Eddy Hirono – Page 9 – SailorFanTalk

[Post-Match Thoughts] Hard-fought Away Victory (Kitchee 1 Sailors 2)

1 Comment / Post-Match Thoughts / Eddy Hirono

Sorry this one took so long. After the game, we had to go celebrate our team’s victory away from home, and also experience for ourselves the sights and sounds of Hong Kong. I took an extended holiday after that with my parents, and brought them around to see Hong Kong as well. Away days are special not just because of the football team that we follow, but also because it allows us to make friends with fellow football fans, and experience a different city. A win, is sweet, of course, don’t get me wrong. But I think the bonds forged on this trip would be no less strong even if we ended up losing this game. That being said, we never looked like losing this game. We may have almost chucked away a 2-goal lead to draw at the end, but thankfully we managed to survive that late scare to take home three vital points. Another reason for this one taking so long is because I had to rewatch the whole game twice. When you’re in the away stands behind the goal, it’s not the greatest view and your thoughts can be skewed by what you perceive from that angle. Clamping Down on Cleiton The Kitchee fans weren’t lying. Cleiton is a magnificent player. He turns 37 later this year and yet he moves around the pitch elegantly, efficiently, and quickly. He was involved in almost everything that Kitchee did as play flowed through him. Obviously, the Kitchee players also sought to look for him at every opportunity. But our Sailors clamped down on him, through fair or foul means. Whenever Cleiton got on the ball, one of Rui Pires, Diego Lopes, or Anu would be there, engaging him. Sometimes, even the rest of the players helped out. For example, Richairo loses the ball in the 15th minute, chases back a little, sees that it is Cleiton on the ball driving at speed, and gives him a little tug. Yellow card. Richairo does have a tendency to pull people back instead of running with them on defensive duty, but in this case, perhaps it is understandable. It is no surprise to see that Cleiton was the most-fouled player on the pitch. He was fouled 6 times. The next most-fouled player was Law Tsz Chun (more on him later), suffering 5 fouls. Of the 4 yellow cards dished out to Sailors players, 2 were for fouls on Cleiton. Maybe there was a tactical instruction to stop him from being so influential, or maybe he just had a knack for sniffing out space in midfield and thus the players knew that he had to be stopped, by hook or by crook. I think this was crucial in stopping Kitchee’s flow. Until Jantscher came on in the second half and tried to share the creative burden, I felt Kitchee was abit over-reliant on Cleiton being the sole source of inspiration. Law Tsz Chun – Steady on the Right I got many confused people tuning in to the broadcast and asking me why Kitchee was fielding a full foreigner lineup. The explanation is simple, quite a few of them are actually naturalised citizens because they have spent a long time in Hong Kong plying their football. A look at this recent Instagram post by Kitchee should make things clearer. They are all in the HK team. Law Tsz Chun is the only Chinese-sounding name in the lineup and for that he gets my utmost respect – it must be difficult being the only local-born person in the starting 11. This guy is someone to watch for the fans who are gonna head down to Jalan Besar for the return fixture in December. I was so impressed by him and his bags of energy down the right flank. Played at right wing in the first half, he became a right back in the second half when the coach made half-time changes. His directness caused problems for us, and as mentioned above, he was fouled 5 times. Always showing for the ball, and never scared to take on his man, I felt he was the most influential player after Cleiton for Kitchee that night. In fact, sometimes he was the one who helped Kitchee escape LCS’s press in the first half. He ended the night with an assist after his beautiful cross was headed in by Jantscher in the dying minutes of the game. but I felt his most important contribution was actually stopping LCS from making it 3-0. Just before half-time, with Kitchee in disarray, Richairo raced clear on the right wing, and it looked like 3-0 was inevitable because he had Diego Lopes running with him in support. But Law Tsz Chun not only kept pace, he managed to deflect the pass inside towards his keeper, and they avoided a damaging 3rd goal just before halftime. A fantastic performance from Law, and we will be watching him closely in the next game. Zharfan Answers His Doubters All season long, Zharfan has had his doubters. There were some moments where he could perhaps have done better, and sure, he’s no Hassan Sunny, but really, who is? I’ve always backed him this season, because Hassan aside, I don’t think there’s a better local keeper in Singapore. And Hassan has moved on, so who else would I get behind besides Zharfan? If you look at the saves alone, you might not think that Zharfan was overly extended against Kitchee. We’ve seen him make far more spectacular saves in the SPL – remember that double save against the Young Lions? However, I think his performance, taking into account his distribution and handling, were excellent. And in a must-win game where every mistake would prove costly? Just excellent. Interestingly, the lead-up to both goals sees Zharfan feature quite prominently. 2nd goal His contribution to our second goal is easy to notice – it was Zharfan’s quick thinking that saw him place a perfect drop-kick into the right channel

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[Preview] Kitchee v Sailors – Perhaps No Better Time to Play Kitchee?

Leave a Comment / Match Previews / Eddy Hirono

Abit of a late one – have been so busy clearing work to make time to fly over to Hong Kong to support the boys, and rather interestingly I got lost for an hour earlier in the meandering streets of Central, Hong Kong. But I am safe now, and in the next couple of hours before I head to dinner with some Kitchee fans, here is my preview of tomorrow night’s must-win game. Why, Eddy, you may ask, is this a good time to play Kitchee? Head Coach Sacked! Kim Dong-Jin Steps In Or rather moved aside to a “youth development” position – but we all know what that means. Alex Chu was sacked. Up steps Kim Dong-Jin as interim head coach. He is also the Technical Director of Kitchee. If you think his name sounds familiar, it may be because you watched him as a player playing for South Korea at the 2006 World Cup, or winning the Europa League with Zenit St. Petersburg. The reason for the sacking was touted as a move to “bring harmony to the club in pursuit of major trophies“. I mean that could mean a lot of things – but given that it came on the back of a poor performance in a 4-1 defeat to closest title challengers Lee Man, and a 2-1 defeat to Jeonbuk, could mean that there is some dressing room disharmony. Kitchee fans have also told us that not only was Alex Chu redeployed, several backroom staff also faced the same fate. It is not a happy camp at the moment, and I don’t need to look too far away for an example of how dressing room disharmony or dissatisfaction with management can lead to a team performing below par on the pitch – Sailors Singapore Cup campaign 2022, anyone? One thing though, will a Korean interim coach mean that Kim Shin-Wook, our old friend, returns to the starting line-up and plays a pivotal role? Korean Konnection Kim Shin-Wook was always a player who divided opinion amongst the fanbase. He had his supporters, fans who loved his goals and how he would oblige fans who mimicked his celebration (dropping to his knees and pointing to the sky), and yet other fans who felt that LCS’s starting striker given our resources should be much better, or at least more mobile. He did score 24 goals in 35 games though – I think opinion about him would have been a lot better if Boris Kopentovic did not have such a brilliant season last year. At the end of the day however, I think all fans would probably be united in agreeing that Richairo Zivkovic has been an upgrade. But how has our Wookie fared since he transferred to Kitchee? Not well, apparently. Go take a look at the highlights from my interview with Kitchee fans Edmund and Tim – pretty scathing. Last season, Wookie finished with the now-overused 007 meme, as he recorded 0 goals and 0 assists in 7 appearances. (I say overused but yet I still use, lol) This season, he has only seen gametime against much inferior opposition. He took to the pitch and scored a hattrick against semi-pro opposition, and just last weekend, he played in a 6-2 victory in the league, but when he was subbed on, he managed to miss a penalty, and also the rebound (which would not have counted anyway because it came off the crossbar). Apparently he approached the hardcore fans and apologised to them for his performance and looked tearful. It pains me to say this because I’ve always liked him, but it’s not going well for sure. I tell you why I like this guy though – I think it takes some balls and also shows that the player cares if he goes to the fans and talks to them, knowing full well that they don’t have full faith in him. Prior to this season, he also cut short his summer break so that he could train more in a bid to raise his performances. However, even if Kim Dong-Jin gives him a chance and starts him against us (unlikely), I still think Kitchee may not be the force they were last year when they qualified for the knockout stages because Wookie is no DEJAN DAMJANOVIĆ. Big Dejan-Sized Hole in the Attack Kitchee qualified for this year’s ACL by virtue of them finishing first in their domestic league. They also won the treble, and usually treble-winners are kinda invincible, no? Well, even though they had Dejan Damjanović with them at the tail-end of last season, it was interesting to watch in an interview with Hong Kong football expert Christie Leung that she felt Kitchee only just barely clung on to win it at the death, and the performance was not convincing. And that’s with Dejan in attack! Why all this fuss about Dejan, you may ask. Well, Dejan Damjanović is only the top ACL goalscorer of all time. He is also a K-League legend. I will let his numbers do the talking for me. The pitch graphic is for number of appearances, the blue-ball graphic is for goals, and the green ball graphic is for assists. Just an insane player – and you consider that what he did for Kitchee was after he had turned 39 years old? Just madness. And he turned in solid performances in the ACL campaign too, not just in the domestic league. Christie Leung also mentioned in the interview that Dejan’s absence is compounded by Kim Shin Wook’s failure to step into his massive boots. The Kitchee fans had hoped that following the same blueprint in bringing over a K-League legend in Kim, might have led to similar success, but it was not to be. Kitchee’s performances this season have not been useful for me to analyse because the gulf in quality between them and the other Hong Kong sides (with the exception of Lee Man, which they lost to) means that there

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[Post-Match Thoughts] Much Easier than Expected (Balestier Khalsa 0 Sailors 7)

Leave a Comment / Post-Match Thoughts / Eddy Hirono

There was a moment in the first half of this game, when Balestier scored a blatantly offside goal. It was so offside that the Balestier players didn’t even celebrate it, they just retreated back into position. Izwan also just turned around to retrieve the ball for a free kick. Noone thought it was a goal that would stand. Well, one person did. The person in charge of stadium music got a bit excited and pressed the big red button that said “TIGERS GOAL, GET INNNNNN – PLAY EYE OF THE TIGER“. The song came on for a bit, people realised something was wrong, and then it stopped. In many ways, that was the story of Balestier Khalsa on Monday night. They showed up for the game, but did they really show up? Not in my opinion. Only a handful of players really tried. Just like the song, it was half-hearted, and ultimately, killed very quickly. Let’s dive right into this, and other post-match thoughts. Balestier Khalsa Did Not Show Up Lack of fixtures They just didn’t show up. Could it be that they just haven’t had enough football in recent times, thus killing their momentum? They had a month-long break between 20 Aug and 15 Sep, when they played their last league game. Although there were two international fixtures during that time (like the rest of the world), I am not entirely sure why the break was so long. You compare that with earlier on in the season when Balestier were made to play 4 games in 11 days and you wonder what’s going on with the scheduling. When games are so spaced out, teams do lose momentum a little. The Sailors at least came into the game having played 2 games, once against Geylang in the final match of the season, and then a few days later against Bangkok United. Lack of desire For whatever reason, the Tigers seemed to lack any fight in them. I can remember only a few crunching tackles from Jordan and Madhu, some energetic running around from Ho Wai Loon, but even the usually combative and energetic Hoshino and Daniel Goh seemed to be very muted. The best example of this lack of desire came in the lead-up to the 5th goal. Ho Wai Loon’s disguised pass was read well by Anu, who deflected it into the path of Hafiz Nor. Hafiz Nor showed his mind is even quicker than his pace, immediately playing the ball to Diego Lopes in the centre of the pitch with a one-touch pass. Balestier were in trouble. Ahead of Diego is Shawal, who you can see in the picture above, and Richairo, who you cannot see. He’s with Madhu, slightly out of the shot. I picked this picture so you can see that there are 3 Balestier players who should start busting their gut to get back and help. Note the distances between the players. Look at Iqram’s distance with Shawal. This shows what Balestier is dealing with. It’s a 3v2 at the back – and the distances have widened. Ryoya is further from Diego now, Iqram is further from Shawal now. Iqram’s lack of desire to run back merely 14 minutes after coming on will be quite worrying for Balestier fans. Had he run back to defend, Jordan and Madhu would then be able to shift across and try to cover Diego and Richairo. As it was, this is your classic Attack v Defence drill where the coach puts fewer defenders than attackers to get the attackers used to finding the open man. This is textbook training ground stuff. Madhu tried his best – in fact in this moment above he managed to read and block an attempted pass by Diego on the inside to find Richairo. Had the other defenders come back in time, this might have killed the Sailors momentum or at least made it harder for Diego. Instead, he had the time to get the ball back from the deflection, and play it round the outside for Richairo to leave him 1v1 with the keeper. Funnily enough, even the referee is closer to the Sailors players than the retreating Balestier midfield. Where is Ryoya? The last picture is like those scenes at the end of an action movie, where a couple is being tormented by some psychotic serial killer. They call 911 for help, but the help never arrives. They find ways to keep themselves alive, they fight and struggle and get hit and fall down stairs and whatnot. They will never die of course, but at the end, after the psychotic serial killer is finally dead, the sirens will sound and the police will arrive – way too late. That is how you’d describe the Balestier midfield. Too little, too late by the time they appeared. In a match where Balestier looked very lackluster, I think this was the most glaring example. There is already a gulf in quality, and it was made worse by a lack of effort. I’d be fuming if I was a Balestier fan. Contrast this with an incident in the 30th minute of the game, with Sailors already 3-0 up, and Richairo lost the ball near the Balestier penalty area. He chased down his tackler and managed to win the ball back near the halfway line. For a man who was labelled as “lazy” when he made his debut for us, that was a very encouraging sign. Which brings us to the next topic … Richairo Needs to Get On the Ball More A hat-trick within the first 45 minutes. He is without doubt, one of the best players on the team. Not only is he strong and fast, he can shoot on either foot as well. He also shows a keen awareness of where his teammates are and is able to link up with them effectively. All these qualities were on display against Balestier. His first goal was an example of how difficult it is to

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[Preview] Balestier Khalsa v Sailors (No Lestienne as Attention Turns to the Cup)

Leave a Comment / Match Previews / Eddy Hirono

After midweek disappointment against Bangkok Utd, attention turns to the Singapore Cup. To me, it’s as important as the Champions League to the club, but for very different reasons. While the Champions League offers the club prestige on the continental stage, and the chance for fans to experience glamour ties, whether at home or abroad, the Singapore Cup is attractive because it offers us a realistic chance to win our first silverware in 2 years. That is not to say that I underestimate our local sides – but when you compare them to our chances in the Champions League, you can see where I am coming from. There is no room for complacency though. We’ve seen this season how “lesser” sides such as Young Lions and DPMM have caused us trouble. While tonight’s opponents have been beaten by us thrice this season (Played 3, Won 3. Scored 13, Conceded 6. (3-0, 5-4, 5-2)), they have not been easy games. The stand-out of course is the 5-4 game where we almost snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, but even the 5-2 game wasn’t as easy as it looked despite Balestier having a man sent off early. So yes, this will be a tough game, and it will be made slightly tougher because as you might have seen from the headline ….. Maxime Lestienne is Suspended At the back-end of last season, in the disastrous Singapore Cup campaign, Maxime picked up a yellow card in the 2nd group stage game against Young Lions, and another in the 3rd group stage game against Albirex. And Singapore Cup rules state that if you pick up 2 yellow cards, you miss the next game. And since we didn’t qualify for the semi-finals last year, Max serves his suspension tonight. Obviously this will be a big miss, as he is the league’s top creator and top scorer. I don’t really need to elaborate further. I still think a frontline containing Zivkovic and Shawal Anuar cannot be said to be poor, so we are still favourites. If anything, this will be a test for our Sailors to see if we are over-reliant on Max. I thought that against Bangkok United, Max wasn’t at his sparkling best and could not put the team on his back in the search for an equaliser. But in a team with so much talent, it is perhaps unfair for us to expect that to happen. So I think this might actually be a good opportunity for someone like Haiqal Pashia, who I believe might come into the thinking for Coach Ranko, especially with the absence of Abdul Rasaq as well for the rest of the season. Interestingly, he features heavily in the pre-match buildup article. If the rest of the team is solid, a frontline of Pashia, Richairo and Shawal should still send chills down the spine of defenders, given their fantastic mobility and the potential to interchange positions. Let’s not forget that while Balestier had a stellar season, finishing 4th, they conceded 71 goals, just 5 fewer than Young Lions, and in so doing, ended up with the 2nd-worst defence. Last point to note? During the international break there was a closed-door friendly played against Balestier Khalsa, and while they did not have their national team players, we also didn’t have Maxime Lestienne with us, and the team still managed to record a handsome victory. Maybe a sign of things to come? Lionel Tan is Not Suspended The title of this section should clear it up for you if you had any doubt. Lionel Tan is not suspended. The nonsense red card he received in our last league game carries over to the SPL only, not to the Singapore Cup. As such, he will be available. This is vital, considering we’re probably gonna be without Bailey Wright. Given that he wasn’t even fit enough for the bench in our crucial Champions League tie, I highly doubt he will be available to start against Balestier tonight. Who will partner Lionel at the back? Will it be two centre-backs? Or three? If we line up with three centre-backs, then we will know that the priority is well and truly on the Champions League as we try to build some familiarity with the formation. It is possible that Bill comes in at the back to partner Lionel. After all, with Nur Adam being enlisted, we will need a U23 player to come in and start the game. Of course, this rule might also be fulfilled by Harith Kanadi coming into the side. Or who knows? Maybe Nathan Mao will be given a start? Banishing the Ghosts of Yesteryear While we have beaten Balestier Khalsa thrice this year, I still forever remember the two collapses we had late in the season last year against them – one in the SPL, and one in the Cup. It is no exaggeration to say that Balestier Khalsa ended our hopes of silverware last year with the 5-3 loss in the league and the 3-3 draw in the cup. The circumstances are very different of course. Hassan Sunny has come out to say in a few interviews that the atmosphere was very bad at the club at that time, because people were not getting their contracts renewed, and he knew there was going to be an exodus of players. There was also all kinds of drama as Izwan was the preferred keeper in the Cup, and as Hassan stated in his interview with Raushan, he does not share the best relationship with Izwan. Whatever the reasons for last year’s collapses, this is a squad with fresh blood, and that is still competing on two fronts. I hope that there is not as much off-the-field drama this time and we can put our best foot forward and win this game. Which Keeper Starts? Izwan is back from injury, and some may say that since he was the cup goalkeeper last year, maybe he will be the cup goalkeeper

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[Post-Match Thoughts] No Shame in Defeat, But a Huge Uphill Battle Now (Sailors 1 Bangkok Utd 2)

Leave a Comment / Post-Match Thoughts / Eddy Hirono

It was a dream start for us in our first ever home game in the AFC Champions League. Last season’s “home” games don’t count because they were all played in Buriram in a centralised tournament due to Covid-19. As is so often the case, whenever Chris van Huizen gets a cross into the box, things happen. Last night was no different. As the left-footed cross was whipped into the box, it was half-cleared to our Brazilian magnifico, Diego Lopes. He had sent a shot high and wide just 5 minutes ago, but this time, he hit it sweetly on the volley, and it nestled in the bottom corner of the net. Jalan Besar erupted. After a long period where we sat deep and frustrated our Thai guests, this was a much-needed boost of energy. We all know how this one ends, so there’s no need for a spoiler alert, but at the time, it was a sweet moment for the fans. It’s now a day later, so there’s been some time to process my thoughts about the game. Tactical stuff I will touch on, but not in detail – I will leave that to Zach as usual in our upcoming Tactical Analysis article. Let’s go. Angst about the Angst Post-match, after I went about doing all the interviews (both player and fans), I went online to look at the reactions to the Sailors’ defeat. While there were some comments commending the atmosphere, and others acknowledging the effort put in by the players, there were also annoyingly, rather many comments having a go at our players, saying that they lacked effort, were very poor, or were not well-prepared – often a combination of all the above. I felt that based on the eye-test and what I observed during the game, these comments were unfair and were perhaps borne out of angst at the final result. Not analysis, not rational thought, just angst. And then I ended up getting angsty too. I think for me what really swung it was that it was not only the faceless Internet trolls having a go – it was our fans in the SailorFanTalk Telegram chat. Comments such as “they aren’t well-prepared for the tournament during training“, “it feels like we suddenly cannot play football and play like YL“, “players have no desire “, “when we have the ball, how do we keep [the ball]? It’s got nothing to do with opponent“. Where was all this negativity coming from? And in the case of the last comment, how can someone be so angsty that logic flies out of the window? How can your success in keeping the ball not be at least in part affected by the quality of your opponents? These are unfair comments that unnecessarily shit on our own players, players we should be supporting. It was as if people had forgotten that the Sailors were the underdogs coming into this game. Maybe they should read this blog a bit more! Haha. [This way if you wanna re-read the preview.] Then there were people who asked a fair question – could we really count ourselves as underdogs? We were after all, a little lucky in the draw and had escaped drawing the likes of Urawa Red Diamonds and Kawasaki Frontale. Some people felt quite rightly, that we were in the “easiest” group. I think however, the reality is that in the ACL, almost any group we get drawn into, we are gonna be underdogs. Here was my response in full – And that brings me to my next point – in the cold light of day, having rewatched the game, and also with the benefit of statistical reports, can we say that Bangkok Utd didn’t really create any good chances? Our Sailors Did Well Defensively Against a team top of the Thai League, a team that finished 2nd in the league last year, and that had also beaten the reigning champions 2-0 this season, we did well. Really well. Considering the quality of our opponents, I think to limit them to under 1 xG, is very impressive. This was also borne out by the eye-test, where they hardly created any good opportunities. The best chance for our opponents I think was the second half opportunity for Mahmoud Eid which shaved the post on its way out – he was kept quiet all night by the impressive Mamat. As mentioned in my Telegram message earlier, the goals came from slightly bad marking at one set-piece (disappointing of course), and a piledriver right into the top corner. While the players are not blameless in this, I am not sure we should be faulting their effort. Here’s another interesting stat to show you which I think speaks to the effort the players put in – duels won. In terms of duels, we pretty much outperformed them in almost every category, which suggests desire was not the problem. In fact, one of the enduring memories for me from this game was the sight of Richairo Zivkovic running back on more than one occasion all the way to the line of our penalty area to help out in defence. Desire was definitely not the issue and defensively our Sailors frustrated our opponents. In the post-match press conference, Bangkok United manager Totchtawan Sripan said that in their pre-match analysis, they had prepared for the Sailors lining up with 5 at the back despite not doing so in the domestic league. It is to our Sailors’ credit that even though our opponents knew what was coming, they still struggled to create chances. But could we have been slightly more attacking? Let’s discuss that. Should Sailors Have Opened Up More? I can’t lie – this was a thought that kept nagging away at me after the game (and maybe even at times in the first half). While we limited our more illustrious opponents to nothing more than half-chances and long shots, we ourselves did not pose a consistent threat. Often, our

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[Preview] Sailors v Bangkok Utd – Slight Underdogs

1 Comment / Match Previews / Eddy Hirono

The upcoming ACL campaign somehow feels even bigger than last year’s. I am not sure what it is. Perhaps in an era where Covid-19 dominates the headlines, football takes a bit of a backseat? Or maybe it’s the largely-empty stadiums? Another factor could be that last year’s Champions League campaign was played in a centralised format, and all 4 teams of our group were in Buriram for about a month and played all their games back to back. There was no home crowd cheering our players on, or that of our opponents. Urawa Red Diamonds have to be commended for making their matches against us feel like home games with the strength of their away support – both in terms of numbers and loudness. I have told this story before to my friends, but what impressed me about them was not just that they were strong in numbers, and very loud. What impressed me most was that when I started chanting alone in the cavernous Thunder Castle (Buriram’s home stadium), they had the grace to allow me to chant out loud in support of my team for a few minutes. And I knew it was not coincidence, because whenever I stopped chanting, they would start a new chant. They could easily have used their hundreds of voices to drown me out, but they did not. I guess that’s the beauty of football, and an example of how fans can put their support of the team to one side, and respect fellow fans of their opponents. Even in the lead-up to this round of ACL games, I have experienced the warmth and generosity of fans online who have stepped up to help me with this article. Let’s dive straight into the preview. Our Opponents If you haven’t read the pre-preview of our tie against Bangkok United, please go and do so here. Huge shout-out again to Matt Jenkins for his contribution. Just a recap of what he said – You’ll meet a strong BUFC side. With our stalwart Brazilian centreback Everton captaining the side, and organising a back four that’s pretty much all Thai / or Thai-German, sitting in front of Pattiwat the Thai national 2nd goalkeeper. Midfield normally sets up as a 3 or 4, with strong Thai influence, who run and run, again 2 or 3 here in the national side. The front line is made up of Mahmoud Eid, a Palestinian forward who drops deep and plays across the front, Willen Mota, a Brazilian who plays more centrally, and Rungrath, another Thai who offers more width and can easily slip back into midfield. Matt Jenkins – Bangkok United fan This was how our opponents lined up in their last league game against Sukhothai United, and it is highly likely that they will go with the exact same players. I have done some checking and of the four league games played so far, these players (with the exception of no. 26 Suphan Thongsong) have started all four games, and are flying in the league right now. 3 wins and a draw, with several players looking very bright. The night was spent looking at these players in their first 4 fixtures, and my oh my, will we have a huge task on our hands. The summary of what I have seen is this. They have a multi-talented midfield that is very athletic, capable of defending, capable of arriving late into the box to score, capable of breaking at pace, and capable of making killer passes into their lethal front 3. Mahmoud Eid is gonna be hell to defend, because he is big, strong and fast. Rungrat is capable on both feet and loves taking on his man. Willen Mota is a constant threat as he flits around in the frontline, sometimes dropping deep to connect with the rest of his teammates. In the backline, Everton is a strong presence (unlike in the English Premier League, haha), while Nitipong at right back is a real menace in attack, because he bombs on down the right flank with purpose, and has a hell of a cross on him. I could go on and on about how good Bangkok United is, but let’s focus on Mahmoud Eid. Mahmoud Eid Mahmoud Eid is a Palestinian international who was born in Sweden. He is 30 years old now, and the biggest name on his CV is Kalmar FF, a Swedish top division team, where he played for about 5 years. His career prior to that was predominantly in the Swedish 2nd and 3rd division, where he scored a respectable amount of goals. Nothing crazy though. Last season at Bangkok United is where he really caught the eye – in the league he notched up 10 goals and 4 assists from 26 games, and he wasn’t even the main striker. The main attacking threat in the team was the excellent Heberty, who has since moved on to join JDT. This season, he has 3 goals and 3 assists from 4 games. His size makes it seem like he’d be a classic target man, but while his physique allows him to hold up the ball well and bully defenders in the air, his mobility and composure on the ball in the finish is what our defence definitely has to keep an eye on. How Will We Line Up? Since the Spurs game, our fans and pundits have been speculating that we may line up in the ACL with a back 3 – Super and Pedro flanking Bailey Wright as the central centre-back, Hafiz Nor and Chris van Huizen on the outside as overlapping wingbacks providing width. This might well be the situation for us tonight, though Bailey Wright’s absence at the weekend does call into question whether or not he is fit enough to start tonight. If he isn’t fit, we will still be able to call upon the likes of Hariss Harun and Lionel Tan to fill in at the back. While it will be

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[Post-Match Thoughts] Perfect Warm-Up Game (Sailors 3 Geylang 1)

Leave a Comment / Post-Match Thoughts / Eddy Hirono

As mentioned in the preview piece, this game mattered little to us, and so it was interesting to see such a strong lineup. Maxime, Diego, Richairo, all started. Other players you would expect to see start on Wednesday, such as Hafiz Nor, Chris van Huizen, Hariss Harun, and Zharfan Rohaizad played 90min as well. Curiously, Bailey Wright was not on the pitch and also not on the bench, so there may be some doubt as to whether he will be fit to start Wednesday’s game. There were some positives for us to take from this game, so let’s dive right into it. Noone Got Injured + People Got Minutes I think the first positive out of this is that nobody picked up an injury. With the Singapore Cup and the AFC Champions League right around the corner, we are gonna need everyone on board, not just for the numbers, but also for the variety. Long-time followers of the Sailors will know that we have some really good players, but each offers something a little different. Hafiz Nor and Mamat both defend and get down the wing pretty much all game – however Hafiz Nor packs a better shot, while Mamat is perhaps that bit more solid defensively. This is just one example – but I think you get my point. Coach Rankovic will want his full arsenal of talent available to him so he can pick the right weapon for the right game situations. Zivkovic and Lestienne got 45min each – and I think this is your most quintessential “get some minutes under your belt” kind of performance. Neither of them looked anywhere near their flying best, and I really don’t think Geylang had anything to do with it. Subconsciously, I think some players already thought ahead to Wednesday’s crunch tie against Bangkok United, and wanted to make sure they didn’t pick up an injury. Some players on the other hand, probably knew they were not gonna start on Wednesday and so turned in great performances to try and play themselves into the manager’s plans – more on that next. Haiqal Pashia – A Man on a Mission Shoutout to Haiqal Pashia – who I thought really changed the game when he came on. By his own admission in a post-match selfie interview, he should have had a hat-trick. First, when he cut in around the 52nd minute and hit it hard in front of goal, but Hafiz Ahmad did well to save it. Then, late on in the game, Nathan Mao did well to put two chances on a plate for him, but he only managed to score one. It was an energetic performance, and one the team really needed because the first half was very flat. Haiqal’s runs in behind made Geylang’s defence look a bit more unsettled, and when Haiqal’s first shot was well-saved, eventually the pressure told, and when the ball was recycled and played to Chris on the left flank, he whipped in a delightful ball for Shawal Anuar to score with a commanding header. It was a crucial goal that put us level on the scoreboard early in the second half. Perhaps the more recent followers of the Sailors might not know this, but Haiqal Pashia wasn’t always a bit-part player for us. In the 2021 season, except for when he was out injured, he started every game for us. This was in part, due to the rule which required all SPL clubs to start a U23 player and not substitute the player until at least the second half. To his credit, this did not happen all the time, and he was an integral part of the team that won the title for us that year. This season, until the 1-1 draw with Tampines in June, he had only made a single appearance and even then, for only 11 min against Geylang in March. Since June, he has made 9 appearances, although most of them have been as late subs into the game. Not much gametime for him. If you really wanted to see him play more minutes, you would have to watch him in the U21 league, where he is often the main attacker, and has a role of the “veteran” leading the younger boys. I have watched a few of the U21 games, and the pattern for him seems to be that he makes very good runs, and often ends up with good chances, but perhaps he could do a little more with his end product. If he can combine the 2, he’ll be a cracking player. Which is why it is so satisfying to see him score 2 goals in 2 substitute appearances for us. Some may remember the title-winning season where we went into a game with Albirex at Jalan Besar Stadium, and a win would see us seize the title initiative heading into the final few games. It was September, crunch time in the season. In a game where we had to dig deep and defend for long stretches, our threat on the counter-attack was gonna be our main weapon, and so it proved. Midway through the first half, Haiqal Pashia was on the end of a Faris Ramli cross, and he put us 1-0 up, allowing Sailors fans to dream. It was however, also the same game where Haiqal made a similarly good run, was again found by Faris Ramli, and somehow he managed to miss with an open goal to aim at. Eventually Albirex snatched a late equaliser and we thought we lost the title, but Tampines did us a big favour, held them to a draw later in the season, and we were still CHAMPIONS. Oh shit I digressed big time. Point is this – Haiqal Pashia could prove crucial for us in the ACL when we will have to sit deep and defend well, and hit opponents on the counter. I cannot imagine us playing any other way against Jeonbuk, for example. The starting

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[Preview] Sailors v Geylang – Dead Rubber for the Sailors

Leave a Comment / Match Previews / Eddy Hirono

“Dead rubber” is a weird term. I don’t quite know for sure why a meaningless game is called a dead rubber, and it seems that even a quick Google doesn’t answer that question 100%. There’s talk of the term originating from “rubber bridge”, a version of the card game, bridge. There’s also talk of the term originating from “rubber” being another word for eraser, and since in some games where you keep the score, you erase the score from the previous game before you go on to the next, a “dead rubber” meant a useless erasing of the score because the next game doesn’t really matter. I’d dig further, but then SailorFanTalk becomes an altogether different website so I didn’t. Answers in the comments are welcome. Dead Rubber for Both Teams Potentially We’ve all known for weeks now that Albirex have been crowned champions, and Tampines’s horrible slump in form has meant that we can’t be caught. So it’s a dead rubber for us. Had Balestier got even a point in their last game, it would be a dead rubber for Geylang as well. However, a loss in their last game has meant that should Geylang beat us tomorrow, they might end up in the top half of the table. All this, provided Balestier don’t get a single point against Tampines Rovers later today. If Balestier get a point, then it’s a dead rubber for Geylang as well. Could this possibly peter out into a nothing game? I honestly have no clue. There are too many possible permutations that might play out. Fringe players may see this as a chance to impress and perhaps force their way into Rankovic’s plans. This may be used as a game to give competitive minutes for players who have lacked minutes in their tank. For example, Rui Pires, who impressed on “debut” against Spurs, is definitely going to start against Bangkok United. Are we gonna throw him in without him at least getting some competitive minutes in the league? But if you do start him, what if he gets injured? Will the players give a little less when it comes to tackles and 50-50s, knowing that any injury rules them out of the Champions League and Singapore Cup games? Will Coach Rankovic feel that a win is the best way to keep the momentum? Too difficult to predict what is going to happen! What Formation Will We Line Up In? We’ve seen how the Sailors lined up against Spurs, a solid five at the back featuring three central defenders and two wingbacks. Coach Rankovic mentioned in a recent interview (around the 4:40 mark) that this is an option that we may use in the Champions League. He mentioned how we would probably use it against opponents who dominate possession. The aim probably is to remain solid at the back, and then pick and choose moments to counter-attack and score. Regular followers of SailorFanTalk will also remember Richairo Zivkovic discussing this very topic, when he said that sometimes in the ACL we will be under great pressure, and if we have good counter-attacking opportunities, they may be our best chances to score. If so, will we see it against Geylang, given that they are not likely to dominate possession? Would it be wise to use this game as a dress rehearsal for the Bangkok United game even if the opponents are likely to be very different in ability and style? Potential Debut for Harith? Given that Nur Adam is suspended for this game, I think there is a good chance we see Harith Kanadi line up against his former club. It will be good for him to get minutes for the club, especially if rumours surrounding Nur Adam’s enlistment prove to be accurate and we miss him for much of the Champions League campaign. As I understand, the club played two friendlies during and before the international break, and Harith played a part in both those games. Maybe us Sailors fans will get to see him in action! If he does play, he will be directly up against Yushi Yamaya. I’d call that a baptism of fire of sorts, given that Yushi is one of the best right-wingers in the league, and definitely the most dangerous player we will face tomorrow, given that Vincent Bezecourt is out of action. He is basically their mini-Maxime, a talented left-footed right winger who leads the team in both goals and assists. 9 goals and 7 assists for Yushi, allied with his direct running style – it will be some test for Harith. One person Harith will be relieved not to see is Arshad Shamim, who I believe will be ineligible for this game given that he is on loan from us. Imagine having to defend against Yushi cuttiing inside and Arshad making the outside run – nightmare. Does Maxime Lestienne Have to Perform Once More? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Maxime Lestienne has to be Player of the Season. 25 goals and 21 assists in 23 games. What kind of stats are those? It’s pure fantasy stuff. 2 goal contributions a game. And it’s not just quantity – it’s quality as well. Some of the goals and assists have been breathtaking. That performance in Our Tampines Hub where he basically turned into a UK fast food cashier, asking “and would you like chips with that?” I heard that even now, Syazwan Buhari still looks up into the sky occasionally to check for flying balls. That time against Geylang when we were far from our best, Mamat kept us in the game with some blocks, and then up stepped Maxime to curl home two brilliant free kicks. I am sure Hafiz Ahmad is still sick of the sight of him. The back-flick goal against Hougang United. Oh, how Hougang must hate him. 3 games played, 4 goals 6 assists from the brilliant Belgian. He’s only had 3 games all season where he did not

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[Preview] The Pre-Preview For Our Champions League Opponents – True Bangkok United

1 Comment / Match Previews, Specials / Eddy Hirono

The AFC Champions League (“ACL“) is upon us and although we still have to navigate a last game of the SPL season against Geylang International, I have been getting many questions from friends who ask whether I know anything about the teams. I don’t really – I am not at all an expert on Asian football, but I’ve done some digging around and consulted people much more knowledgeable than I, to bring you this pre-preview. There will still be a preview in the days leading up to the match, but that will probably centre more around who’s available and who isn’t. So without further ado, let’s dive in and talk about True Bangkok United. The Name True Bangkok United. Is there a fake Bangkok United? Is it like Real Madrid? Why is there an adjective in a club name? Well, True is a huge communications conglomerate in Thailand, and they are the owners of the club. Ah – that’s pretty boring. And in case you are newer to football and wondering about Real Madrid, I got you. Here’s a table to explain some quirky club names – feel free to add on to the list in the comments if you want. Club Name Meaning of Club Name Real Madrid “Real” is actually a Spanish word meaning “Royal”. Real Madrid was granted the title of “Real” in 1920 by the Spanish monarchy. Many other Spanish clubs have been granted this title too, such as Real Sociedad, Real Valladolid, Real Zaragoza. Real Salt Lake When I broke up with my first girlfriend, my tears formed a real salt lake. An MLS team that obviously had nothing to do with the Spanish monarchy, the owner just decided that he admired Real Madrid’s basketball and football teams, so he smacked the word “Real” on it. Club The Strongest A Bolivian club founded in 1908 that was originally named The Strong Football Club, but perhaps someone still felt it wasn’t big-energy enough, so boom, they went along and called it The Strongest. In 1930 they won the Bolivian league without conceding a single goal. Manifest. True Bangkok United Originally formed as Bangkok University FC (more on this later), they changed their name to Bangkok United in 2009, and True stepped in in 2010. Their Coach I did not realise this when the draw was announced, but when I was reading up on them, I found out that their coach is none other than legendary Thai midfielder, Totchtawan Sripan – more commonly known to Singaporean fans as Tawan Sripan. He has an illustrious football history in the ASEAN region and he even played in Singapore from 1998 – 2003, for Sembawang Rangers. In fact, that was his longest stint at any club. At international level, he played 75 times for Thailand, scoring 18 goals. Notably, he also scored against Manchester City and Netherlands in friendly games. As a coach, he has quite an impressive record. If you take a look at the Wikipedia extract below, you will see that he has been head coach of Bangkok United for the past 3 years or so. And he’s already won silverware this season, leading Bangkok United to a Champions Cup victory over Buriram. Of course, you would have seen a little gap between March and December 2022. Here’s where another familiar name pops up. In that time, Aurelio Vidmar (our former coach of course) was the head coach and Totchtawan was the technical director. Aurelio Vidmar left the club for personal reasons. After Vidmar’s departure, Totchtawan led the club to an impressive 2nd place finish. Totchtawan has also won the league and cup double with Muangthong United in 2016, and was then named Coach of the Year. He also has AFC Champions League experience – leading Muangthong United to beat Kashima Antlers, Ulsan Hyundai and Brisbane Roar, and qualify for the next round. Just look at this. Maybe we should be scared! Their Players This really isn’t my forte. I cannot claim to know many of their players well enough to comment, except Heberty who is a regional legend. But he’s left to go on loan to JDT, so that’s great for us. Heberty hit 35 goals in 70 games for Bangkok United and is a player with great technique. I was scrambling around and then decided, instead of hearing from me, you guys should hear from a Bangkok United fan. So I went and trawled Twitter looking for someone who would speak to me in exchange for a beer when I go over to Thailand to watch the away game. Lo and behold, Englishman Matt Jenkins came to the rescue. Matt was formerly a season-ticket holder at Chelsea and has been a fan of Bangkok United for 6 years. I had a chat with him, and he had this to say about the players that we are coming up against- As a club we have had an up and down few years… Always pushing for honours but normally fading away, or having a poor run that normally kills our chances. This season has a somewhat different feel to it. We’ve removed some of what I would call “luxury players”, and put some excellent players in the first 11 that are willing to work for the team. And it’s already paying dividends! We beat Buriram 0-2 in the season opening showpiece, the Champions Cup. And from there we have started the season unbeaten. We are also playing some good football, but more importantly keeping discipline and working with a fluid formation. I feel looking at the group it’s something we could progress from.. That said I know little about any of our opponents, including that of Lion City Sailors. So it’s more blind optimism than detailed odds and team knowledge. You’ll meet a strong BUFC side. With our stalwart Brazilian centreback Everton captaining the side, and organising a back four that’s pretty much all Thai / or Thai-German, sitting in front of Pattiwat the Thai national 2nd

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[Specials] SailorFanTalk Supports Local for August

Leave a Comment / Specials / Eddy Hirono

If you have been following our Instagram page, you would have seen that for the month of August, we have been doing special stuff to celebrate National Day. First, we did a cover version of some National Day songs and set it to some iconic moments from LCS’s history. Give chance on the music and singing, yeah? Haha. Second, we started posting on our Instastories everyday something local that myself and Joseph like. It ranged from music, to movies, to food, and even randomly, favourite Carousell accounts. And after 31 long days, where Joseph especially struggled for inspiration (“alamak Eddy I am a creature of habit la, I always eat and do the same things“), we have finally compiled our respective lists of 31 recommendations. Without further ado, here they are! I have included the category in brackets behind the recommendation, in case you are not sure what it is. For full details, check out our Instastories archive and click on the #supportlocal tab! Eddy’s #SupportLocal Recommendations Day 1 – Ang Ku Kueh Hut (Food) Day 2 – Ma Maison Tonkatsu Curry Rice (Food) Day 3: Sezairi – Fire to the Floor (Song) Day 4: Boothype (Boot Review Site) Day 5: No Second Draft (Movie Review Site) Day 6: Nissin Spicy Tonkotsu (Cup Noodles) Day 7: Electrico – Runaway (Song) Day 8: Taho Lemon Chilli Sauce (Chilli Sauce) Day 9: Not Without Us – Perspectives of Disability and Inclusion in Singapore (Non-Fiction Book) Day 10: TheLionCityBoy – Halimah ft. Akeem Jahat (Song) Day 11: Singapore Dreaming (Movie – Available on Netflix) Day 12: Noonbeat – What is Love (Song) Day 13: Sonny Liew – The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (Graphic Novel) Day 14: MyJerseyCorner (Carousell account) Day 15: Tanya Chua – Where I Belong (Song) Day 16: Morning Assembly – Marina Bay (Song) Day 17: The Stuck In Podcast by Jared Gallagher (Podcast) Day 18: Tanyu Grilled Fish (Food) Day 19: Political Prude (Podcast) Day 20: Dreamz FM – Should I Stay (Song) Day 21: The Pack (Cycling Attire) Day 22: Anjappar (Food) Day 23: 7 Letters (Movie – available on Netflix) Day 24: Sports Minutes (Podcast) Day 25: Gareth Fernandez – Physical (Song) Day 26: Starrkeepers Goalkeeping Academy (Football Coaching) Day 27: Financial Coconuts (Podcast) Day 28: Soccerkakis (Football Website) Day 29: The Gym Pod (Gym) Day 30: Brandon Khoo (Drummer, Drumming Instructor) Day 31: Leonleelx (Content Creator, Goalkeeping Enthusiast) Joseph’s #SupportLocal Recommendations Day 1 – Ah Boy Chicken Rice (Food) Day 2 – ProRehab (Physio) Day 3 – L Bistro (Karaoke Bar) Day 4: Cologne Culture (Perfumes) Day 5: Wunderfolks (Tarts) Day 6: Kaira Gong – My Island Home (Song) Day 7: McDonald’s Buttermilk Chicken Burger (Food) Day 8: Dian Xiao Er (Food) Day 9: Mediacorp (Broadcaster) Day 10: Pasar Malam (Night Market) Day 11: Nam Kee Chicken Rice (Food) Day 12: FootballPlus (Charity) Day 13: Attap Flavors (Food) Day 14: Ameri’Da (Crochet) Day 15: MADDspace – Together as One (Song) Day 16: Skin Therapy (Facial) Day 17: Melt.sg (Food) Day 18: TWG Tea (Tea) Day 19: Tigafolks (Catering) Day 20: Jia Xiang Kolo Mee (Food) Day 21: Weston Corp (Football Shop) Day 22: Changi Village Hokkien Mee @ Yishun Park Hawker Centre (Food) Day 23: Grub (Food) Day 24: Ya Kun Kaya Toast (Food) Day 25: Elsie’s Kitchen (Catering) Day 26: Old Chang Kee (Food) Day 27: The Hop Pod (Podcast) Day 28: 7-11 (Food) Day 29: TheJianHaoTan – Titan Academy series (Youtube Show) Day 30: Hush Podcast (Podcast) Day 31: ToastBox Curry Chicken with Rice (Food) Hope you enjoyed this! Once again, for full details and our write-ups on each day, check out our Instastories archive and click on the #supportlocal tab! Written by Eddy Hirono and Joseph Jireh 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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Author name: Eddy Hirono