Match Previews

Geylang isn’t a one-man team, but they’re the closest in the league to it. Tomoyuki Doi has been involved in 58.3% of his team’s goals this season, if you count his goals and assists. By way of comparison, Maxime’s figure is at 43.3%. Doi’s contribution has come in the form of 34 goals and 8 assists, is an insane tally considering Geylang have only played 21 games thus far. His goals have ensured that Geylang International are firmly in the top 3, and also top-scorers of the league with 72 goals. Can we stop Doi? And in so doing, can we inflict defeat on Geylang, who have picked up 6 wins out of 7 since the last time they played us? Let’s dive right into the preview. Doi the Obvious Dangerman I mean – that’s just ridiculous. So every 90 minutes, he has 2 goal contributions, and is expected to score 1.62 goals? What kind of goalscoring robot is this? In his last outing against us, he scored 2 goals, one a tap-in, and the other a penalty. He has the knack of always being in the right place at the right time, but there’s more than that. While he has an xG per 90 of 0.91, he is scoring 1.62 goals per 90, almost doubling it. While some people will feel that such performances will revert to the mean before long, the season is already more than half-gone, and yet he is keeping it up. Doi is not a tap-in merchant either. About a quarter of his goals are from outside the penalty area. This makes it difficult to stop him, because he can pass it off to his midfielders, he can run with it, or as he showed against DPMM, he can take a shot out of absolutely nothing and still find the back of the net. Doi’s tally of 9 goals from outside the penalty area is the highest in the league. Seia Kunori is 2nd with 6 goals. This has also contributed to Geylang being the team to score the most goals from outside the box. How are we gonna stop him? That’s something for Coach Ranko to figure out! The Other Dangermen If you look at the assists charts, you’ll see a few names from Geylang. Outside of LCS, Bezecourt is the busiest man when it comes to assists. He is into double figures and doesn’t show signs of stopping. Bezecourt will be relied on to set the pace in attack, and in the press. If you remember, it was him who nicked the ball from Hariss and went on to score from range when our sides first met in June. Ryoya Taniguchi is another one to watch. He hit some insane numbers last year with Balestier Khalsa – 23 goals and 6 assists in the league. While this year hasn’t quite been prolific for him, he still poses a threat. You can’t quite argue with 9 goals and 9 assists. Form Book Both teams come into this in great form. While our Sailors have kept 3 clean sheets in the last 4 games and remain unbeaten in 2025, Geylang have gone on a bit of a streak as mentioned above. It’s worth noting that Geylang have not beaten us since 2022, despite running us close on a couple of occasions. I think I must also state at this point that when we last faced Geylang, it was in August. Prior to that, June. Those were times when our team was still trying to figure each other out. ACL2 and the Shopee Cup has allowed us to go up another level when it comes to match tempo. It’s thus no surprise that when we played DPMM and Albirex, at times it felt like everyone was sleepwalking on the pitch. The lessons learnt from the continental matches have turned us into a far more resilient side. Don’t think it’s a stretch to say that because of some of the trauma experienced, our team looks more compact, more solid, more together now. Are we likely to be a little fatigued with this match coming just 3 days after our game against Buriram? Possible, but let’s hope not. Conclusion It’s been a short fuss-free article, and I hope tonight’s game is fuss-free as well. COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE! My predicted line-up Izwan Mahbud Chris van Huizen, Lionel Tan, Bailey Wright, Toni Datkovic, Sergio Carmona Song Ui-Young, Hami Syahin Maxime Lestienne, Shawal Anuar, Bart Ramselaar Score Prediction Joseph and I predict the scores and track our success in a table. Stay tuned to find out who is the prediction king! 3 points for exact scoreline predicted correctly, 2 points for predicting the winner and margin of victory correctly (but not the exact scoreline), and 1 point for predicting the outcome correctly (win, lose or draw). Eddy’s prediction: Geylang 1 Sailors 4 Joseph’s prediction: Geylang 1 Sailors 6 Written by Eddy Hirono If you’d like to support the work we do here at SailorFanTalk, you may want to visit https://ko-fi.com/sailorfantalk and leave us a tip!

Our last defeat in the league was against Albirex. Till that defeat, Albirex had been in poor form, so much so that they sacked their very popular head coach, King Kazu, despite his multiple trophies for the club. Unfortunately, that victory against us seems to have set Albirex off on a bit of a run. Coinciding with the return from injury of experienced midfielder Yojiro Takahagi, and the signing of Ryhan Stewart, they managed to do this – That is some very impressive form – with victories against Balestier Khalsa and Tampines Rovers, two teams who have impressed this season. Will we be able to get our revenge on them though? Let’s dive into some talking points in the review. Stop Nakano, Stop Albirex Yup, as the title of this section suggests, Albirex are very much reliant on Nakano for their goals. With 17 goals, Shingo has nearly half of Albirex’s 37 goals. It is an amazing rise for the youngster, who just a year ago was playing community college football in USA. He has managed to make himself a real menace in the league, with his explosive pace and eye for goal. He also has a good mix of goals – with 4 headers, 3 left-footed shots, and 10 on his right foot, showing that he is not a one-dimensional threat. With 88% of his goals from inside the penalty area, he is very much a fox-in-the-box striker who you cannot afford to give too much space to. In the last game, he scored against us from the spot, but also from latching on to a long ball behind our defence as our Sailors went on search for a late equaliser. That is his specialty, capitalising on large tracts of open land left behind by teams that are further upfield searching for goals. Could the best way of stopping Albirex ironically be to sit deep and prevent them from utilising Nakano’s pace behind the defensive line? If we don’t do that, then I think we’ll have to be really attentive on our press to ensure that there are no easy long balls out of defence. Izwan could also be asked to play a little higher to minimise the space in behind and discourage the long balls forward. Set Pieces a Possible Route to Victory Albirex are the second-worst defence when it comes to set pieces this season. 8 of their goals conceded have been from set pieces, a tally that is beaten only by Hougang, who have conceded 11 from set pieces. On the other hand, our Sailors have scored 6 of our goals from set pieces, with Toni Datkovic and Bailey Wright always looking threatening in such situations. Between them, they have scored 8 goals this season, all from free kicks and corners. Lionel has scored twice in his Sailors career, but is yet to get a goal this season – maybe the time is right for him to open his account tonight? Ins and Outs for Albirex Arya Igami is the big name missing from the Albirex lineup, with a surprise mid-season move to BG Tampines Rovers to take up the foreign slot vacated by Kyoga Nakamura becoming a Singaporean. He will be missed for Albirex – he was the matchwinner against Young Lions in their last game, and it was his goal that opened the scoring against us when we last played them. While his tally of 4 goals and 3 assists suggest that he didn’t set the world alight, he was more than capable of moments of magic, and I feel a little safer knowing that he won’t be playing tonight. Yojiro Takahagi, a man spoken very highly of by the Albirex physio in the Kicking and Screaming podcast, has also retired and left Albirex. Given that he was such an important part of their recent revival, I wonder if his departure will destabilise them both on and off the pitch. The recent arrivals, Nozomi Ozawa, and Taiki Maeda – I tried looking online to see what kind of players they were, but unfortunately, there was precious little information about them. Arya and Yojiro out, replaced by two youngsters, you would hope that our Sailors can take advantage of the need for them to adapt to the league. Maxime – Injured or Rested? In our last preview article, we wondered if Maxime was injured because he clutched the small of his back during the KL City game after he scored. The club website stated in an article that he was rested for the game against DPMM. Will he be back for this game tonight? If he’s back, then pretty sure he was just rested for DPMM out of precaution. If he’s not in the lineup again, then I will begin to worry a little. We have a crunch tie against Buriram next week which will determine if we can get out of the group stage in the Shopee Cup, and we will need our best players for that. We’re not a one-man team, but in the league, Maxime has a ridiculous number of goal contributions. 10 goals and 19 assists means that he gets almost 2 goal involvements every 90 minutes. Let’s hope we see him back tonight! Akram Azman – Our New Man It has been long rumoured that Akram Azman was a target for the Sailors. Before the season, there were already rumours that this would happen, but ultimately he stayed at TPUFC. Some of yall might remember him from that game in 2023 where we came back from 2-1 down to beat Tanjong Pagar 3-2 in a very unconvincing game at Bishan Stadium. If you don’t remember, here are the highlights. Akram shone in this game, as he played at LWB and really was a thorn in our side. When he got forward, he won TPU a penalty, and also scored later on in the game to give them a 2-1 lead. He is capable of playing fullback and wingback on

It is always a little tougher writing a preview when 1) you haven’t seen the opponent in action for a long time, 2) there are new players from foreign leagues and you have no idea how they play. But let’s try anyway. Everyone thinks this is gonna be an easy win for us, or at least Singapore Pools seems to think so, but I am not sure I agree. Dangerman – Davis Ikaunieks From what I’ve seen of this guy off Youtube, he looks a real handful. He just joined DPMM so of course we have no idea how he has adapted so far to life in Brunei, but if Youtube compilations are anything to go by, then this guy can do it all. Left foot, right foot, headers – he just seems to be a penalty box predator. And yes, I know that Youtube shows the best side of players, but I still think there is some utility to watching highlights. You get a sense of what kind of player he is. When you watch videos and you have to think about whether the player is left or right-footed, then you know you have a player who is adept at using both feet. He is right-footed, but the type of goals he is banging in on his left are not just tap-ins or hit-and-hopes. Some of them are shots that require a high level of technique. Whereas you watch someone like Stjepan Plazonja, who has taken the SPL by storm, and his Youtube compilation also kinda tells you what to expect. This is what I wrote before the season started, and it’s exactly what we got. Ikaunieks sniffs out chances, and is able to find the target more often than not. Does his arrival make DPMM more dangerous? I don’t know because in my opinion, the man he replaced, Julio Cruz was already very good at scoring and creating chances. So at most it’s one-in, one-out? In 14 games, Julio Cruz notched up 6 goals and 7 assists, for a total of 13 goal contributions. Considering DPMM only got 30 goals, that is a pretty high involvement rate. (Yes I know sofascore only credits Cruz with 4 assists, but Chin Heng and I manually track games and goals, so trust me, it’s 7 assists). Ikaunieks does boast experience in some really tough environments – and I am not just talking about the quality of football. What in the snowy hell is that? We in Singapore have been complaining about the cold the last few days, but I think to Ikaunieks, the current weather in Brunei and Singapore is a sauna to him. Here’s hoping that he is still frozen in tonight’s game and will need some time to warm up (literally) to the Singapore Premier League. Unavailability of Song and Lionel I have written already in the last article about Maxime clutching his back after he scored. If there is any risk of aggravating an injury, my hope is that we do not play him. Although this is not an easy game, we have to think long term. We’re three points off the top of the league, but with three games in hand. Even if we do lose this tricky away game, it is not the end of the world. We can get those points back. If however, we risk Maxime and he aggravates an injury, then that leaves us a little short moving forward I am sure. (I am an Arsenal fan scarred by Saka’s absence and its subsequent impact on the team, so please bear with me while I describe doomsday scenarios). The tricky thing though, is that both Song and Lionel are unavailable due to suspension from picking up 4 yellow cards. I didn’t know this until the club website’s official preview article mentioned it. Sidenote to SPL, kindly put up a proper stats page so that we can keep track of these things. This raises a few questions. Will Coach Ranko stick with 5 at the back? Will we be able to replicate Song’s recent output? Song is our top-scorer in ACL2 with 5 goals, and our 5th-top scorer in the SPL with 4 goals. Can Shawal start another game in quick succession given his injury troubles? Refer to this article from the Straits Times a couple of months ago. Here’s an excerpt. I have spoken to some fans who think that for continuity’s sake, we will stick with 3 at the back (with Bill coming in for Lionel), with Hami continuing to operate at RWB in defence. Hami’s another one who has seen alot of action for club and country recently, so I wonder if he too can play yet another game in quick succession. There’s also of course the looming spectre of the upcoming Albirex game this Friday, where we will have to recover after a flight back from Brunei tomorrow, while they have the luxury of tons of time to prepare for the game. Miguel Oliveira Last but not least, Miguel Oliveira. In my opinion, one of the best players in the SPL right now. He is just so much fun to watch, and he has 8 goals and 3 assists to prove he is not all just for show – he has end-product as well. He combines very well with Hakeme Yazid, but unfortunately, if rumours are true, Hakeme Yazid has been stripped (heh) of his place in the side because he went to a certain nightclub in Russia while on international duty. His antics were laid bare for all to see for those who keep abreast of Bruneian football news. Looks like his season may be going tits up. If Hakeme Yazid is not in the lineup, we have one less player to worry about. I think he is one of the most gifted players I’ve seen in my lifetime from Brunei, and he has caused us some damage in the past. They also visited a cider bar (as

It is well and truly the last chance saloon for our Sailors. We have thus far not made the most of our last two games, and landed ourselves in this situation where we have to win to confirm progress. Anything else, and we need to rely on other results to go our way. We don’t want that. (Have you ever wondered why the last chance saloon is called the last chance saloon? Is it a reference to cutting your hair right before the Government announced circuit-breaker controls to curb the spread of Covid-19? No. In the USA, there used to be some states that prohibited alcohol. The last chance saloon was essentially a saloon (pub) that was situated near to an area where alcohol was not allowed – if you go past this point, there may be no more alcohol. Hence, “last chance”. OK I learned something today.) Speaking of learning, have our Sailors learnt their lessons from the collapses in the last 2 games, and can we finish off the job this time? Grab your shots and let’s dive right into the preview. The Equation I touched on this in the previous article, but the equation is simple if we win. If we win, we’re on 10 points, and we will qualify as group winners. (same points as Port FC but better head-to-head record) If we draw, we need Zhejiang and Persib to draw as well. If either of them win, the winner will leapfrog us and go into 2nd spot. Amazingly, if we lose, we’re not definitely out. If we lose by 1 goal, we will still qualify ahead of Zhejiang and Persib IF they draw. Basically, we either need to win, or really just pray that Zhejiang and Persib draw. A Different Port FC The last time we played Port FC in Bangkok, we rode our luck at times, and fought hard to achieve a 3-1 victory. The defensive performance was more impressive than the offensive performance. If we are to be a little honest with ourselves, we took advantage of 2 defensive errors to go 2-0 up through the sharpness of Shawal Anuar, and our 3rd goal owed a lot to a huge deflection that took Song’s shot in. What I think was very impressive was how we managed to completely kill Port’s rhythm after we scored our 3rd goal. There was 30min left in the game, but our Thai opponents created almost nothing of note. However, it might be a slightly different team that we face this time. Three key players come to mind, Bordin Phala, Irfan Fandi, and every Singaporean’s favourite Indonesian man (after Rich Brian), Asnawi Mangkualam. Bordin Phala 41 caps for his country, 6 goals. 7 goal contributions this season in the league, from 9 games. He was out injured the last game, but he can undoubtedly make the difference for his team. Along with Kevin Deeromram, Bordin has 7 goal contributions to top the contributions chart for Port FC. 4 goals and 3 assists from the wideman who can do it all. Bordin is a triple threat – he can run, he can shoot, he can cross. It won’t be easy trying to keep him quiet. Irfan Fandi He used to be from around here you know! (Home Utd, not Lion City Sailors). We even had a chant for him. Irfan Fandi, Irfan Fandi, I just don’t think you understand, He makes the strikers sad, He’s stronger than his dad, We’ve got Irfan Fandi! Irfan is obviously a much more developed and better defender than he was when he was with us years ago. The Thai League is more his level than our SPL of course, but he’s had injury troubles, and that’s what kept him out the previous game. His coach has confirmed he will be back, and aside from being a rock in defence, he will add another level of threat at setpieces as well. One thing about Port you will realise every match you watch is that they are very very good at setpieces. Their goal against us in Bangkok also came from a setpiece, while they were close on a few other occasions too. I don’t have the stats, but I can assure you that they will be a threat from them again tonight. As a Singaporean we always wanna see our players do well when they ply their trade overseas, but let’s hope we don’t see Irfan celebrating tonight. Asnawi Mangkualam Singaporeans’ most hated Indonesian, or maybe even person. After the way he cruelly mocked Faris Ramli in an unsportsmanlike manner for missing a crucial penalty kick when Singapore played Indonesia, no tears will be shed for him if he similarly screws up tonight. But I tell you what – he will be a menace down the right wing. He has bags of energy, a lot of pace, and he is unafraid to shoot or cross. If Chris is playing there, he will have to be at his best to even stand a chance against Asnawi. The Motivation for Port FC From the table, you can see that Port FC has already qualified for the next round. Is there any chance they will go easy on us, rest their whole team, etc? Unlikely, given that there is no game for them this weekend, so they don’t have to keep their powder dry. Their next game is in January. Also, while they have already qualifieed, top spot in the group is worth something to teams. In the knockout stage, if you finish top, you get to play the 2nd leg at home. That is an advantage because if the tie goes to extra time, your extra 30min played (and penalties if applicable) gets to be played in your home stadium, with your home fans. I think given these circumstances, along with Port’s desire to avenge their loss last time out, should mean that they will go all out against us. Our Approach – to Attack or

I may be showing my age a little with this introduction to the article, but when I was looking at the standings and playing out all the permutations in my mind, the song “Any Dream Will Do” kept popping into my head, except it was “Any Draw Will Do”. It’s a song that’s been covered by numerous artistes, and made the subject of parodies as well. When writing, you shouldn’t sidetrack yourself right from the get-go in the first paragraph, but this is not my day job, so who cares. Do check out the song as performed in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, the musical, and then also the hilarious Chelsea and Jose Mourinho inspired parody, harking back to the early days when Jose Mourinho first took charge of Chelsea and bought tons of players due to the funds made available by Roman Abramovich, forever changing the landscape of English football, and dare I say, all football. Back to the point – I genuinely believe that a draw will allow us to qualify for the knock-out stages because I have confidence in Port FC to beat Persib Bandung in Thailand. And if that happens, an away draw at Zhejiang will take us through to the next stage. But that’s just my conclusion, let’s dive right into some of the other thoughts I have coming into this game. Stakes are High – for BOTH Teams After the madness of the last 10 minutes in Jalan Besar Stadium when we somehow fucked up a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 (not even a draw, not even a draw, ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH), the group has been blown wide open. Zhejiang, despite losing 3 of their 4 games so far, find themselves in a position where they can still qualify. And it’s not even a fanciful possibility. Simply put, they just have to beat us, then beat Persib next week. After that, hope that we don’t take all 3 points against Port FC at Jalan Besar Stadium. Take a look for yourself how this might all pan out. For us, this represents a chance to make it to the knockout stages, to prolong our continental adventure. Truthfully though, the stakes might be even higher for Zhejiang. Why? In the SPL, barring a crazy collapse, we are guaranteed entry into next year’s ACL2 tournament. However, the Chinese Super League has already concluded and Zhejiang is in 7th, nowhere near the continental qualification spots. This is very much the last-chance saloon for them – they need to win to progress, and then try their best to win the whole damn tournament so they qualify for the ACL Elite. Failure to pick up a win here will extinguish their chances of making it to the next round, and with it, any continental competition next season. There’s also the question of pride, given how both us and Zhejiang lost our previous ACL2 game … being at home, they will want to show their thousands of fans that they are capable of bringing some cheer to what has been a difficult season for them. Chomping at the Bit Till It’s Gone Both teams will be chomping at the bit, eager to get going again after the last defeat. However, it has been quite a while since both teams have played. There have been no official matches since 3 weeks ago. If the teams were horses chomping at the bit, the bit would probably be gone by now. I include a picture of a horse and its “bit” so that you can see how the phrase originated. Of course in this case, I am not so sure I’d be sending my kids to Shane English School considering that they wrote “it it mouth” in their advert. Shane English School, more like Shame English School. Back to the point. Usually when you lose a game, you’d want to hop right back into action, to put things right. You’d ideally want a game against Tanjong Pagar United 5 days later – stick on the first team, let them rack up a 5-0 scoreline by the 60th minute, then put on some of your reserves to finish the game. However, there was none of that for us as we didn’t have any league games. We did have a morale-boosting friendly against JDT where we lost 1-0 but by all accounts looked pretty solid. It was also good that players like Bill Mahmadou got gametime and impressed. The rest of our Singapore NT players had abit of a mixed bag of results, beating Myanmar unconvincingly 3-2, but then losing to Chinese Taipei. How will this lack of rhythm affect us? Will our players have been dwelling on this result? I can’t say for sure, but I guess that at least in the international fixtures, Shawal kept up his impressive form, finding the net twice in 2 games. He’s definitely one to look out for. Who Else To Look Out For? Besides our superstar Shawal, I think what deserves a mention is that Bart Ramselaar should be back from suspension. You’ll remember his red card against Persib. That was 2 games ago, and I am reliably informed that he will be involved in this game. We’ve not seen any other news of any other absentees – plus we’ve seen all our players in action in training videos and airport videos and the like, so we can only assume that the full squad is fit and raring to go. On the Zhejiang side, it’s very much the same team that we saw against us at Jalan Besar Stadium, and I just hope that we do abit better closing down Li Tixiang. Often, he was given too much time in my opinion to pick out a pass, and his cultured left foot is capable of some really good deliveries. The first time we met Zhejiang, he created a few chances which required Izwan to be at his best to preserve the clean sheet. Their wingers of course, will

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

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

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

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