Post-Match Thoughts

You can’t write anything about this game without discussing the hugely controversial decision in the first few minutes of the game. Song Ui-Young goes in to close down Kodai Tanaka at the touchline and puts in a late tackle that grazes the knee of the BG Pathum player. Kodai goes down, and bounces up almost immediately, and the foul is given. Jansen Foo brandishes the yellow card. They give each other a pat, and then go back to take up their respective positions for a freekick. It is important to note that at this point, no one on Earth, Jansen Foo included, felt that it was worthy of a red card. While Jansen Foo took most of the heat, it was actually Andrea Verolino who made the bizarre call to send him to the screen. We don’t know what was said, but the fact that this was even considered a red card-worthy incident is baffling — something only a non-footballing mind would entertain. I will elaborate on why I feel so in this piece, so let’s dive right in. Singapore’s Very Own Myles Lewis-Skelley Incident Fans of Arsenal or the English Premier League will likely remember this one. Earlier this season, Arsenal made the trip to Wolves, and Michael Oliver gave a red card to Arsenal player Myles Lewis-Skelly (MLS). It was a similarly baffling incident, where everyone in the world except the referee felt it was a red card. Michael Oliver gave the red card for serious foul play, which is presumably what Jansen and the VAR team thought of Song’s tackle as well. The similarity lies in that both tackles contacted areas of the leg which are usually considered bad tackles. In MLS’s case, it was above the ankle, while for Song’s case, it was on the knee. Also in both cases, the contact was minimal and definitely unintentional. It was part of a natural motion to make an admittedly illegal challenge. For MLS, he went in to trip the advancing Wolves player, so the intended action was a tripping action by just sticking out the foot to let the player fall. In Song’s case, he’s gone in to try to intercept the pass but was late. His momentum takes his whole body into Kodai, but the majority of the contact is an excessive body impact on the upper body of Kodai, not the incidental studs near the knee. You have to really slow the replay down to even see any contact with the knee. In the aftermath of the MLS incident against Wolves, there was widespread condemnation of the horrendous decision from pundits and experts all over the world. In the end, Howard Webb, the referees’ chief, was forced to come out and admit that it was an error, and Michael Oliver should have given a yellow card instead. What is important to note is the reason for it. In Webb’s own words – “The referee sees a raised foot make high contact and the opponent went down … But we know that for serious foul play, we need excessive force or brutality and what we see here is that high contact [just] glancing and coming off the leg quite quickly … So for that reason, everybody pretty much in the game has formed the same conclusion that this is falling short of serious foul play – because of that glancing contact … because the studs don’t really go right into the leg, they glance in…” Man – that word for word describes what Song did. And the worst part about this is, you don’t even need a referees’ chief to tell you this. That’s why there was so much anger against Michael Oliver, and so much anger against Jansen Foo at the weekend. Anyone who’s played football knows that minimal contact outside the foot doesn’t automatically warrant a red. If it did, we’d see sendings-off every week. Context and intent matter, and neither suggested a red here. For a referee and a VAR team not to apply common sense and view the tackle in its proper context, is very disappointing. Kodai’s reaction to the tackle is very telling, by the way. He goes down, but immediately shrugs it off and exchanges pats with Song. No one on the BG team is baying for a red card. Everyone knows – this isn’t a red card. Well, everyone except Jansen, and the VAR. Accountability When players make mistakes, they get dropped from the team. When coaches make mistakes, they get sacked. When SPL referees make mistakes, there is seldom an explanation given, and the referee continues refereeing instead of being demoted to SFL or a lower level. There is a sense that the referees are untouchable. The abuse Jansen received from the stands, and online, wasn’t the result of one bad performance, however bad it was. It was the accumulation of frustration from years of bad performances. See my article on this from 2023. Even if the referees department feels that they didn’t make a mistake in this situation, there needs to be an explanation so that all parties can learn from it. Players and coaches need to know what is acceptable and unacceptable conduct so that they can play or plan accordingly. However, there is unlikely to be one. The PGMOL in England has their flaws as well, but what I like about them is that the audio between the VAR and the referee is released. I think it helps to build trust in our referees, and has the added benefit of allowing the fans to learn more about what is currently a very opaque process. At the end of the day, this mistake by Jansen and the VAR team didn’t affect our Sailors because we still qualified top of the group, and I suspect because of that, the refereeing department won’t see a need to address this, but they really, really should, for the good of our game. Does Song Need to Tone it Down?

So, none of the crazy scenarios panned out. By winning, we ensured safe passage into the final 4 and the only thing that remains up for grabs is top spot when we play BG Pathum. It was a pretty low-key fixture both on and off the pitch. The Ultras Eagles are usually one of the loudest fan groups in the league especially in their home games, but for this game, they were strangely muted, possibly due to it being the month of Ramadan, and also because their side had already been knocked out. Let’s dive quickly now into some post-match thoughts. Perfect Hat-Trick from Lennart Thy First goal left foot, second goal header, third goal right foot. A perfect hat-trick. It’s Lenny’s 3rd hat-trick of the season, and that brings his goal tally up to 27 goals in 37 appearances across all competitions. A great tally by all accounts but we’ve addressed this before – while I’m convinced, some supporters are still not convinced. And perhaps the next stat will shed some light on that. 25 goals in 23 appearances in domestic competitions (SPL and SG Cup). There is a perception that he still can’t do it against higher-level opposition. I have some sympathy for him in that regard. I don’t think it’s as much him not being able to do it, it’s more that Shawal Anuar is having the season of his life, and fully deserves to start ahead of him for continental games when we usually only line up with one striker. Also, in the league he is already the 2nd top-scorer, but of course, nobody’s numbers look good compared to the top-scorer, Tomoyuki Doi, who has 43 goals in 28 games. Just ridiculous. Watching the full game though – I wonder if fans would really opt for Doi over Thy. Tomoyuki Doi may have an unreal shot on him, but he can be a very frustrating player to watch, and I suspect, a frustrating player to play with as well. He’s constantly looking to shoot rather than play in his teammates, and he demands the ball all the time, sulking when he doesn’t receive it. Also, he doesn’t really look that interested in doing his bit for the press as well. Just my opinion, but give me Lenny any day. Rasaq Looked Lively Abdul Rasaq has not had a good time of late. He’s found playing time hard to come by, and even when he sees some minutes, there isn’t the sharpness we saw in 2023 when he played. Here’s his stats for this season. And then you compare that to his form back then. It was a real waste and pity that he got a bad injury in that season, because he looked confident, strong, and he was banging in the goals. This season has been stop-start for him. While he didn’t score, he looked lively when he came on as a sub against Geylang. He could have done better with 2 shots, but when he broke down the left twice, he managed to find meaningful passes to register an assist, and also a pre-assist of sorts. In particular, his weak foot cross for Lennart Thy to head home from close range was a thing of beauty. Hopefully, he can build on this performance and do well against BG Pathum tomorrow as well. Zharfan Assured Last but not least, our keeper. Zharfan, like Rasaq, has found playing time hard to come by. However, when called upon on Thursday night, he did not put a foot wrong. He was assured when dealing with shots and caught them with ease. He was coming out to claim crosses. And he almost got to the penalty as well. Just a pity that he wasn’t able to keep a clean sheet as he deserved one. We spoke to Zharfan after the game, and he felt good about how he had played. He’s another one likely to play against BG Pathum tomorrow, so let’s hope he can keep it up and give Coach Ranko a selection dilemma. Conclusion Given that winning the SG Cup is definitely one of the objectives set before the season started, it is good that we have confirmed our entry into the knockout stages. Let’s see who claims top spot tomorrow in the group! COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE! Written by Eddy Hirono Picture credit – Lion City Sailors 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!

Coach Ranko named a surprisingly strong lineup, considering the midweek exertions against Sanfrecce Hiroshima a few days prior to our matchup against Balestier Khalsa. Even Akram Azman, who has impressed recently, couldn’t get into the starting lineup. In the end, it was a 4-1 win without Maxime Lestienne on the pitch — a result that has virtually sealed our passage into the semi-finals. Maybe that was the plan all along: win this game, so we can afford to rotate against Geylang and BG Pathum after the international break? Let’s dive right into this, and some other post-match thoughts. Virtually Through to the Next Stage We have not played Geylang International, and also BG Pathum United. Now here’s the thing, Geylang is already out of contention, and may not want to field a full-strength team against us, while BG Pathum has already qualified for the next stage, and more crucially, let’s take a look at their fixture list. Yup, they play us 1 day after a domestic league match against Uthai Thani, and three days before a huge Shopee Cup match against Buriram United. They’re gonna be sending their fringe and youth players for this one I’m sure. I also have it on good authority that the stadium caretaker and janitor are gonna be given some significant minutes as well to avoid any sort of injuries or fatigue for their key players. Then you take into account that the differentiator should teams finish level on points is goal difference, and that makes it even more unlikely for Balestier or Tanjong Pagar to catch us. We would have to lose both against BG Pathum and Geylang, and then when it comes to the TPUFC v Balestier game, there has to be a winner, and the winner of that game has to thrash the other team. So, to cut a long story short, we’re in a fantastic position. One point from our next two games will seal progress to the next round. Maybe this is why Coach Ranko decided to put out such a strong lineup. Was chatting with some fans in the stands though, and there was some talk about how they would like to see our fringe players get more opportunities. On one hand, some fans see it as preparing for matches where certain players get injured – something that may be of relevance considering Maxime’s injury. On the other hand, I think they also have the future of the national team at the back of their minds. They want to see our local boys like Rasaq and Nathan get gametime, especially in a game where they feel is of less importance or difficulty. Perhaps we will see them in the next couple of games? Profligacy in Front of Goal It seems strange to talk about profligacy when we won the game 4-1, but it could really have been a different story. Hafiz Ahmad did well in goal, but if you watched the full game, you’d feel the same nerves that the Sailors supporters did in the stands. Time after time, we made hard work of finishing the game off, with some bad decisions in front of goal, along with some inexplicably bad finishing. Nathan Mao and Abdul Rasaq were the fresh legs, but even they couldn’t put away the chances. And it almost cost us. Bart said so himself when we spoke to him post-match. With the score at 2-1, the game hung in the balance, and having already scored once, Kodai found himself on the end of two more good chances. Fortunately for us, he was unable to make the most of them, and we stayed in the lead long enough for Bart to score his 2nd goal in the 88th minute. That goal came from Bart surging through a vacant midfield to score from range. The nature of the goal was very alike to how we scored our first through Song Ui-Young. Balestier attack with a series of patient passes, but then loses the ball in our final third. We then break ruthlessly with pace, and score. In that sense, it brought back traumatic flashbacks of late-stage Wenger’s Arsenal, in how Arsenal would dominate possession, but then all that good work would be undone by a direct counter-attack from Man Utd/Chelsea/Man City. Good thing that we’re not the Arsenal in this case! And then of course, how ironic is it that having struggled to put the ball in from close range inside the box from far easier chances, that our 4th goal would come from long distance. Bart Ramselaar made all our previous misses look a little ridiculous by scoring with ease. Bart Ramselaar Hat-Trick Where else to end this, but on a very positive note. Bart Ramselaar has gone through this season being compared with Diego Lopes, and that’s natural, if not entirely fair. He is a direct replacement for Diego’s foreign slot in attacking midfield, even though stylistically he is very different. In the opening half of the season, my opinion is that he struggled to live up to expectation. However, now that he has adapted to local football, he seems to be really flourishing. He has 5 goals in the Singapore Cup alone, while in the league he has 8 goals. He also has 2 in the ACL2, taking his total to 15 goals. Double digits in goals in his first season? We’ll take that. It seems he’s living up to his nickname while he was at FC Utrecht – Boem-Boem Bartje. Each of his goals showcased a different part of his skillset. His first was a solo goal, where he basically weaved his way into the box and then curled the ball into the far corner beyond the keeper’s reach. His second showcased his pace while gliding through midfield, before unleashing a rocket of a shot. His third goal saw his set piece prowess on display. Especially in Maxime’s absence, it was important that Bart produced such a performance, and if we are

You’ve read the preview – I thought our Sailors would hang on and survive and just about squeak through to the semi-finals. But we did much more than that. Coach Ranko delivered on his promise, and the tactics were spot on. We didn’t just sit back and weather the storm, we forged forwards at times against the wind, with our sails proudly hoisted. Can we, without batting an eyelid say we definitely deserved progress? No, I think that would be a stretch. We were soundly beaten 6-1 in the first leg in Hiroshima. Valere Germain or not, I don’t think the result would have been much different, even if he did get one of the six goals. However, I think the circumstances being what they were, we did our best to prove to Singapore and the rest of Asia that we are at the same time not an imposter team that doesn’t belong in the final four. And that’s important – I discuss why, and more, in the post-match thoughts. Don’t Name Your Son or Daughter Germain First, let’s not escape the elephant in the room. We didn’t qualify for the semi-finals purely based on on-field merit – we progressed because the name of the elephant was Germain. Ryo or Valere? Both, I say. Valere Germain’s contribution was obvious: his introduction meant his club’s 6-1 win was transformed by AFC into a 0-3 loss, handing us a vital advantage ahead of the second leg. However, even then, you will see how apprehensive I was in the preview article. I wasn’t alone, some other fans also were very nervous, given the footballing lesson Sanfrecce Hiroshima delivered last week to us. And then Ryo Germain happened. Rendered ineffective in the first half, he must have been frustrated at the start of the second when he inexplicably swiped at Bailey twice, connecting with his face in the second swipe. Red card. He tried explaining to the ref that it was accidental, that the swipe wasn’t deliberate – like a man mass-swiping on Tinder without really looking closely at the pictures. But that excuse was never gonna fly. Off he went. With the score locked at 1-1, there may have been hope of Sanfrecce scoring 3 goals in the second half to take the tie to extra time. However, without their main striker, and playing with 10 men, it was gonna be impossible. Moral of the story? Germain is an unlucky name. But one thing that had nothing to do with luck? Coach Ranko’s decision to start with Lennart upfront. Excellent Tactics + Starring Performance Upfront from Lennart 5 at the back is something we’ve come to expect from our Sailors team, but there was one notable omission from the lineup which must have surprised even our opponents. Goalscoring hero from the first-leg 3-0 win (heh), Shawal Anuar, was not in the starting eleven. In his place, Lennart Thy. This proved to be a tactical masterstroke, not only because he scored, but because of his physical presence and hold-up play. Being 3-0 up, we didn’t really need a goal, but we knew that we couldn’t just defend the whole 90min – if you do that, Sanfrecce are bound to score. And so Lennart Thy was unleashed on our opponents as a defensive forward, a physical wrecking ball up front designed to disrupt and disturb. He set the tone right from the start – in the 2nd minute he chased down a long ball from Izwan and shoved a Sanfrecce defender to the floor. Lennart’s physical strength and aerial prowess came to the fore many times during the game, and one of those occasions led to our goal. From a goal kick, Izwan launched it onto the head of Lennart. Lennart got up into an aerial duel with his marker, and not only won the ball, but continued his run, seeing that his header had gone to Shawal. If you look closely, you can see that his defender is still smarting from the duel, and is clutching his face a little. Shawal chests the ball up to himself, and then pulls off a sepak takraw-style flick to Lennart. There’s still a lot to do at this point because Shawal’s pass is slightly behind Lennart given the pace he is running at. However, Lennart’s first touch from almost behind his body is a perfect one, flicking it into his stride where his next touch is a well-placed shot into the back of the net. Coach Ranko promised that we wouldn’t just park the bus, that we would defend well, but also pick the right moments to attack. His plan worked perfectly. Mentally, this moment must have really discouraged Sanfrecce. They were 4 goals down away from home. Lennart continued to impose his physicality on the Sanfrecce defence, and was almost rewarded further in the second half when he exerted just enough pressure on a Sanfrecce defender, forcing him to play a terrible back-pass to his keeper. Though he really should have scored. He tried to go around the keeper here, but he really should’ve gone keeper’s right if he really wanted to, given that there was a defender breathing down his neck. Or he should really just have shot from here. The keeper was coming out, and had hidden his arms behind his back for fear of giving away a handball foul. Any placed shot or chip would have been very hard to defend. But that’s not what I will remember from this game. When I think back to this game, I will remember his perfect first touch and how important the goal was. And I will also remember how a big-name foreign signing of a striker ran around like a man possessed to fight for every loose ball, and put his opponents under pressure. So often you will get a foreign player who is a bit of a primadonna – I am so glad that Lennart isn’t one. Hariss Harun Rolling Back the Years

There are two mysteries in life – who built the Stonehenge, and why the heck was Stjepan Plazonja the Man of the Match for the match on Sunday instead of Zaiful Nizam? Zaiful Nizam made save after save, while Stjepan Plazonja spent more time shouting “WHERE IS CARD?!?!?” to whoever would listen than playing actual football. Jokes aside, I do understand why the adjudicators probably felt he had a good game. He worked hard all night on the left flank to try and contain Akram Azman and Maxime Lestienne, while also almost scoring at the end. But come on, surely the Man of the Match had to be Zaiful Nizam. And on that note, let’s dive into some brief post-match thoughts cos I really cannot focus on this game with tomorrow’s huge game coming up. Zaiful Nizam the Real Man of the Match Goals shape narratives, goals shape perception. The talk post-match was about how solid Hougang’s defence was, on top of Zaiful’s stellar goalkeeping. However, if two of those seven shots he saved made it in, the talk may be about the goalscorers getting important goals while the team played badly. Football is funny like that. Header after header was saved by Zaiful – and it seemed like they increased in difficulty as the match went on. The best save was the one right before Ali Alrina’s disallowed goal. Shawal got a lot of power on the header from very close range, but Zaiful got down to the floor so quick, and stopped it from going in. He wasn’t the only one who did well in the Hougang backline – Tajeli put in a defensive masterclass against his former side. Jordan Vestering was tested throughout and had a lot of difficulty but I like that he never gave up. Even after he should have conceded a penalty for his tackle on Akram. Which brings me to … VAR Missed Something At 50:45, Akram gets cleared out in the box by Jordan Vestering. It all happens very quickly so I don’t blame the ref for not spotting it. But when you slow it right down – which the VAR can do, then you can just about see that Akram gets to the ball first, and then he gets kicked. In the grand scheme of things, this probably doesn’t matter much, and we should still have done enough ourselves to win the game and not have to rely on the referees, but you do wonder whether the VAR process can be improved. Perhaps they can do a show or something every month where they compile all the controversial decisions and then explain them? It might even help with educating the fans on what their process is. Max Played the Whole Game Not sure this was the plan – but I was surprised Max played the whole game. With the first half lineup being kinda strong, I think Coach Ranko’s plan was perhaps to win the game early and then bring on all the subs. I am not sure that was the best choice – the players looked a little like they were trying to conserve themselves or at least ensure they didn’t get hurt. There wasn’t the same intensity or the same appetite to get stuck into a challenge. And I am not sure I begrudge them for it – it’s totally understandable. The intensity only seemed to come when Hougang started kicking us around a bit and then I think personal pride took over. But of course, Zaiful did Zaiful things, and we’ve already covered that. Conclusion This is the shortest post-match article ever I think, and that’s cos really the mind is pre-occupied with tomorrow’s game. See you in the preview for that one! COME ON YOU BOYS IN BLUE! 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!

I may have been too optimistic in my preview. Oops. Sanfrecce were a class apart, and honestly, as much as we are Sailors fans, we are also fans of football. It hurt seeing goal after goal go in, but I think the 90 minutes shows just what standards we should be aspiring to. Japanese football wasn’t always this good, and even when the J-League was producing winning teams, it sometimes still relied on foreign firepower at the top – but nope not Sanfrecce on Wednesday night, it was an all-Japanese starting lineup, and they were so so good. It perhaps gives us hope that someday we can come close to something like this, provided the country does the right things. The other thing that warmed our hearts? THAT Shawal goal. What a moment it was. And with that happy thought, let’s dive into some of my post-match thoughts. Superior Fitness One thing we knew before kickoff, but repeatedly witnessed and saw the power of first-hand, was the superior athleticism and fitness of our Japanese opponents. It always seemed like they pressed our ball-handler with 2 players, and even when the ball was circulated well to evade the press, there would still be 2 people pressing the next guy – and the next – and the next. It was wave after wave of pressure, and it wouldn’t stop until they regained the ball. It was truly impressive. Look at this press for example. Ryo Germain forced Bailey onto his weaker left foot, while his teammate starts sprinting towards Toni Datkovic, to make that option a risky one. When Bailey turns backwards to try to look for Izwan, he is then dispossessed through some strong body pressure, and only a superb Izwan save plus an equally superb Hariss block prevented us going 2-0 down. Look at how aggressive this press is – where does Diogo Costa go? They literally man-marked all his potential options for a pass, while also applying pressure to him. 10 Reasons Why We Lost Big I realised that if I were to go in-depth and explain everything I observed, this article would last forever. Sanfrecce were simply brilliant. So let me just try to keep it a bit shorter and list out 10 reasons why we were so outclassed. Build-up to Sanfrecce’s 2nd Goal It starts here, where there doesn’t look to be too much trouble. There is a Sanfrecce player out of frame that orange-boots is passing to, but the spaces between the defenders looks decent – the back 5 is holding strong. This pass sets off a simple chain of events though. Pay attention to the guy circled in blue – you can already see he is starting to sprint. And now you can see what is doing. This is a textbook third man run. Diogo is attracted to the pass and the blue guy has burst into the large space between Toni and Diogo. Toni tries to close him down, and you’ll see what happens next. Toni closes him down well, but look when he plays the cross and where Ryo Germain is. Ryo still doesn’t really look like a threat because the cross in must be perfect. It must first evade Toni’s block, it cannot be too close to the keeper. It cannot be too weak because Bailey will cut it out, and it cannot be too powerful because Ryo Germain has to make up some ground to get to the cross. Well, you know what happened. It’s a beautiful goal, and sometimes, as much as we hate it, we have to applaud a good goal. Our opponents were much better than us on the day, and this goal showed it. Also, on a random note. Why did Valere Germain put up “6” when he had scored the 5th goal? Is he a time-traveller who knew they were gonna get 6 goals? Was he indicating that he had scored the 6th goal of the game? Is he saying the 2nd leg will end 3-3? Answers on the back of a postcard please, thanks! Conclusion I have an Italian friend who recently became a Sailors fan after watching a few games. He’s a Cagliari fan and he remarked that Sanfrecce was simply world-class. He also showed me this. Let that sink in. Opta Power Rankings somehow ranks a J-League team over a Serie A team. The current Sanfrecce Hiroshima is an ACL Elite team. They finished 2nd last season and will play in next year’s ACL Elite. They are favourites to win the tournament, and we saw first-hand why. BUT – we scored a brilliant goal against them. Shawal’s goal will stay with us for a long time. The confidence to chop back onto his right foot to completely bamboozle the covering defender, and then the calmness to curl it low into the far post, what a goal. That feeling all of us felt, whether you were at home watching, at the Mattar watch-party, or for those who travelled to Hiroshima – football gives you these moments for you to savour. For a few minutes, we were level with a Japanese powerhouse team. Not the ideal result in the end of course, and it will take some major miracle for us to come back, even if we will be playing at Jalan Besar. But hey, stranger things have happened! Maybe there will be 1 or 2 (or 3 or 4) early red cards for the Sanfrecce players in JBS? Maybe there will be a probe uncovering some illegal dealings within the club that gets them thrown out of the competition? Maybe they’ll field an ineligible player and a walkover will be declared? Maybe a UFO will appear over JBS and abduct all Japanese players on matchday? But let’s not dream that much. All we want to see is a good spirited Sailors performance next week. If we can keep it tight, and grind out a draw, I will be a super proud supporter.Let’s not

A crucial win for us in the title race, that puts us in a very commanding position in the table. 9 points ahead, with a game in hand and a very healthy goal difference advantage too. With only 8 games left to play for BG Tampines Rovers, the title race isn’t over, but it would take a monumental collapse from our Sailors to lose from here on out. Let’s dive right into some of the post-match thoughts, including some thoughts about the fan rivalry. Thank you Diogo and Izwan In the aftermath of the game, we were all swept up in Lionel-mania. Much-maligned Lionel finally deservedly got his flowers, but only really because of his goalscoring contribution in such a pivotal moment – in such a big game. Because of his seemingly awkward running style and occasional defensive errors, Lionel has consistently come in for unfair criticism from local football fans – sometimes even from Sailors fans. However, contributions from two other members of the backline ensured that the Lionel moment could even happen. The first half was largely a cagey affair, with both teams reluctant to over-commit. However, BG Tampines was first to create a clear goalscoring opportunity in the 36th minute. Glenn Kweh beat Hami down the left with good dribbling work and laid it on a platter for Joel Chew (I think), but once Diogo sees that Joel is about to strike, he makes himself big and manages to block the shot. Great block, but we got away with it – on any other day this is a goal for BG Tampines. Then, they create their second goalscoring opportunity a minute after. Again, we got away with this thanks to a stunning save from Izwan. Made me think of his save in Saitama. If you’re a younger reader and are not familiar with what Izwan did 10 years ago against Japan in the Saitama Stadium, please go and watch the highlights. It was truly magical. But yes, a save from a header from point-blank range. BG Tampines will be kicking themselves that they hadn’t scored a goal despite creating these two brilliant chances. Sometimes in football, I think there is a tendency to fixate too much on the result. I know also that we tend to joke about coaches like Gavin Lee or Mikel Arteta who repeatedly say “trust the process” – but you look at how games sometimes turn on fine margins like that, and you wonder – this could easily have been a win for BG Tampines, and then the title picture looks a bit different, perception of Gavin Lee looks a bit different. It’s also why I encourage myself and other supporters to not over-react sometimes, whether it be a positive or a negative result. It may sound a bit stupid to say this, but the first time we played BG Tampines at Bishan Stadium this year, they didn’t really create a chance till just before half-time too, and then they scored every shot on target they had. Who knows what might have happened had they scored first here? Unsurprisingly, it is BG Tampines that created more xG in a match that didn’t see too many chances given up by either team. It could have been a very different game had BG Tampines taken either one of their two chances, so we have Diogo and Izwan to thank for getting here. Here’s hoping Izwan’s save is some sort of positive omen ahead of Wednesday night’s game against Sanfrecce Hiroshima. We’ll definitely need him to turn in a goalkeeping masterclass on Japanese soil again. Lionel Messi or Lionel Tan The goal was wonderful. Composure, skill, the finish – every bit of it was wonderful. Never mind Lionel, if any striker in the world scored that goal, we’d still call it a great goal. At this point, with the ball in the air, and with Fox about to get rid, Lionel brings the ball down from mid-air with his left foot, and without having to readjust himself, sets it up perfectly for him to hit the ball in with his right foot. Just brilliant, and the celebrations after really showed that he is a popular member of the team. Sometimes there are things you don’t see if you don’t come to the stadium for games, and there’s something that the team has done the past few games. Against Muangthong, when Shawal put in a great performance, at the post-match celebrations the players insisted that he get his deserved plaudits from the crowd, by pushing him in front of everyone, closer to the fans. They did this again, this time for Lionel. I think the team spirit right now is very healthy, and long may it continue. Sometimes in the past, it may have felt that the post-match celebrations with the fans was a bit of a formality, but I think the players really do appreciate the fans abit more now. Something about experiencing the euphoria and adversity together both in foreign lands and at home has tightened the bond, and I think it shows. Fan Rivalry Pre-game, a post from the Yellow Knights sparked a bit of debate amongst Sailors fans. At first glance, it’s just banter. “Shopee FC”, for example, makes fun of our Sailors in a light-hearted way, indicating that we’re a money-backed team that has more resources than the rest of the league. “The Franchise” – another example of painting this image of our Sailors being a team that is swimming in cash. I remember looking at this post, and immediately thinking it wasn’t very nice. It went beyond the usual banter. Now, before I carry on, I want to stress that I respect what The Yellow Knights have done for BG Tampines Rovers, and in the wider sense, Singapore football. However, I think we should be careful about the things we say and the things we write, and what kind of emotions they might stir up. Here’s a few thoughts I

A comfortable win, with no injuries. During this hectic schedule, that’s all everyone at the club would have wished for. But we got one better than that – we got a match where our players could take it a little easier because of a man advantage. A 38th min red card to Fudhil I’yadh when our Sailors were already 2-0 up meant that we played more than half the game with a man advantage, further resting those legs we are gonna need on Wednesday, and in Hiroshima. Let’s dive right into some post-match thoughts, including my take on why the red card was a little harsh. Was It a Red Card? In my opinion, it’s debatable. I have marked in red the spot the ball first bounced, to show you how near Max was to getting to the pass. Considering that Max was already on the run, he would likely have got to the ball ahead of Fudhil, who started his run later. However, if you look at where the ball eventually landed as an indicator of the trajectory of the pass, it can also be said that Max would have got to a slightly wider position. I think the trouble with these decisions is we don’t get any insight as to why the referee has decided a certain way, and why the VAR has advised the referee to have a look at the monitor. I am quite comfortable with this decision had it gone either way. If the referee felt it was only worthy of a yellow card, and cited factors such as distance from goal and also, the eventual wider position that Maxime would have ended up in, I think I’d be OK with the decision – but I would also be OK if the referee felt it was worthy of a red card, citing the lack of a covering defender nearby, and also the fact that Maxime was likely to reach it ahead of Hafiz Ahmad, who was off his line, but not sufficiently off enough to get to the ball first. However, if enough people agree with that, then I’d make the case that this is a debatable decision, and the referee, who initially showed a yellow card to Fudhil, cannot be said to have made a clear and obvious error. Interestingly enough, this situation occurred to Sailors 2 years back against Albirex. It was from even further out, and the player said to have been denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity is legendary Japanese player Tadanari Lee, who by that point in his career was slower than a turtle. (Yes, I mean turtle, not tortoise because turtles are not supposed to be able to move on land, and that’s what I am comparing Tadanari Lee to). Am I bitter about the red card still? Yes. Similarly, in that game, I felt the red card was also a debatable decision, but having produced a yellow card, I wasn’t sure that it was a clear and obvious refereeing error not to give Anu a red card. You can read it again here – I really dive deep into IFAB’s guidance for Denial of Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity (DOGSO) situations. So, my conclusion is that the red card is OK to give, but having given a yellow first, I am not sure it crosses the threshold into clear and obvious error, and in that sense, it is harsh. I hope that Singaporean referees can have a show or tiktok or IG reel sometime, to talk about some refereeing points / guidelines when it comes to such situations? It may help to educate the public like me on how they reach certain decisions. In any case, it didn’t really affect the result I think, we were well on our way to victory anyway. We were 2-0 up and should have been 3-0 up right before, but Maxime refused to shoot on his right foot, having already scored one on that foot a few minutes earlier. Balestier managed to get away with that one, but barely 1 minute later, the red card incident happened. As stated, I think the only real effect on the game is that it made it much easier for us to conserve legs, as we controlled and saw out the rest of the game. Stoppage Time Speaking of “didn’t really affect the game” – I noted that the commentary talked about how it was surprising that only 2 min of stoppage time was indicated after the second half. It was also referenced in Raushan’s podcast (Sporting Minutes). Regular readers will remember that this is territory that we’ve covered. And guess what, it was the same referee! Click here to read. However, I think it was nowhere near as egregious this time. Against DPMM last season, they frequently dropped to the floor as they looked to see out the win. In my calculations in that article, I only counted stoppage time for injury stoppages, plus VAR checks. I did not count your “regular” stoppages like goal kicks, throw-ins, etc, where DPMM took their time too. Shockingly, the difference between what was indicated and what was given was a whopping 9 min. That’s 10% of your match. This time round, I did the same checks. 2 min of stoppage time was indicated, when the minimum should really have been 4 minutes, because of course there are your other “usual” stoppages as well. I must say I don’t quite get it. There was a long check for Kodai’s eventually disallowed goal. Surely the ref should be adding that time back on? This is even if I want to make excuses for the ref and say that since Lenny’s goal took a shorter time to check, maybe he chose not to add that time on. Added time serves the purpose of making our players more ready for games that last longer and are more intense. We don’t have to look so far back – Muangthong scored against us in the

Where do you even begin? Do you talk about how the Sailors controlled the game from start to finish? Or how 4-0 is our biggest win in continental competition in our short history? Do you talk about how in a side littered with foreign stardust, Shawal claimed the Man of the Match award, and also the hearts of many? Or do you focus on the fans, and how loud and united they were? Well, we’re gonna talk about all the above, and also how Thursday night’s match was in many ways, a culmination of efforts on and off the pitch, by the club, and everyone associated with the club. Let’s dive right in. (I will refer a lot to incidents in the game. So if you wanna follow along, please use this link to the full match.) Lightning Start Last week, our Sailors took the lead after barely 18 seconds, as Izwan’s long ball wasn’t properly dealt with, and in the end Maxime Lestienne swung in a cross that Shawal poked into the goal ahead of the goalie. Well, this time around at Jalan Besar, it was yet another long ball. And if you think surely Muangthong surely learnt their lesson, they actually did! In the first leg, as the ball was worked back to Izwan from kick-off, no one bothered pressing him. But this time round, Melvyn Lorenzen is trying his best to get there. He first fights off Hami, then Hariss, and then Hariss again, trying to get into a position to pressure Izwan. Well, it didn’t work. Izwan’s pin-point long pass found Bailey (who goes up into attack direct from kick-off nowadays), who flicked it on for Maxime, who flicked it on for Shawal. Shawal made a blind-side run past Aly Cissokho, and the keeper brought him down. 14 seconds on the clock and we had the perfect chance to extend our aggregate lead to 2 goals. Max made sure we did. If you’re the type to come a little late for games thinking you won’t miss anything, think again! Come early so you can get through security, find your seat, buy a beer, and get settled in before our Sailors score. it’s clearly something they work on like a set-piece Defensive Discipline I am gonna sound like a broken record here, but I’ve always stressed that when our Sailors work hard, we tend to win games. Even though Shawal, Bart and Maxime will dominate the headlines, make no mistake about it, this was a victory achieved by the entire team. Each of the players was locked in defensively, and knew what they had to do to stifle Muangthong, who do have good attackers. In the first leg I spoke about Poramet and how he is such a bright talent – we didn’t see anything from him when he came on in the second half. Emil Roback, the former AC Milan player barely made an impression. Melvyn Lorenzen, who scored in the first leg and can list the Bundesliga and Eredivisie in his resume, was stifled in this game. This doesn’t happen by chance. It was a defensive masterclass that was 50% tactics, and 50% grit. You can set up in the best systems, and play the best players in the world, but unless you work hard, there will always be a way past you. And boy, did our Sailors work hard. I could pick out dozens of occasions where this happened, but let me try with this series of events. Hami Hustle Here is Hami, at 44:34, circled in red, trying to put the press on our opponents to force a quick turnover. Muangthong do well to pass it out of defence, and Hami gives chase. Bear in mind this is already close to the end of the first half, and he’s already been running around all evening. He then notices Lorenzen (on the ball) break free and run at the Sailors backline. He could look at the numbers, and trust Bailey and Hariss to deal with the situation. Rui is also in a good position to slot in in defence. Or he could do this. Hami (circled in red on the floor) tracks him all the way back and tackles him before he gets a chance to beat the defensive line. This effort by Hami not only wins the ball back with a great sliding challenge, it also allows the spine of our defence to stay in shape. Noone needs to shoot out of the defensive line to try and deal with the threat of Lorenzen. And he wasn’t the only one. Chris van Huizen tried to win the ball high up the field as well, but once he was bypassed, he sprinted back like a madman. Throughout the game, noone was spared from these defensive duties. Even Maxime, Bart and Shawal got back to tackle or put pressure on their opponents. Awareness of Duties + Defending from the Front Look at this picture. What jumps out at you? I’ve already drawn in red two things to look out for, but tell me what you see, and tell me why you think I’ve highlighted this moment. Ok – first. With a 2-goal lead on aggregate, there is no need to over-expose ourselves in defence. Look at that defensive line. Beautiful – 5 across the back, the spaces between each of them perfect as well. Second, I’ve circled Bailey Wright in red. You may be wondering what he’s doing there. And if he is there, who is in the middle of defence? Let’s take it back a few seconds. In the aftermath of the Hami tackle, Lorenzen loses the ball, but it squirts out to a Muangthong midfielder. Bailey gets a foot in and manages to disrupt his opponent, and Rui comes into help. Bailey’s pressure is to ensure that the opponent can’t turn and launch an attack. However, once they don’t win the ball in the first few seconds, Rui drops back into the

Football is a funny thing. Just a week ago, I was bullish – insisting that bringing home a 1-goal lead was an advantage and that we should forget that the advantage was once 3 goals. However, as the match approaches, there is a sense of nerves creeping in. And I’m just a fan! I wonder how the players must feel. I don’t know what it is – maybe it’s cos our Sailors have shown before this ACL2 campaign that they like to do things the hard way, or maybe it’s cos I’m an Arsenal and Singapore fan, so there’s this inbuilt pessimism. Whatever it is, let’s dive right into the preview. Song’s Suspension We kick it off with the bad stuff. You already know that Song will be suspended for this game, because of the controversial red card received in Bangkok. Well, if we make it through tonight, he will be suspended for both legs of the game against Sanfrecce Hiroshima as well. We will miss his fighting spirit, and also his goals. We joke and call him AFC Cup Song because he seems to reserve his best performances for continental games, but that joke is borne out of reality. Song in AFC competitions is really different gravy. He has 5 goals and 1 assist in ACL2 this season, while in the league, he has 5 goals. Considering the number of games played in each competition, and the superior quality we face in ACL2, that form doesn’t make sense. But we’ll miss his continental form. Song’s absence will always be felt. In our maiden ACL campaign, it was his goals that lit up our group stage campaign. He got us the all-important opening goal in the historic 3-0 win over Daegu FC, and he gave us hope of qualifying for the next stage as well when he scored from range against Daegu again in our final group game. (sidetrack here, but one of my favourite post-match reactions filmed was in Buriram when Song scored against Daegu in the 3-0 win. Check it out here.) And then this season, when we most needed Song to show up, he showed up in both games against Port FC, notably getting a hat-trick at Jalan Besar Stadium in our 5-2 victory. When the chips were down at 2-2, and we were staring at elimination having given up a 2-goal lead again, it was him who popped up with a stupendous scissor kick to put us ahead. We won’t have him tonight, so we’ll be looking to his teammates to supply the attacking threat, and the combative spirit in midfield. Early Goals 1, 1, 11, 14, 17, 23. Not TOTO numbers, but just an example of how early our goals have come in this ACL2 campaign. A feature of our games so far has been how early we score, and how we always score first. Or score TWO first. In 7 games thus far, we have led 2-0 in 6 of the games . The other game? We conceded first to Persib to draw 1-1 away from home. Given our 1-goal advantage, should we go out again and try to get an early goal? It’s hard to say. You can make the case for either an offensive or defensive approach. Offensive – Opponents take time to get used to the Jalan Besar turf. The bounce is weird, the surface is hard, and it has an effect on opponents’ minds. Just look at how much moaning and groaning our opponents always engage in when they have to play at Jalan Besar, be it against us, or the Singapore national team. Muangthong may have trained on astroturf all week in the lead-up to this game, but that also shows how much this pitch is playing on their minds. So why not attack early, get an early goal, and really make them feel like they have a mountain to climb, staring at a 2-goal deficit? Defensive – This one doesn’t need much explaining. We have a 1-goal advantage, if we sit deep and frustrate our opponents, they need a goal and they’ll commit men forward more and more. We can then exploit the gaps with our superior attackers. Lestienne and Shawal in particular will absolutely love the space being afforded to them on the counter-attack. Of course, either approach has its pros and cons. I fancy us to go on the offensive actually. While we were down to 10 men last week, we were under the cosh a lot. Aside from the 2 goals they scored, there were a few other near-misses that I would have expected us to defend better. Our defensive record in the ACL2 isn’t stellar as well. That being the case, why not play like we always do, and try to get a goal to dampen the mood of our opponents? Gino Lettieri is A Fool, but he is Fooling Noone Gino Lettieri – is he senile, stupid, bitter, or all of the above? In case you missed it, he told the press ahead of tonight’s game that he was “angry” that the Sailors looked to “stay down on every contact”, and that they should play “honest”. Before I start with the analysis on this stupid statement, let’s reproduce it in full so you can savour the stupidity of it. (and before you proceed, I get a little angry and bitter in this section so if you don’t like vulgarities, scroll away) Like a goldfish taking a lift, this statement is stupid on so many levels. Of course, maybe I am the stupid and bitter one, for falling into this trap. He might just have said all this to try to rile our boys up, distract them from the gameplan, or tempt them to go harder in challenges so he can profit from another controversial red card. Or maybe he was dropped on his head as a baby and didn’t receive any love from his parents, leading him to grow up to be