Post-Match Thoughts

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

With 3 games played in the ACL2, we sat on a very tidy 7-points tally, having just defeated Port FC away from home in an impressive 3-1 victory. Depending on results, victory in the 4th game would have seen us through. That didn’t happen. We came into this 5th game knowing a win would have sent us through. That didn’t happen. And now it looks like having put ourselves in a commanding position midway through the campaign, we are in danger of pissing it all away at the end. If you think about it, our points tally in the group has been a little like how we performed against Persib and Zhejiang in the last 2 games. Get an early lead, give the fans tons of hope, and then end in absolute disaster. The only difference? We still have a chance to remedy the situation in the group, whereas those 2 games are gone already and no amount of gnashing of teeth or regretting will bring those games back. So how did we throw this one away this time? Here are some of my thoughts. The Persib Loss was Worse Just typing that title is painful. You shouldn’t have to compare between two devastating results like that. Especially when it’s in consecutive games. It’s like asking someone whether they’d rather be heavily constipated, or have a terrible bout of diarrhoea. Whatever the answer, it’s still shit. A list of reasons for why I feel though, that the Persib loss is worse. Standing in the away end in Zhejiang, I could honestly say that I have some sympathy for the conditions the players had to play in – it was really cold and I am sure some players adapted to that better than others. To do that for 90min against a top opponent can’t be easy. Also – I think the achievement to go 2 up away from home deserves more credit. In the first half, the gameplan was perfect. Zhejiang was reduced to nothing but half-chances, and their fans grew increasingly frustrated at the lack of action. To cap off an impressive first half with a goal made it even better. The second goal came from a moment of brilliance from Song, who has previous when it comes to AFC competition. I think there is a tendency to feel a lot worse about such results because of the promising position we put ourselves in – but credit has to be given for being in that position in the first place. And contrary to what some critics have said – no we didn’t go into a 2-goal lead because we played attacking football and hence we lost the lead because we started parking the bus after the 2-goal lead. We were already playing defensive football from the get-go – it’s just easier to defend when your opponents are not playing their best players. And that brings us to … The Introduction of Franko and Kouassi – Plus a Lack of Legs Sometimes, we have to look not just at ourselves, but also what our opponents did. Unlike the Persib game where I felt there was a complete implosion and Persib barely deserved to get their 3 points, Zhejiang were much the better team in the second half, even if we did get a Song goal that looked to provide us enough buffer. Kouassi was about a million times more dangerous than Debeas was in the first half, while Franko slowly started to pull the strings in attack in a way that Gao Di never did in the first half. When your opponent brings on such quality from the bench, it can be harder to cope. When we caught up with Coach Rankovic after the game, this was a factor he pointed to. He said that we have to see who comes off our bench, and who comes off their bench. I am not sure I fully agree with that. I think when we are clearly the underdog team, we might need to consider that energy can sometimes give us a better chance at victory than pure footballing ability. Our players looked dead on their feet entering the last 10min. If you look at the 4th goal, Rui Pires is jogging back instead of putting pressure on Li Tixiang, a player I marked out in the preview as being one to keep tabs on because of his playmaking quality. He was allowed the freedom of the middle of the pitch to stride forward, and play a pass behind our defence. Unacceptable. I love Maxime as well, and his quality was what even put us ahead in the first place, with that deadly freekick that Datkovic converted. However, I am of the belief that noone is safe from criticism. Whether his legs were gone, or whether his head was gone, he stopped running once we went 3-2 down. That is unacceptable. If it was his head that was gone, then he needs to be reminded harshly that he wears the Sailors shirt and needs to give every ounce of effort, ESPECIALLY when the chips are down. Nothing more frustrating for supporters who have stood in the cold for 90min, chanting and clapping, than to see someone give up, especially when he is our best and highest-paid player. If it was because his legs were gone, then the blame turns to the coach. If a player’s legs are gone, his legs are gone, take him out of the pitch. In a game where alot of the threat came from the wings, we desperately needed players who can run back from midfield and attack to help the defenders. Take the 2nd Zhejiang goal for example. Chris is outnumbered 3 to 1 here on the left flank. You’d think Maxime is near the player furthest right on the screen, but he isn’t. 7 seconds later, after Chris and Lionel unsuccessfully double up on the guy in red to try to win the ball off him,

Fuck fuckity fuck. Fucking fucked-up fuckfest of a fucking end to a fucking football game. Fuck! You’ll hopefully forgive me for that expletive-laden start to this post. That was probably what was going through my mind on that night in Jalan Besar, which was more than a couple of nights ago now, but is still fresh in my head. And if you thought that was what was going through my mind when we conceded the third goal, you’d be wrong. That was what was going through my mind when we conceded the SECOND goal. The third goal? Well, my mind just went fucking blank. How does that happen? (If you are offended by the use of the F word, it’s your chance to close this page now, there may be more coming. Also, if this graphic triggers you, maybe don’t continue as well.) Sigh. It absolutely does not help that we looked fucking imperious in the first half. It’s like you’re eating this decadent chocolate cake oozing with goodness, and as you carry on eating, the chocolate sauce continues to ooze out from the middle of the cake. Just when you’re about to finish the cake, you realise though, that right in the middle, wasn’t actually a ball of chocolate sauce – it was a fucking alive but gangrenous rat having a fucking mad bout of fucking chocolate diarrhoea. I am sorry for that visual, but hey, I was forced to sit through some real terrible trauma last week, and I suspect if you are reading this, you were too. This is part of your therapy. Never too early to start. Before we talk about why it went down like that, let’s focus on the trauma a little first. The Trauma You’d think as an Arsenal fan I’d be used to trauma. 8-2 loss to Manchester United, 2-1 loss in the 2006 Champions League final, 6-0 loss to Chelsea in Arsene Wenger’s 1000th game, the list goes on. But a comeback like that that leaves me with flashbacks days after? I think it only really happened to me after the 2014 Suzuki Cup group stage match against Malaysia. Remember this game? To add on to Straits Times’s succinct summary, Safee Sali got Malaysia a goal and so we needed an equaliser. We got the equaliser in the 83rd minute through Khairul Amri, and it looked like we were going through to the knockout stages. But in stoppage time, the referee awarded a crazy penalty kick, and that was then followed by an empty-net goal after Hassan Sunny had joined the attack. The National Stadium was packed with 48000+ fans – imagine that. There was an explosion of emotion when we got into the equaliser. That was us going to the knockout stages! And then came the absolute sucker-punch. I can still remember Indra Putra running around the Sportshub after he made it 3-1. The Malaysian fans went mad in the stands as well. Don’t remember it? Well you can go watch it again. To be in a stadium with 48000 other Lions fans, and suffer such trauma together, I couldn’t forget that easily. I remember as well how usually well-behaved Singaporeans started throwing bottles at the referee after the final whistle – it got so bad that they transported out the tunnel and the referee had to be escorted off with the moving tunnel. I remember every minute, every image, every word uttered by those around me on that night. And I hoped never to relive that again. But such are the ups and downs of football – 10 years later, I am given the privilege of seeing Persib Bandung fans going mad in the stands, Persib’s bench players running onto the pitch before the match was over, because they knew, the match WAS over. Sheer ecstasy and disbelief, etched on each of every one of those faces. Walking out of the stadium and having to congratulate every Persib fan I see because I know if I didn’t, they would mock me. So, just congratulate them first to avoid the mocking. Still didn’t stop one fool running at me from distance shouting “WE WIN WE WIN HAHAHAHA BYE BYE SAILORS”. Fuck him. The memory as well of knowing that Port FC had scored a late winner against Zhejiang, which meant that if we could hold on to our 2-1 lead, we would have secured qualification to the next round. And then to have it all go wrong in the space of a few fucking minutes. As I type this, I know these memories will stay with me a long time. I didn’t write about the match back then though, because I didn’t have a blog or a website or anything. Maybe now that I have a website and I can share my thoughts with you guys, it will help with the recovery process. Ok so where did it all go wrong? Too Passive in Second Half? This has been mentioned many times by the fans after the game. And I think it’s quite true – but I only half-agree with it. We took off Shawal in the 65th minute. I understand that Shawal has issues with his body – Coach Ranko spoke about this at the pre-match press conference. Shawal gave us a good hour, and our opening goal of the night. What a brilliant goal it was too, but it will now join the ranks of Maxime’s brilliant curler against Tampines Rovers at OTH – goals that we cannot truly enjoy because we remember the shitty result that came with it. To be honest, at 65 minutes, with Persib barely threatening us, I genuinely thought it was an OK decision to bring in some experience. We can’t be hindsight merchants and now say that perhaps Ranko should have tried to replicate Shawal’s attacking effort upfront with someone like Abdul Rasaq or Haiqal Pashia. Hindsight is 20/20 and you don’t wanna be that fan that is always saying “I

What. A. Win. I didn’t see it coming at all, and if you had offered me a chance to take a point away from home against in my opinion, the strongest team in the group, I would have taken it, no questions asked. I suspect many supporters would have done the same, having seen us get pummeled away from home 3-0, and 5-0 this season in continental competition. Yes, Port dominated the ball, and made a heckload of passes. See below. But when it mattered, we came up with the goods. Besides goals, another key stat to look out for is big chances created – interestingly, Port had nothing on that front. Izwan hardly had a save to make all night. Let’s talk about some of what we saw in an important and potentially historic away victory that puts us in a very good place with half the group matches done. Intensity Wins Games In continental games, especially away fixtures, I would love to see how much additional effort our players have to expend. Our Sailors can be accused of taking it a little easy in domestic fixtures, but you can really see them running their socks off whenever they come up against better opposition. I don’t think it’s just a motivation issue – it simply is about survival. If you don’t run, if you don’t close down the spaces, you get punished big time on the continental stage, purely because of the greater quality of our opponents. And when we talk about intensity, our fans, especially those who have supported since the Home Utd days will think of Song Uiyoung. This season, we have not seen him at his sparkling best, but the image of Song sprinting around the pitch, sometimes seemingly like a headless chicken is one we will associate with him always. He was undoubtedly the star of the show two ACL campaigns ago, as we downed K-league side Daegu once, and almost did it twice. He was also the star of many AFC Cup games back in the red and white of Home United. I think it’s fair to say that this season, we have not seen the best of him yet. And it looked likely to continue as he blasted over when presented with a half-chance in the box. The score was 2-0 then, and I feared that it would be a costly miss. Of course, we now know that he would score from a heavily-deflected shot in the second half to seal the points for us, but I wanna talk about his intensity instead. From the first whistle, he sprinted around like a man possessed. I have been critical of Song this season in some games when I felt like he wasn’t at his best, but this was the Song I know and love. Not the biggest guy, but always pressing, always scrapping, always getting his arms and elbows and legs in the way of opponents, making it hard for them to settle. And it was this quality that brought us our crucial second goal, when he fought for the ball that wasn’t even 50-50. I think it was 30-70. Noboru always looked likely to win it. However, Song’s presence meant that Noboru didn’t get a clean connection with the ball and only managed to scuff it into an area where Shawal could pounce on and capitalise. Song’s robust presence in midfield (along with some reliable passing – 13 out of 16 successful passes) let our opponents know that we were up for the fight. While that intensity may have been set by some early Song duels, but it was seen in every single person out there. You think about how our central defensive trio reacted when put under some intense pressure in the second half, you think about how much defending Lennart Thy and Shawal Anuar had to do, often helping out as far back as in the flanks outside our penalty area, and you can see how such results are borne out of a lot of hard work. But of course, hard work alone isn’t a guarantee of success, you still need some quality. And that brings us to … Shawal Anuar the Superstar Everytime we see Shawal Anuar put in such a performance, it is worth thinking about how difficult this journey of his to the top has been. He is 33 this year and isn’t getting any younger, but some of his best football has been seen after he turned 30. Coach Ranko often calls Shawal his MVP, his superstar, and with such performances, it’s easy to see why. If you don’t know how difficult his journey was, I suggest you check out this excellent article by Straits Times writer Deepanraj Ganesan. From cleaning glass panels in shopping malls while getting paid a S$50 allowance to play, to cleaning the floor with his opponents in the ACL2, he has certainly come a long way. The first goal was a simple finish for him, set up by an inch-perfect cross by Chris van Huizen (whose name was mispronounced about 400 times by the commentator that night), but it was an example of him making the right run into the right space. I would also like to point out that Lennart Thy and Shawal Anuar both saw the play unfold, and worked together as a strike duo to make the right runs. Shawal burst into the area in front of goal, while Lennart was on his bike as well, but upon seeing Shawal in that position, occupied the area behind Shawal in case of a cutback from Chris. The second goal is by far the more impressive one. First, he had to have the instinct to sniff that the ball was going to reach him. If you watch the replay, you will see that he already started his run even when the ball was still in the air. He sensed that Song might win that aerial challenge, and while Song didn’t,