Post-Match Thoughts

Different week, same result. I wrote a post-match thoughts piece a week ago talking about how we achieved a fuss-free win and would start looking ahead to the next match against Muangthong. I must say it’s very tempting to just copy and paste the whole article here again. There were similarities – the result was never in doubt once we scored first, we missed a truckload of chances, Tanjong Pagar put up a combative performance, Raihan was his tigerish self in midfield, and Tanjong Pagar scored from a dead-ball situation. Super tempted to just end the article here, (and in fact I just straight up re-used the cover photo from last week’s article cos it’s the exact same scoreline and nature of victory) … but let’s dive right into some post-match thoughts. Foregone Conclusion Given TPU’s Absentees Once I saw that Salif Cisse was out once again, and to top it off, Zenivio Mota was also injured, I knew we would win handily. My 2-1 prediction counted on both of them being available, and us having to deal with the threat they pose – but seeing a TPU lineup without them is like seeing a declawed cat trying to hurt you. They probably caaaaan? But it’s very very very difficult – like trying to kill someone with a spoon (the cutlery not the action). Also, this 2nd-string line-up is probably capable of finishing mid-table in the SPL, especially if you add Bart Ramselaar and Bailey Wright to the mix, as Coach Ranko opted to do. Song would have started regardless because he is suspended for Thursday’s game, but I was genuinely surprised to see Bart and Bailey start. Bart did eventually come off in the 65th min despite being on a hat-trick. Sometimes players don’t like that because they want a chance to complete their hat-trick but I don’t think Bart will care. He will probably want to be as fresh as possible for Thursday’s game. I mean, that’s just a sick lineup considering we made 8 changes. Our depth is insane, and that is why again, I feel there is no excuse for us not to win the league. Akram Azman On an evening where everything was in cruise control, and no one really busted a gut to do anything, I felt Akram Azman stuck out. His endeavour down the wing meant that he was often in attacking positions, helping to stretch play and being an all-round menace. Though of course, that doesn’t mean that he didn’t come back and defend. In fact, it was him doing the defensive work that led to Tanjong Pagar’s penalty. An awkward bounce off his leg / turf meant the ball bounced up onto his hand. He won’t want to see that again. But, he atoned for it. He laid on chances for his teammates – one in particular saw him cross the ball for Lennart, but Lennart couldn’t head it in. He also managed to get into goalscoring positions – the first one saw him blaze over the bar on his left foot when it was easier to score, but second time was the charm for him, as he latched onto a long pass by Anu and bundled the ball home. (What a pass by Anu by the way.) Coach Ranko was pleased with his game and said so in the post-match interview. It was especially impressive from a mentality point of view considering he had just given up a pen and allowed Tanjong Pagar a way back into the game. He was totally unfazed by it. When we spoke with Akram post-game, he was modest and said he could still improve and he would like to build on his performance. From our POV? To do what he did on his first start was pretty impressive. Another interesting thing was this – with Lionel on the pitch, Akram was responsible for taking the long throw that led to Bart’s 2nd goal. This opens up possibilities for future games where if we’re really chasing a goal, even Lionel can be inside the penalty area with Akram chucking it in. So, an encouraging full debut for Akram, but I do wonder where this leaves Mamat, even If we assume that Hafiz Nor leaves at the end of the season. Perhaps something worth thinking about in another article. Rasaq and Nathan Not much to really analyse here – it was just a very good through pass for Nathan that Rasaq could just run onto and finish without breaking his stride. It is nice to see these 2 players get more minutes, and the hope is that our cup run will afford them more chances to shine. Conclusion Maxime Lestienne and Shawal Anuar were on the bench but were not required to come on, given how comfortable we were. We got three points and built up a healthy goal difference. We cruised and no key players got injured. Ali was bleeding from a bad clash and we hope he’s fine, but he wasn’t likely to start on Thursday anyway. All attention now turns to Thursday’s massive clash. Our rotation means we enter the game on level footing (physically) with Muangthong United, given that they had the weekend off due to the Thai FA postponing their game. I can’t wait. 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!

What a result. Away against an in-form Thai league team in 3rd position in the table, and we walk out of Thunderdome Stadium with not just a draw, but a win. I know a lot of the focus will rightly be on the red card and the late goal, but it really really shouldn’t. Let’s dive right into some talking points for this game. An Unlikely Away Win Time to throw out a footballing cliché. If you’d offered me a draw before the game, I’d have bitten your hand off. Now time for a new take on that old cliché. If you’d offered me a win before the game, I’d have bitten way more than just your hand off, I would have bitten all of you. I wouldn’t care how the win comes about – it can be a lucky win with our goal coming off a deflected shot that goes in off a defender’s bum. A win is a win. So it’s a bit surprising to see some negativity even after achieving more than what we came for – an away win. It feels a bit like a lottery winner winning a million bucks and then feeling sad that he is burgled 1 hour later and loses a hundred thousand bucks. You’re still up – and crucially, with money you never had. I think some of us got so excited by our first-half performance that we felt like our Sailors were the favourites. Far from it – our Sailors were always the slight underdogs, simply by dint of being in an inferior league. Of course, I understand some of the negativity and I’ll write about the Song red card soon, that came at a time when we were 3 goals up. However, let’s remember that we are bringing back a 1-goal lead to Jalan Besar Stadium, and our regional rivals absolutely hate that pitch. Now, let’s talk about that red card. Song’s Red Card – Soft? I think it’s a soft red card because 1) it’s not an elbow, and 2) Song doesn’t make a fist and harden his forearm before making contact. Try it yourself. Make a fist, and touch your forearm with your other hand – see how hard it feels. Now open up your palm, and touch your forearm with your other hand – see how hard it feels. Alot of difference, eh? It probably didn’t hurt much at all, and it was more of arms flinging around than a malicious attempt to injure an opponent. However, even with that said, I’m gonna be honest here. I can see why the red card was given. It’s soft, but it’s not a horrible decision. Just a harsh one. I hope I am making myself clear here. Had it been the other way around, I would be happy of course that we benefited from a red card to our opponents, but I wouldn’t say it’s an unjustified red card. Song does have a little look to see where his opponent is, and he took the risk by putting his arm higher than it needed to be. It’s not as if our opponent lowered his head and Song caught him there. It was a high arm – he gave the referee a decision to make, and the ref made the harshest one possible. It happens. Should we go all in and blame Song though? I don’t think so. I wrote this about Song when he was a crucial part of our 3-1 away victory against Port FC. Oops. This is Song’s game though. And just like Wayne Rooney, or Patrick Vieira, or Luis Suarez, the red cards they receive are not a bug, it’s a feature of the player. Take away that ferocious competitive spirit and you get a player who contributes so much less to the team. You may have them available for a few more games here and there because they don’t get suspended as much, but you don’t get 100% of the player in the matches they do play. It’s also slightly sad that it is Song’s desire which even puts him in that position. At 3-0 up and as part of a midfield duo, he could have been forgiven for holding his position in the centre of the park and not make that many attacking runs. However, he makes that run all the way down the right channel to give his team an option to play out, and they find him. That’s when the unfortunate incident happened, after Muangthong did well to shepherd him away from the box. If only he had less desire to help his team out of a tight spot, he might not have landed them in a tight spot – the irony. Also I remember in one of SailorFanTalk’s very first episodes, when we spoke with former players Abdil Qaiyyim and Aqhari Abdullah, they said that even in training, Song is always competitive, always running around, always getting his arms and elbows in the way. His fierce, combative nature is what makes him such a pest on the field. (Wow that picture really takes me back.) In the cold light of day, I would ask Song – was it really necessary to be so physical when we are already 3-0 up? I suspect it’s not an easy question to answer. Football isn’t an exact science where you can turn off features of your game and not wonder if the cumulative effect of players across the pitch all choosing to give a little less will end up in a goal being conceded. We move on. Dazzling Attacking Trio At times, the attacking trio of Shawal, Maxime and Bart looked like our very own Singaporean version of the Messi-Suarez-Neymar connection that won so many games for FC Barcelona and delighted the world. They each had a goal, and in the first half, it really looked like they would add to their tally. We already noticed that against Tanjong Pagar, there was a

After the listless display in midweek, it was important for our Sailors to bounce back with a win in the domestic league. That, we did, and with minimal fuss. 4-1 was the scoreline, but it really should have been 6 or 7. And it wasn’t even like Tanjong Pagar were poor. I think they did pretty well, all circumstances considered, but the gulf in class was just huge, and it showed on the pitch. With the packed schedule ahead, three points and no injuries was the order of the day, and in that sense, Sunday was perfect for us. Let’s dive into some post-match thoughts. Thy Ceremony It’s been coming for some time, but Lennart Thy finally has his first hat-trick in Sailors colours. I think the fuss-free nature of the Sailors win was mirrored by Thy’s hat-trick. None of the three goals was particularly difficult. The first was by far the hardest, where Lennart had to be sharp to turn on the spot and finish with his left foot. The other two goals were basically tap-ins, but you do need to be in those spaces to score those goals. (Remember Dirk Kuyt’s hat-trick of goals against Manchester United in the 2010/2011 season where he basically scored 3 tap-ins from a combined total of 5 yards?) He’s had his critics, but I felt he led the line well last night, and he’s now top-scorer for LCS in the league this season, with 18 goals, 3 more than Shawal Anuar. That’s also his 7th Man-of-the-Match award this season from just 21 games. He’s finding his feet at the right time, and here’s hoping he brings along this form to the ACL2 as well, where we’ll really need to be clinical with our chances. Physicality – Up for the Fight Unlike on Thursday night, I felt our Sailors were really up for the fight, literally. Tanjong Pagar are a long way from their thuggish ways just a few seasons back, but I felt they were aggressive all night (not in a bad way). When you’re up against a side that is alot better in terms of quality, you have to fight, you have to make it uncomfortable for your opponents. I felt TPU did that, and generally didn’t cross the line. Hariss, Bailey, Song, and Maxime may disagree, as they were subject to some tough challenges, but I felt that these challenges were merely normal hard fouls. As the top team in the land, you’re gonna receive such fouls, it’s par for the course. So it was heartening to see that we gave as good as we got. Bailey was elbowed by Rezza Rezky when they challenged for a header, but he himself dished out some punishment to Syahadat in the 81st minute, bodying him off the ball with a tough challenge. Hariss as well, pushed by Matt Silva needlessly, dealt out his punishment to a couple of TPU players as well. Raihan was busy all night, tackling and fouling away, but we were able to look after ourselves, and more. And then we come to the Bart incident. I think Bart escapes a yellow card there. In my opinion, I think the ref giving a yellow card each would be a fair and expected outcome. Some TPU fans have expressed their opinion that Bart is holding back Faizal, and Faizal is just trying to escape Bart’s clutches. I think that’s true to a certain extent only. In my opinion, Faizal flings his arms back in an attempt to get free, yes, but I think he’s absolutely looking to also assert himself in that challenge. There is no excuse for your arms flailing around like that – it’s not a natural movement. Those who’ve played football before, we know, if we want to shield the ball, we will put our arm out straight, but it’s a stationary arm that acts as a barrier, it’s not an arm that’s constantly swinging looking to catch someone. Of course, Faizal does that because Bart is annoyingly grabbing on to him to prevent him from advancing, But that is no excuse for retaliation. Bart deserves a yellow, and Faizal does too – because his arms flailing around do not constitute a red card offence. It’s very common for refs to go “ah there’s a scuffle here, let me book both parties”. In fact, Sailors were on the end of that two games ago, when Diogo Costa puts in a nothing challenge on Naqiuddin Eunos, and Naqi aggressively shoves Diogo. It should be a yellow for Naqi and nothing for Diogo, cos it was just a normal foul, but the ref gives it to both, and not much is said about that. It’s only called into question now because it was a second yellow, and because Bart wasn’t booked. So anyway, TL;DR – Bart should have seen yellow too, ref could have been a bit more lenient considering that this was to be a second yellow, but by the letter of the law, the referee could do what he did. I just sympathise with TPU because it is abit harsh on them. Perhaps the ref was refereeing them based on how they had been tackling all night – which yes, is harsh on them cos each incident should be judged on its own merits. But this wasn’t a crazily bad decision – just harsh. A crazily bad decision is when Timur Talipov pulled off a basketball dribble in last week’s game and both the referee and the VAR cleared it. Anyway, back to the game, the red card came when we were 4-0 up so it didn’t really affect the result, if not there might be even more controversy. Hafiz Nor – A Hat-Trick of Misses Well, I wouldn’t have thought this would happen prior to the game. No exaggeration to say that on any other day, Hafiz Nor gets at least 1 goal from this trio of chances. Maxime Lestienne (more on him later), absolutely

It was a really difficult watch. Right from the get-go, Kaya FC showed their intentions with a long ball causing us some trouble. In the end we dealt with it, but it was a sign of things to come. In the end, I felt we were deserved losers even if the penalty call looked a little controversial. Let’s dive right into some post-match thoughts. Lack of Motivation? In the post-match interview with Bailey, I asked him straight up if the players lacked motivation because the match was a dead rubber. Kaya FC couldn’t overtake us, and we couldn’t qualify. We’d have to overtake Buriram, and that wasn’t possible even before Buriram took on (and beat) KL City FC. He denied that it was the case, and said the players prepared hard to win this game. I am not sure how much of that is him saying the right things, but I have to say certainly in the first half, it didn’t look that way. Bailey did hint at the pitch not helping the team’s cause to play football, but to this I have two things to say – 1) Kaya FC had to play on it too, and 2) this is not their home stadium, and they are actually used to playing on grass pitches, not this artificial turf. This is slightly worrying because if indeed we failed to adapt to pitch conditions, then this is the second time it’s happened this season. The first time was when we played Borneo FC and we were just so so so poor. We had this to say last time. Unfortunately, it would seem lessons were not learnt, or maybe just maybe, we were right that there was a subconscious lack of motivation heading into this game. Which is a shame, because if you look at the table, if we had won that game, we would have been above both KL City FC and Borneo FC. Which I think would be the natural order of things in this group. Progress must be made incrementally, and I think it’s an important psychological marker to drill home the message that while we’re not quite there yet when it comes to challenging Buriram and Cong An Ha Noi, we are better than Malaysian teams (bar JDT), better than Indonesian teams, and certainly better than Filipino teams. The Fringe Players I mentioned that this would be a chance for some fringe players to step up, and I thought they did alright. If anything, it was the big stars who didn’t quite show up for this game. Bil was brave on the ball, even though he was quite clearly targetted by Kaya FC as the weak link in the backline. He used the ball well and helped the Sailors play out of defence on occasion. Anu was his usual combative self, and I shudder to think what the score might have been without him because he seemed the only player winning his duels. Rasaq was starved of service, but most importantly, support. On a couple of occasions he held the ball up well but there just wasn’t any support forthcoming from his teammates and the chance passed. His link-up play also seemed quite rusty sometimes, and I think that’s a chemistry issue. Perhaps Rasaq should be given a little more gametime in games here and there, if not we’re never gonna see him back to the best version of Rasaq that we know and love. Another fringe player to start was Carmona. Diogo couldn’t play in this competition because he wasn’t registered. As expected, this game was too soon for Mamat as well. I think Carmona was some way off his best against Kaya, and I wonder if he’ll see many more opportunities to play this season, given Diogo’s arrival. But of course, if Anu’s situation has taught us anything, it’s never say never. Conclusion A disappointing night out made only a bit more bearable by the hospitality and warmth of the Filipino people everywhere we go. In the bars, on the streets, shops, wherever, they are always happy to chat, happy to give greet you with a great big smile. The supporters sang loud and proud, hoping to help the team preserve their unbeaten start to 2025, but alas it was not to be. I think it’s dangerous to stop winning momentum by taking a match lightly – and we’ll see if the team can pick up their form when we face in-form Tanjong Pagar United and the big one next week, Muangthong United. 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! Picture credit – Lion City Sailors

Prior to the game, many felt that this was a three-horse race, with BG Tampines and Geylang our closest rivals. This game was important from a points perspective – a win for Geylang would see our lead over them cut to only 2 points, although we would still have 2 games in hand. Now, it’s 8 points with 2 games in hand, and you have to think that gives us a bit of comfort at the top of the table, with probably only BG Tampines remaining to give us a threat. On that front too, there was good news, with Hougang brilliantly beating them 4-2 to extend our lead at the top of the table. But as the football cliche goes, we only need to focus on ourselves and make sure we continue picking up points. So let’s dive right into some of my post-match thoughts. Shakir Hamzah – Lucky Boy Let’s start with something that has been bugging me for a while. How was Shakir Hamzah’s attempted tackle not seen as a booking, or even a foul? Some would argue that with the way he lunged in, and how out of control he was, that he might even be red-carded. He didn’t make contact with Hami, but that’s because Hami hurdled the challenge brilliantly. Not sure which tackle I am referring to? Look at the still image below – And then head on down to Youtube to watch the tackle for yourself because still images shouldn’t be used to referee games. Shakir takes a heavy touch, and then lunges in out of control – he’s late, and his studs are showing. Hami has to take quick evasive action and he did so brilliantly, but I think the intent of the challenge must be that the referee does something about it. If Hami had tried to shield the ball there, or if he was slow to hurdle the challenge, we could be looking at a broken leg. Shakir is one of my favourite players, given that he was a real fighter whenever I watched him play for Home United. His spirit, skill and energy always lit up the left flank, but he does have an aggressive streak and I think he’s lucky that VAR wasn’t available earlier in his career. He’s a bit like Rooney in my opinion – in that it’s this aggressive streak that allows him to be such a good player, one you want on your team. However, occasionally, it does boil over and harms his own team, and in this case, potentially an opponent. I have alot of respect for Taqi’s refereeing, but for him to look at this challenge and not do anything about it, I think he himself will probably admit he got it wrong. Let’s hope the referees police the game properly so we don’t see more of these. Debut for Diogo Costa Eyebrows were raised when the lineups were released. Diogo Costa at leftback, straight into the starting 11. Little is known about him, especially because very irritatingly, he shares the exact same name as the Porto captain – so when you search for him on Youtube, you gotta go through tons of irrelevant videos. But what a way to introduce yourself to the Sailors fans. He was brave on the ball, the pace on his pass was good, and he shuttled between attack and defence seamlessly. He also showed that he has a great cross in his arsenal. He was booked for a tough challenge in the first half, but when Geylang’s players and bench tried to intimidate him, he just put his hands up and walked away. I have to admit I feared a little for him after that, because he had so long to play while still on a yellow card. One mistimed challenge, or an overzealous referee, and he’d be gone. In the end, Coach Ranko protected him and took him off in the second half because of his yellow card, but by then he had already done enough to impress me. I think he will be a valuable addition to our squad. I also spoke with Coach Ranko after the game and he shared that Diogo went right into the starting 11 because he had impressed in training. When I caught up with Coach Luka Lalic after the game, he told me that Diogo has much much more to show the Sailors fans. We can’t wait. Shawal the Postman We are so used to seeing the net bulge after Shawal takes a shot. But on Sunday night, he hit a unique hat-trick. He hit the post three times. The game could have been so much more comfortable for us had he taken his chances. Besides the post-hits, there was also one other gilt-edged chance which he put wide of the post. The finishing was so uncharacteristic of him, that when he did score later, Maxime was first to congratulate him, but also playfully slapped the back of his head, as if trying to wake him up. Shawal has been the difference-maker for us so many times since he joined us, so we’re gonna let this stinker of a game for him pass. At least he was in the right positions to score! This goal takes him to 15 goals for the season. Coupled with 11 assists, he is on 26 goal contributions for the season, only just behind Maxime’s 30. Also worth noting that Lennart Thy was the one who hooked the ball across the face of goal for Shawal to hit the post, and also the one who flicked the ball on superbly for Shawal to outpace Rio Sakuma and slot into the net past a stranded Rudy Khairullah. Our attack is starting to find these combinations and it is really great to see. Hami Syahin’s Superb Last-Ditch Tackle In the second half, with the score still at 1-1, Tomoyuki Doi strode forward and slipped a nice through pass for Ryoya Taniguchi. Ryoya was offside,

So it wasn’t to be. What we suspected all along was true – Buriram are a class side, and it would be difficult for our Sailors to keep alive our slim qualification hopes. We were given a huge slice of hope though, when a red card was shown to Kenneth Dougall, meaning we had a whole half to try to break down Buriram’s defence. However, despite many close shaves, we just couldn’t make it happen, and so we’re out. Some thoughts from an action-packed night despite the scoreline! The Red Card Let’s start easy. I’ve heard some people say that they don’t think it’s a red card. Well, pictures don’t lie, so let’s take a look at the replay. Oh, sorry that is a picture of a time-wasting buffoon celebrating winning the World Cup a draw against a team from a much weaker league. Am I being bitter? Yes. Do I give a shit? No. Ok I’ll carry on. For some reason, above-mentioned buffoon / clown / shithead was never punished by the referee despite multiple occasions of time-wasting, including doing freestyle tricks right under the nose of the ref. When Lennart Thy tried to dribble the ball back to the six yard area after the ball had gone out, to reduce the time wasted, he even tripped Lennart – and still the referee didn’t do a thing. Amazing, But we were talking about the red card, not random Thai clowns, so please refer to this still below instead. Maxime is just outside the box, with perhaps perhaps ONE covering defender about 8m away? I don’t think that defender gets to Maxime if Dougall didn’t trip him. Maxime would then be facing the keeper diagonally right, with his left foot primed to strike. It’s the perfect angle for him – he can even dink it over the keeper if he wants. It’s definitely denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity. We even almost scored from the resulting freekick too! But Thai clown made a great double save to deny Datkovic, and so we went into half-time 0-0. Before we move on to the rest of the article, I just wanted to point out how sharp Maxime is. If you look at the replay, once Lennart flicks it on, you can see that Max is already on the move, staring intently at the ball and closing Dougall down. He knows that Buriram like to play with the ball, and he’s likely to take a touch to bring it down, rather than just do the simple and head it clear or back to the keeper. He gambles, and it’s a disastrous touch for Dougall but a delightful one for Max. Matches can turn on the slightest of details, and had we gone on to find the winner in this game, there’s no doubt that this would be the key moment. To think that it could result from just 1 small decision to press. Toe to Toe Even before the red card, I was impressed with our Sailors. Sure, we had some nervy moments, but I had anticipated a full-on barrage from Buriram, and for us to be clinging on, and clearing every ball from our box. What we saw was quite different. Buriram were superior in midfield exchanges, and their pace of passing was superb, but the first half prior to the red card felt quite even, or 60-40 in Buriram’s favour. We even came closest to scoring a goal, with Maxime curling a fantastic shot against the bar. Clowny McClownface was well beaten. In the second half, with the man advantage, I thought Buriram did superb to deny the Sailors a goal. They stood firm on the edge of their box and on a few occasions, stopped promising through-balls into the box which would have helped us get behind their defence. For all our huff and puff, we never really got behind them, and our best chances came from crosses. Glorious chances though! In total, there were three opportunities right in front of goal, we just couldn’t take them. Lennart, Song and Toni will surely replay those chances in their heads for a while. Shawal too, had a decent chance by his standards, but he headed wide. Before the game, if you had told me we would be the side that looked more likely to win, I would have been very surprised. I think despite being dumped out of the competition, we can hold our heads high for this match. We kept a clean sheet against a side that scores goals for fun. And we came mighty close to writing a new chapter in our history of cup upsets. Attacking Intent Ranko has come under attack before for being a cautious, pragmatic coach. In my opinion, I like what I see because our Sailors have never looked this solid throughout the club’s history. But yesterday required a different approach after the red card – and I think you could finally see us throwing caution to the wind. The match ended with Rasaq, Lennart, Shawal, Bart, Maxime, Song all on the field. Each of those players were on the field because they are capable of getting us an important goal. At the death, supporters were also treated to the sight of Izwan making his way into the opposing penalty area. Scenes if he had scored then. I joked with Brandon, who was seated next to me, and said that in my visions, I can see the ball being cleared, and then Hafiz Nor strikes it on the volley from 30 yards and it sails into the top corner. Well, those visions were not accurate, to say the least. That’s why I am not a medium, I’m an XL. It may have been a 0-0, but from staff to players, everyone tried their darndest to pull off the latest upset at Jalan Besar Stadium. And I’m proud of the team. Just like in the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup, when Singapore teams come up

This used to be a top-of-the-table clash, one that the Sailors often found themselves losing. Since Albirex started playing by the same rules as everyone else, our Sailors have gone into every game as the favourites. So far, it’s 2 wins and a loss, but I think even the most die-hard Sailors fan wouldn’t have thought it was gonna be quite this straightforward. From start to finish, the Sailors were dominant, and aside from one crossbar hit from somebody I can’t remember, Albirex never threatened the Sailors’ goal. It is a little sad that this match used to keep supporters at the edge of their seats, but now by half-time, the game was essentially done, even though we rested Maxime Lestienne. Imagine resting our best player for this match last season – it would be unthinkable. Let’s dive into some post-match thoughts. Lennart Thy Man of the Match Lennart Thy picked up 2 goals and an assist on Friday, making him Sailors’ top-scorer in the league, 1 ahead of Shawal. Amazingly, it was also his 6th Man-of-the-Match award (if I counted it right) in just 19 league games. Wow. However, as stated in my previous article, I think some supporters still need a little convincing, and Albirex’s diminished profile probably doesn’t help him in this regard. Supporters are bound to take it a lot more seriously if he turns in such a performance against BG Tampines Rovers, or indeed, on the continental stage. Do well against Buriram, and maybe just maybe, those who aren’t fully convinced yet will be. For now though, let’s get behind him – it’s crazy that I need to say this when he is our top-scorer in the league. 15 goals in the league, with 4 assists. Left foot, right foot, headers, he scores them all. In a team where the goals are spread out, rather than having a Doi-shaped figure dominating the attack, these are very reasonable numbers. Long may this continue. Bart Ramselaar – His Best Game I am actually surprised that it wasn’t Bart who picked up the MOTM award. 2 assists and a goal, plus he also had a hand in Lenny’s 2nd goal when his shot was well-saved by Hassan Sunny. He ran Ryhan Stewart ragged down our left, and it was no surprise that 3 of our goals in the first half came down our left side. It was his well-placed cross that invited Hassan Sunny to rush out of goal to try to punch away, but of course we know that Shawal’s leap is magical and he managed to get to the ball ahead of Hassan. He then executed a quick 1-2 with Sergio Carmona Perez for the 3rd goal, before unleashing a rocket of a shot into the top corner. To round off the first half, he then showed good strength and skill to hold the ball up just enough to lay it off for Song to score the 4th. Aside from his goal contributions, he also kept things ticking very nicely in midfield, using turns and feints to ensure that Albirex were always chasing shadows when they tried to squeeze us in midfield. Bart’s season has been a little stop-start due to injury and suspension. He is on 8 goals and 6 assists from 12 league matches this year, which is already a very high tally, but I think his best game for us in a Sailors shirt is gonna spur him on to greater heights. Winning with Wingbacks With Albirex defending for their lives, it allowed our two wingbacks a lot of room to attack, and that they did. Carmona picked up an assist and a goal, while Chris van Huizen put in a number of dangerous balls from the right, and ended the night with a good assist for Carmona. For CvH, it was his 2nd assist in a week, and I think he is really relishing being able to push up during SPL games. Earlier this season, CvH would sometimes start as a fullback in a back 4, which naturally meant he sometimes had to curb his attacking instincts. Now, with three centrebacks at the back, you see how we attack, and how high Carmona and CvH get. It creates more options for us, and makes it harder for defenders to pick up players like Bart and Maxime who like to look for space between the fullbacks and the centrebacks. Carmona was also really exciting to watch down the left flank, and at times you can see his youthful exuberance. There was a moment where he tried to nutmeg someone in his own half, and it ultimately led to a half-chance for Albirex. He got absolutely chewed out for that by Hariss – and rightly so. It was not a good risk to take, and it could have ended badly for us on another day. He will only get better with time. Of course, I still believe that against a team like Buriram, we will see Hami Syahin back in the RWB role and our LWB will be asked to stay much deeper, as we look to have a bit more ball security in the middle. However, in the SPL, where we can afford to take a few more risks, we want to be entertained, and hopefully we get to see our wingbacks flying forward more often. Anu and Hariss To say that Anu and Hariss are not everyone’s cup of tea would be an understatement. However, they both turned in very tidy performances, especially Anu, who completed 90 minutes, made 94% of his passes, and snapped into a few challenges to regain possession for the team. He looked relatively untroubled all night and in a season where we will be playing in 4 competitions, we need someone like Anu in the squad even if he isn’t first choice. Rumours that he will go on loan to TPUFC hopefully stay as just rumours – there’s no way we should be letting go of

Well, I am always glad to be proven wrong. The last time I predicted a 2-2 draw, we went and beat Port FC 5-2. Guess I should keep predicting 2-2 draws for our Sailors. Again, it was a performance where I felt our Sailors didn’t need to be at their very best, despite DPMM taking an early lead. I think DPMM will go from strength to strength once they get used to their new striker up front, but really some of their defending and keeping was terrible – as I said to some fans while we watched it on TV, some of the defending was more static than the broadcast. And the broadcast was truly shite. Weird angles, bad audio, static lines across the pitch, even the VAR replay for the penalty decision was affected by it. Brunei, please sort it out. Or if you don’t sort it out, please help make sure that it results in penalties not being given for Tampines and Geylang haha. Let’s dive right into the post-match thoughts! Brunei Usually Not an Easy Place to Go To DPMM are hard to beat at home – their real home, the Hassanal Bolkiah Stadium, not JBS. Prior to Young Lions beating them last time out, they had played there 4 times without losing, thrice grinding out hard-earned draws, and once beating Tampines in a dramatic 3-2 victory. It’s fair to say that had their home stadium been more available to them, they might be slightly higher up the table. So it wasn’t really a surprise when DPMM took the lead through a good shot by Azwan Ali. I felt the defending and keeping could perhaps have been better, but these things happen. It’s how you respond to setbacks like that that determines if you can challenge for the title. I thought that without really needing to play that well, we managed to find a foothold in the game, and before long, Lennart and Shawal combined for a sublime goal. While the defending may be static, Lennart decided that in Maxime’s absence, he would do what Maxime does, and clipped an inviting ball over the defence for Shawal. Then comes the even more impressive part. We all know Shawal’s leap is ridiculous, but the pace and direction on the header to beat the keeper Naumovski (who’s no slouch)? Just brilliant. To think Shawal turns 34 this year! Lennart and Shawal would then combine again after DPMM made a mess of an Izwan goal kick, with Shawal returning the favour for Lennart to calmly sidefoot past the keeper. 2-1, and the win never really looked in doubt after that, even though they did equalise through the mercurial Oliveira. Further goals by Shawal and Lennart meant we took all 3 points home. While a lot of it was down to how poor DPMM were, we still needed to turn in a professional performance, and we did that. Now let’s talk about our goalscorers. Is Lennart Thy Really That Bad? I don’t think it’s unfair to say that some fans are still not convinced by Lennart Thy. 2 goals and 1 assist in an important game away from home should boost his confidence somewhat, especially as he has been left out of the starting lineup for games against Port FC and KL City FC. What do the goalscoring and assist stats tell us about what we should think about our new striker? You’ll hear people wax lyrical about Shingo Nakano, about Seia Kunori, but the stats show that Lennart Thy comfortably outperforms them. Sure, Lennart has better service, but he also has to share that service with other goal-hungry players, such as Maxime and Shawal. I don’t think stats are everything, but I think for a foreign player in his first year in this league, he’s doing alright. Perhaps the perception of him being a flop stems from his performances in continental competition, where he can do much better. Some people have also said that Shawal outperforms Lennart – but to me, that is a happy problem to have. I don’t think it’s an indicator of Lenny sucking – as much as it is Shawal being that damn good. With Rui Pires looking like he sustained a bad injury, there will be an additional foreign slot that opens up in the first team squad for the next few matches at least, and I think we’ll be seeing more of Lennart. Let’s hope he can keep up this rate of production. Conclusion A short one, considering I need to write another article later to preview the Albirex game. I think it’s a good thing that there’s not too many talking points from our game against DPMM. We wish Rui Pires the best in recovery – hope it isn’t a long injury. There were rumours of Anu being loaned out to another SPL club this transfer window but I guess it’s good we didn’t do it. We’re competing on four fronts, and if we’re hit by an injury or two, suddenly fatigue will pile up and then we’ll be in a shitty situation. Unless maybe we have some incomings? Rumours are that Akram Azman has been signed, and that, added to the news that Mamat is on his way back, strengthens our hand further. On to Friday and hopefully another win to keep the run going. Bring on Albirex! But till then, top of the table with two games in hand, just like the cover picture suggests. 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!

After the high drama of our last game against Port FC, the next game was always gonna pale in comparison. Paling in comparison is one thing, but as I wrote in the preview, getting a win was still essential. Not only for our slim survival hopes in the Shopee Cup, but also because we are right back in league action in the blink of an eye, and we need to get into the habit of winning games. What happened on Thursday night though, didn’t just pale in comparison to the high drama of the Port game, it was SUPER routine. Now don’t get me wrong, routine doesn’t necessarily mean easy. It’s just … routine. Just like getting up to brush your teeth when your annoying alarm clock goes off despite it raining outside perfectly for you to continue sleeping – that’s not easy, but it’s routine. This was the most routine of routine wins. We didn’t have to do anything special – in fact, KL City FC didn’t even have a shot on target. There was a point in the second half where sitting 2-0 up, we were so comfortable, that the fans started to find ways to entertain themselves. Near me, a few fans started using the clappers to play their own little game, seeing who could land more hits on each other. Yes, it was that comfortable. Let’s dive right into some of the talking points for this game. No Lennart Thy It was interesting to see that Lennart Thy wasn’t in the squad at all. It probably wasn’t an injury thing, considering he just played in the friendly against Kitchee. In the Shopee Cup, we are allowed to field 6 foreigners, and on the night, they were – Toni, Bart, Sergio, Maxime, Rui, Bailey. Most people would probably think that Sergio Carmona being the youngster, he would perhaps be given less priority in an important cup tie. It is also perhaps more surprising because in the league, the foreign strikers are almost never rotated out of the side, such is other teams’ reliance on their No. 9s. But if you ask me, I think this is a good sign. It shows that there is healthy competition for places in the team, and that we have the depth to shuffle the pack around to cater for different fixtures, and also for dips in form. In this case, Shawal is in sparkling form and has been on fire this season. In 17 league games, he has 11 goals and 10 assists. In 6 games of ACL2 action, he has 4 goals and 1 assist, showing he can do it not only domestically, but against tougher opponents too. When he’s in such hot form, it is no wonder that Ranko has been using Shawal more and more in the starting 11 rather than off the bench. It is perhaps this form that has led Ranko to decide that Shawal is more than capable of leading the line, and he’d thus rather use the foreigner slot on Sergio over Chris at left-back. This decision may also have Monday’s game against DPMM in mind. In what is likely to be a difficult away game against a newly-strengthened DPMM side, Ranko will probably rely on Lennart Thy to press from the front. Monday’s lineup will be very telling. If Lennart misses out again, chances are he is either injured, or really out of favour. I think what Coach Ranko is doing is absolutely correct. Play the players who are in form, make use of that squad depth. We are in a privileged position where we have 8 foreigners that we can count on to step into the first team. The 6 who started the game against KL City, plus Lennart Thy, and Obren Kljajic. That’s some incredible depth. Might there be one more foreigner coming in this transfer window? Might there? Coach Ranko will have his hands full trying to consider all the options he has, but what I like is that he hasn’t let any big-name reputation or connections get to him. During his time at Sparta Rotterdam, Lennart Thy worked with Coach Ranko, who was Assistant Manager. It would be very easy for Coach Ranko to continue to play Lennart game after game, but in the last 2 games, he has opted for Shawal. I think this gives encouragement to the rest of the squad – if you play well, you will start. Noone (perhaps except Maxime) is undroppable. Attacking Intent In the preview article, I mentioned that both teams would perhaps try to sit tight and attack on the counter, but that being at home, we needed to come out with a bit more intensity, if not attacking intent. And although both sides lined up with three centrebacks at the back, there was no doubt that our Sailors were a bit more serious about trying to score the goals we needed to keep our slim hopes alive. From the kick-off, Bailey Wright was pushed right up into attack to attack a long ball from midfield. That was a sign of things to come. Within a couple of minutes we almost scored, when Shawal was left unmarked and his cutback almost forced an own goal. Stats don’t always tell the full story, but sometimes you can’t argue with stats like zero shots on target. KL City FC said they had a gameplan, but whatever it is that they were trying to do, it didn’t work at all. Our Sailors hardly broke a sweat, and I think it was always a matter of “when”, not “if” we were gonna score. You know how the title of the article is “Routine”? Have you ever seen a more routine corner kick goal than the one scored by Bailey Wright? In this age where there is so much emphasis on Arsenal’s setpiece routines, on how there are blockers, there are people trying to stop the keeper from getting out to the ball, etc etc

The excitement of last Thursday’s proceedings got me sick over the weekend so this took a while. During that time, I pondered different titles for this article. Heart Attack FC. Lightning Doesn’t Strike Thrice. Song on Song. Flowing Football, Flowing Tears. What The Flying Fuck. We Live 2-5 On. Ok the last one was terrible (it’s supposed to sound like “we live to fight on”). There were many possibilities, which is fitting for a night of qualification where there were many ways for us to end up in the knockout stage. But in the end, this dang Ronan Keating tune kept popping into my head – amidst the roars and high-fives and shouted gibberish, this tune rose above. Which is strange – but if you’ve read my articles before you’d know I think in a fairly strange way. So let’s jump right into the preview. There were elements of the night that felt like it was scripted. It’s like a movie you enjoy, but one you don’t know the ending of before you start watching it. Now, at the end, you can fairly say that “wow, that was amazing”, but at many points during the movie, you’re like “does the main character die”, “is everyone safe in the end”, etc etc. A night of high drama, and I gotta try to sum that up in an article. Tough. But let’s try. AFC Cup Song Where else to start except with our 3-goal hero, Song Ui-Young. There’s always been something special about Song’s performances when it comes to AFC football. It’s hard to explain it – I even posed the question to Song himself, who said we’d have to ask God for the answer. He stressed that he gives the same effort in SPL games, so he cannot explain why the special goals only come in continental ties. Perhaps there is more space to exploit in games on the continent? Or he just finds another gear on special nights and puts in a little bit extra effort. Those still don’t explain the crazy quality we see from him in the type of goals he produces. Goals 1, 2, 3 were arranged in increasing order of difficulty, as if the scriptwriters were trying to foreshadow to us, the audience, what was gonna happen. You can imagine the scriptwriter looking at the audience going “wow, you enjoyed that one huh, you ain’t seen nothing yet!” Speaking of foreshadowing, and right before we dive into the goals themselves, can I just say that during the warm-ups, Song was especially impressive with his first-time finishing. I remember in particular two first-time volleys that I thought to myself “my, my, save some for the game, my man”. Well, he did. Goal 1 The easiest of his 3 finishes, that owed a lot to suspect Port defending and also a booming Lionel Tan throw. Lionel really really enjoyed his assist by the way – as you can see by the way he spun around in delight and lost all control of his limbs while celebrating the goal. Check out the highlights video again, and look out for him on the bottom right. From that range, Song was not gonna miss, and though the finish itself was rather scrappy, you can’t argue with a goal under a minute in a match we needed to win. Goal 2 A much more difficult goal. This goal owes as much to Song as it does to Shawal and Maxime. The initial ball seeking out Shawal is nothing much, but once again, his determination keeps the chance alive, much like he did when we faced Port FC in Bangkok. He then plays a nice reverse pass to Maxime. Maxime takes his time to pick out Song – it is not a random hit-and-hope. Max sees Song making his run from outside the box, Song makes himself more obvious by putting his hand up like a primary school kid crossing the road, and Max finds him. The first-time volley is unerring, and very impressive. As commentator Rhysh Roshan Rai rightly says, many strikers miss from there, putting too much power on their finish in their eagerness to beat the keeper. Goal 3 A goal so good I have watched it an unhealthy number of times. A goal so good that it was shared on ESPN Netherlands, of all places. When this one went in, it drew wild cheers from the crowd, but also some shocked gasps. And then when it was replayed on the jumbotron in the stadium, it drew even more gasps and “woah”s. It was breathtaking in its execution – Maxime sent Asnawi to the (halal) hotdog stand, twisting him inside out before using every inch of the touchline to his advantage, floating a cross into the danger-zone for Song. By the way, Asnawi was not the only one convinced that Maxime was gonna cross it in on his left foot. The cameraman was similarly outfoxed – just check out the replay. What happens next you already know. It’s absolutely magical, and looks like a goal taken from Blue Lock. Song has no hesitation in launching himself into the air to meet Maxime’s cross, and far from just diverting the cross on target, he gives it full gun in mid-air, powering it beyond the goalkeeper, who didn’t even have time to dive. Not only was it on target, it was into the top corner. Just amazing. It was his hat-trick goal, and this brought him to 5 goals in ACL2 this season, our top-scorer in the competition, ahead of Shawal Anuar, on 4 goals. But it’s not just the number of goals, it’s also the timing of it. The Timing of the Goal Just like a well-written plot, the night needed its twists and turns. In fact, it mirrored once again our campaign as a whole, which was kinda cruel. At half-time, with the lead at 2-0, many Sailors fans didn’t dare to dream too big yet. You know the