS is a cause of excitement among many fans. He was a staple of good Home United and LCS squads, and every time he touched the ball you could feel the crowd willing him on. Popped up everywhere, could have had a goal but blazed it over the bar. For someone coming back from injury it was a good shift. He also took time to chat with fans after the match too – always a class act. Could he be the best signing of the window? Time will tell. Eddy – It’s always nice to see Singapore’s favourite Korean-Singaporean back in town. He was his usual irrepressible self, snapping into challenges, putting himself about. However, you get the feeling that he’s still shaking off some rust, and regaining his fitness. This is far from the Song we know. His misses in front of goal were also uncharacteristic – on his day he is an ice-cold finisher and would have finished with 2 goals. He’ll be back on form I’m sure. First Look at Bart Ernest – Good player in half-spaces on the turn – and boy did he turn a lot! Many of our midfielders/forwards received the ball with their back facing the goal, but they either laid it off to another teammate on the wings or took minimal touches on the turn to advance up the field. It was a tactic that worked in phases of the game, the quick tempo in the middle third. Bart seems to be well-suited to this, beating his man regularly through combining with others or taking it on himself. He will take time to adjust to his teammates but the early signs are promising. Eddy – I thought Bart had an amazing first game for us. He was brave in possession and was constantly driving at the defence. We’ve seen from his Eredivisie days that he has a good shot on him, but what we saw against JDT was that he’s great at picking up possession and then immediately turning defence into offence with a good pass or a driving run. Hard to dispossess even when pressed hard or double-teamed. He reminds me of Santi Cazorla, and that’s high praise! Zharfan with the Cruyff Turn Ernest – There was one save in the first half where the whole crowd went “OOH”. He sprung instinctively to palm the ball out for a corner when it looked destined for the goal. Generally commanding of his area, and showed his usual good distribution. But we all know everyone is talking about the Cruyff turn in the dying seconds. The audacity. Picture-book moment. Eddy – I thought he was really solid. Held on to a few fizzing low crosses played into the danger area, and did what he needed to do without fuss. Then of course, there was that big save in the first half after the ball had come off Lionel’s shoulder and dropped to one of the JDT strikers. For most goalkeepers, that would be the highlight of the game – but not Zharfan. Late in the game, in a bid to get a late equalizer, Zharfan was given the green light by Coach Rankovic to go into the opposing penalty box for a corner kick. It was half-cleared, and the ball dropped to Zharfan, who

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[Player Profile] Bart-er Trade – Will Bart Fill the Diego-Shaped Hole in our Team?

1 Comment / Player Profiles, Transfers / Eddy Hirono

If you haven’t read our piece on Diego yet, and seen how highly we regard him, do yourself a favour, click here and read it please. Bart Ramselaar comes with a similar price tag to Diego, but with arguably the bigger reputation. He will be expected to deliver right from the get-go as it very much feels like one-in, one-out. In this article, we will take a look at how his journey through football has led us here, and also what kind of player we can expect when we finally get to see him in action. Excellent Social Media Buzz Prior to the signing of Toni Datković, our beloved Sailors had been pretty quiet on the social media front, with limited content due to the fact that players were still on their holidays. We had some content when Hariss Harun and Lionel Tan went down to do giveaways of merch to fans, and also when the club opened its doors to some ardent fans who won a matchball in some other giveaways. But none of that really compared to the buzz when the club announced its new signings. The signings alone would probably have generated buzz, but the masterful way in which the club did it really set the pulses racing. Serious posts were mixed in together with the informal posts. You had your formal interviews with the pair of new signings where they outlined their ambitions for the club in the season ahead, but you also had Toni trying to figure out Singlish phrases, while I probably watched the amazing Bart Simpson v Bart Ramselaar video a few too many times. Those with fantastic eyesight would also have caught that in a teaser video hinting at a signing announcement in the afternoon, Bart Ramselaar’s face actually appeared for a split second. Go see it for yourself here and see if you can pause it right at the moment where you can see Bart’s face there, hiding in plain sight. And if all that content on Instagram was not enough, you get long-form content on Youtube where you can really hear at length from our signings. And if you’re more of a reading guy, the excellent articles on the official site give more depth to the person behind the footballer. Overall, just outstanding effort from the Sailors, and this is the excellence that we fans have come to expect from the club on all fronts. First Dutch International to Play in Singapore If I am wrong, someone please correct me, but I think Bart may be the first full Dutch international to play in our domestic league. Richairo Zivkovic has registered multiple appearances for the Dutch international youth teams, just as Bart does, but Bart has gone one step further and made 3 appearances for the senior national team. He has played with the likes of Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Virgil van Dijk. He has trained under the likes of Mark van Bommel, Philip Cocu, and Erik Ten Hag. He was well-loved at FC Utrecht, and had won the Eredivisie with PSV. I’ll address the big question everyone has – so why is he here? Why is Bart Here? Bart’s answer when asked in various interviews was that he had spent 10 years in the Eredivisie and it was time for an adventure to explore a different league. I am sure that this is part of the truth – but I would hazard a guess that he would have been able to seek adventures in other leagues of far greater quality. This is all speculation from this point on – but I think his big injury suffered in April 2022 had a huge part to play in how he ended up here. He was having a stellar season in 2021/2022, scoring 9 goals in 26 games and earning rave reviews for his performances. He was flying, starting every game and was an integral part of the team. However, he then suffered a knee injury which kept him out for 10 months, and when he came back in the 2022/2023 season, he was no longer a first-team regular. The situation continued into the 2023/2024 season, where he probably did not get as much game-time as he wanted. It is pretty heartening that he did start 4 games spanning December 2023 and January 2024, which suggests that he is fit and ready to contribute to the Sailors this season. In an interview with former Dutch international Andy van der Meyde, he revealed that one of the toughest times of his career was when found himself on the bench at PSV, so it’s not too much of a stretch to suggest that perhaps his lack of game-time also contributed to his decision to come to the Sailors. Nothing wrong with that – we should acknowledge our status also as a team participating in a league that is nowhere near as glamorous as the top European or even Asian leagues. Top players who come here from Europe are usually unhappy in some way with their situation. In this case, the fact that Rankovic has previously worked with him before in FC Utrecht probably didn’t hurt! Let’s just sit back and enjoy the talents of someone like Bart, whatever the circumstances may be that led him here! What Kind of Player is Bart? It is interesting that for someone who operates in midfield, Bart has more goals than assists in his career. 37 goals and 21 assists in 212 league and cup games in the Netherlands. In fact, in his stellar 2021/2022 season where he performed outstandingly well and was being talked about as potentially being able to make a big move at the end of the season, he registered 9 goals and 0 assists in the league. When you watch his highlights on Youtube, you begin to see why. He clearly has a knack for arriving late in the box to finish off team moves, and is a very sharp finisher. The

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Author name: Eddy Hirono