Match Previews – Page 10

Young Lions Match Preview – Must-Win Game

Leave a Comment / Daily Musings, Match Previews / Eddy Hirono

As the title suggests, this is a must-win game, especially after we dropped points in our opener against Balestier Khalsa. A draw here would leave us needing to win against Albirex Niigata, and we don’t want to be in that situation. In all our league fixtures against the Young Lions, we’ve won every single one, and that should be the expectation. Here’s where we address the question that might be in your head – “Hey Eddy why’d you pick a picture of Patrice Evra to headline this post?” The older fans among us may remember in 2009, after Manchester United defeated Arsenal to qualify for the UEFA Champions League final, Patrice Evra boasted to the press that it was 11 men v 11 babies. Even as an Arsenal fan, I can admit how clearly they dominated the two legs of that semi-final and eventually won 4-1 on aggregate. How is this linked to the Sailors? Well, if you monitor the online chat before every game against the Young Lions, or if you’re a betting man, you monitor the bookmakers’ odds, you’ll realise that everyone thinks the Sailors are going to win big everytime. “Men v babies” – except this time it’s quite literal because the Young Lions are a young developmental side and we’ve literally got the National Team playing for us, with a sprinkling of foreign professionals who’ve played at the highest levels of this game. It may then surprise you to note that while we have thumped the Young Lions 10-1 and 5-1 this season, the other 2 outings against them have been pretty tense and settled by 1-goal margins. Even last season, we needed a red card and a Jorge Fellipe masterclass to finally break them down on our way to the title. Soooooo all that’s to say it’s not a foregone conclusion and our Sailors should not turn up expecting a walk in the park. At the same time, if we cannot win the Young Lions, then our problems are deeper than they already seem to be. Raoul Suhaimi has had a very promising season with the Young Lions (future Sailor, anyone?) but he sits out this one because of suspension. Hopefully Song Ui-Yong come back from Covid-19 and is able to play some role in this game as well. It would be very useful for him to get some minutes under his belt because if we go deep in this competition we will need his goals and drive from midfield. Arrogance? There has been a lot of talk about whether Luka Lalic is arrogant. From his comments after the first game he took charge where he not very subtly hinted that the players were not having fun under Coach Kim, to his sarcastic comments last week about Balestier Khalsa’s players feigning cramps to see out the time, he has not been a popular guy with neutral fans. I wasn’t a fan of the shade thrown at Coach Kim, but I was a lot more OK with my coach being sarcastic about the opponents’ time-wasting tactics. Look, I get it – the smaller team is always going to want to cling on to a result against a side like the Sailors. In my books, a little gamesmanship is totally fine. If the Sailors were playing in the AFC Champions League and were leading say, Urawa Red Diamonds 2-1 – I’d totally want us to be time-wasting at every opportunity to bring home the win. But I’d also accept it if the opponents were slightly annoyed. I don’t think you should engage in gamesmanship and then expect that nobody is going to say anything about it. It’s all part of the game – both ways. You get to do what you want, we get to say what we want (within reason). But to end off this post, let me go back to Patrice Evra. When he boasted that United playing Arsenal was like men v babies, many neutrals turned on him because they felt it was too arrogant and disrespectful. I remember thinking to myself – I hope they get humiliated in the final. And they did. They were thoroughly outplayed in the final by a great Barcelona side, and Messi even managed to score a header (he only has 24 headed goals in his long career). Pride comes before a fall – I certainly hope Lalic and the players remember this, and take the Young Lions seriously if we are to avoid another early cup upset (a Cupset, if you will). Come on you boys in blue.

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Balestier Khalsa Match Preview – Four Thrashings and a Funeral

It’s matchday later today, and our boys are gonna be up for revenge against Balestier Khalsa (or at least I hope so). The older readers may recognise the reference made in the title of this post, and may be wondering what exactly I am referring to. Well, if you look at our last 5 games against Balestier Khalsa, you will see four easy wins – 4-1, 4-0, 6-1, and 4-0. Then came the “funeral”. On 2 October, a rainy night when the Singapore Grand Prix also took place, Sailors title hopes were effectively extinguished as we needed at least a draw to keep pace with fellow title challengers Albirex Niigata (S), but we managed to throw away a 2-0 lead to end up losing 5-3. So what happened? The Sailors were dominating play and were very comfortable. Song Ui Yong had a couple of brilliant goals, and even though at half-time the score was 2-1, I don’t think too many people would have bet on Balestier ending the night as winners. But then, the rain came. And just as it had a huge impact on proceedings in Marina Bay in the Grand Prix, the rain had a similarly big impact on the game in Toa Payoh Stadium. Suddenly, visibility became poor, the ball got stuck in the mud, and play was becoming increasingly difficult. More difficult for the Sailors, who rely on nice crisp passing football to break down our opponents, than for the Tigers, who routinely go Route 1. Of course, the Tigers are also more adept at playing on this potato patch of a field. Could we just blame the rain though? I don’t think so. I felt the Sailors were way too sloppy that night, and in fact, two of the goals were scored when our players cleared the ball straight to opponents on the edge of the box. At professional level, to do it once in a game is bad enough, twice, simply remarkable regardless of conditions. I remember feeling kinda low, because I felt we were the architects of our own downfall. No matter how treacherous the conditions were, I felt our players definitely could have found more within themselves to deal with it. We just seemed to panic all the time – PTSD from our loss to Daegu in similar circumstances in Buriram? Perhaps. No More Potato Patch Tonight But hey, tonight’s game will be at Jalan Besar Stadium, so the pitch won’t be a factor anymore. Our boys will have to perform. Same long-term injuries remain out I suppose, so we still won’t have Mamat, Pedro Henrique, Amiruldin Asraf. Maxime Lestienne returns from suspension, while hopefully Kim Shin-Wook finds his scoring boots again so we can put Balestier to the sword and get our campaign off to a flying start. We were unconvincing against Young Lions, but perhaps it was hard to get everyone up for a dead rubber. This is when it matters – so come on you boys in blue!