Post-Match Thoughts – Page 7

[Post-Match Thoughts] Not Good Enough (Tampines 4 LCS 3)

3 Comments / Post-Match Thoughts / Eddy Hirono

It took a while to write this one because work was busy af. If I am being completely honest with myself, perhaps a part of me just knew that this was gonna be painful to write. To lose this game by 1 goal only felt like a major stroke of luck – and I am not just talking about Glenn Kweh’s exquisitely-taken volley which gave us an undeserved glimmer of hope. Really, what a goal. It reminded me of Robin Snake van Persie’s goal against Charlton all those years ago, just of course, at the wrong end. It was a rare moment of joy in what was otherwise a terrible game to sit through. At no point did I feel that the Sailors deserved to win the game. We played well for 8 minutes, deservedly took the lead with a sublime pass from Maxime Lestienne (of course), and Shawal Anuar got a goal on his first start for the club. After that, it was just terrible to watch. We were so so passive, and although the fans tried their best to keep chanting and keep encouraging the team, I could audibly hear the frustration growing amongst the supporters. I put off looking at the Instat statistics for a long time, because I was afraid of what I would see. But here goes – a stat attack: Out-shot, out-passed, out-fought – the stats confirm what the eyes tell us. I think if I wanted to write all my observations and list all my disappointments, it’d take an eternity, so I will limit myself to two or three main points. I will also highlight some positives – ok I’ll start with this because I’ll be done in a jiffy. So, let’s get the positives out of the way. Nathan Mao Huge positive, this. Earlier this season, Sailors fans were introduced to the talents of 16 year-old Jonan Tan. On Friday night, it was the turn of an even younger prospect – Nathan Mao. Nathan was only 15 years and 5 days old when he made his debut, in the process breaking the record for youngest debutant in the SPL, previously held by Young Lions defender, Raoul Suhaimi (who I am a big fan of). Nathan came on late, and I think most of us thought that this was just a chance for the young lad to get some minutes – and it probably was. I don’t think Coach Risto sent him on thinking that he would make a difference and help us clawback a 2-goal lead. But it didn’t matter to young Nathan, who made the most of his time spent on the pitch. Within seconds, you could tell he wasn’t just gonna see out the minutes meaninglessly and just be a stat. He came on, and made incisive runs to try to get the ball. He was also a prolific “scanner”, immediately checking over his shoulder repeatedly to see where the space was, and where any potential opponents may be. For those who may be less acquainted with “scanning”, or “visual exploratory frequency”, this article may be of help. He managed to win 2 free kicks in his time on the pitch, including the incident where he got crunched by Milos Zlatkovic, who decided not to take any risks, even though the lad was 14 years old barely a week ago. Congrats Milos, you can add child abuse to your CV (just a joke, calm down). A proud moment for the boy and his family I am sure, and it was nice to see that regardless of what happened in the game, the Sailors fans were in full voice welcoming Nathan to the pitch and cheering his every touch. Nathan is one to watch! Anu In a match crying out for some movement, some aggression, it was kinda shocking that it took until the 84th minute for Anu to come on. Even though we never stopped singing for the team, it was clear to us once Faris scored that we were not gonna launch any sort of comeback. Anu’s introduction gave us something to shout about. And when Nathan came on too, suddenly there was movement, and even though we fans never truly believed we would get the equaliser, the heart and the effort made it easier for us to be loud and proud. Fans have a responsibility of lifting the team when they are down, but I truly believe that it’s a two-way process – the players also have to give something for the fans to hold on to, or the fans will lose steam. Anu gave us that. Now let’s move on to the negatives. Hariss Harun Believe me, I hate to do this. As a 35 year-old, I grew up supporting football not old enough to really take in Fandi’s talents, or enjoy watching the whole career of legends such as Nazri Nasir, Rafi Ali, Aide Iskandar, etc. So my hero growing up was Hariss. I have Hariss shirts at home and I think it is clear that he is no longer as mobile as he used to be. Thing about Hariss is that he still is able to affect games with his experience, and his decision-making. His leadership qualities are also held up by many as a reason to continue playing him in the national team and in the Sailors team. As recently as a few weeks back, when we spoke to Hami Syahin, he mentioned how Hariss actually gives a sense of calmness to the players when they defend transitions. Unfortunately, I think the Tampines game is one where he was really shown up. On transitions, it did not look like Hariss knew how to stop Tampines. On more than a few occasions, instead of pressing up to the ball, us fans were disappointed to see Hariss decide to take up a conservative position as he actively jogged away from the ball instead of trying to win it. This resulted in Tampines having a lot

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[Post-Match Thoughts] Stop Taniguchi, Stop Balestier (LCS 3 Balestier 0)

3 Comments / Post-Match Thoughts / Eddy Hirono

Older fans will remember Hiro Nakamura of Heroes coming back from the future to say “Save the cheerleader, save the world”. If you just read that and have no idea what the hell I am talking about, you’re too young and I am very envious of your youth. That was a phrase from the hit TV show in 2006, where basically one of the main characters came back from the future to tell the characters of the show that the cheerleader was pivotal to their chances of saving the world. For some reason, the Sailors stopping Taniguchi made me feel like bringing back that old reference. In our pre-match preview we talked about the importance of stopping the dynamic duo of Daniel Goh and Ryoya Taniguchi. As it turned out, I felt the overwhelming thought that kept coming back to me was how committed the Sailors were to stop the counter-attacks from Balestier. We did so in two ways – first, by not giving the ball away as much, and second, by running like madmen back to stop the counter-attacks. The First Step – Not Giving The Ball Away The Sailors achieved an impressive 89% passing rate from 493 passes, which helped them keep 59% possession. What was once again interesting was that the Sailors again decided against crossing the ball into the box, and always passed around, looking for a better opening. At times, it meant recycling the ball through to Super and Lionel Tan, but if they had to, they did it. Of course, this isn’t rocket science, but a ball into the box, if cleared, will play right into Balestier’s hands. You can picture it. Ball drops to Kozar, plays a quick pass to Taniguchi, who switches it out to the right wing for the electric Daniel Goh to run down the wing and cross for Shuhei Hoshino to miss. Ok scratch that last part, that was me being mean to Shuhei for his form in front of goal so far this season. But you get it. By not giving the ball away, we dramatically reduced the number of chances Balestier had to run at us – and the best evidence of that is just by looking at Taniguchi’s numbers. Let’s show you a comparison of his numbers before the Sailors game, and during the Sailors game. That’s how quiet we kept him. All the above three stats were his lowest of the season. He was nowhere near as influential as he was in recent games, and as a result, Balestier suffered and were unable to create as many chances as they usually do. Only two real chances come to mind – the early chance for Daniel Goh which was well-saved by Zharfan, and the moment in the second half where Shuhei inexplicably was allowed an eternity to dwell on the ball, settle himself, and then shoot, while in the box. Zharfan once again proved the hero. The Second Step – Running Back to Stop Counters In previous articles on this site, both Zach and I have highlighted that there seems to be a little bit of unwillingness to track back when it comes to our attackers. That was not in evidence in the game against Balestier. Whether it was Coach Risto’s instruction, or the players’ own initiative – there was an extra desire, it felt, to win the ball back and stop Balestier’s counter-attacks. Perhaps that is the biggest compliment I can pay to Balestier – their attacks are so dangerous that all 11 men felt a need to come back and really help out in defence. If you look at Rasaq’s heat map, you will see what I mean. For a forward to put in such a shift in defence, it’s remarkable and is a testament to how hard the team worked to stop Balestier. You can see that not only was Rasaq active in attack, he also seemed to spend quite a lot of time in midfield and even defence. Along with putting his body in there as a screen for the defence, he also managed to win two tackles in the game, and I remember one stopping a rather promising attack from Balestier. He wasn’t alone. Diego and Maxime also put in a good shift on defence and that contributed to the clean sheet – as much as Zharfan’s steady saves. The return of Zulqarnaen Suzliman Mamat ‘s return is a welcome one. He has been out of regular action for a long time – his last start was in July 2022, and so it was great that he managed to get through the full 90min and contribute to a clean sheet. That will do wonders for his confidence. We spoke to him after the game, and he admitted that at first he was a little nervous after this long-awaited start, but he certainly grew into the game. His stats from this game were quite impressive. All this on his first start in so long? Very impressive. We will need him to be in top form, because other than him, the options at right back are kinda thin. It’s either him, Arshad Shamim, or Bill Mahmadou – but Mamat is the obvious one with the most experience and so should be looking to lock down that slot. If he can keep up his form there, then it will also allow Hafiz Nor to concentrate on wreaking havoc further up the pitch, rather than being brought back to be a right-back again, as he was played last season. With Kodai’s injury, it is even more important that Hafiz Nor stays as one of the wing options, so that Shawal Anuar can be deployed in some games as a lone forward. Conclusion In conclusion, a good outing for the whole team. From back to front, everyone played their part. I thought Lionel and Super were outstanding, while the overall energy and effort also helped ensure that Balestier could not play their usual game. Back

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[Post-Match Thoughts] Three and Easy (LCS 3 Geylang 0)

1 Comment / Post-Match Thoughts / Eddy Hirono

There were a few hairy moments, but in the end, the result never felt in doubt. Let’s hit you with a stat attack first – which may make it look like it was abit less comfortable than it was. Now that you’ve had some time to make your own snap judgments of the respective teams and what they did well, I leave you with a few thoughts. Zharfan’s Impact on the Game Zharfan had a good game. He saved 9 shots, and while most of them were from non-threatening areas, every shot/chance/interaction does present a keeper with the chance to screw up – and he did not. The same could not be said of Ridhwan Fikri, who had a very nervy game. Not only did he concede a penalty, his ill-advised rushes out of the box, coupled with the lack of composure in those situations, led to pretty disastrous results. Some of these were punished, some weren’t. He could also arguably have done better with Hafiz Nor and Rasaq’s shots, given that he managed to touch them. Back to Zharfan, look at the areas where those shots were coming in. Of the 9 saves, only 4 of these were from inside the box, and 3 of them were from reallly far out. 1 shot stands out in particular, and that’s the dot that is right next to the penalty spot. This was when Iqbal Hussain was given way too much time to sweep a shot on target, but luckily for us, he hit it tamely and Zharfan caught the ball well. For the other 3 shots on target in the box, the Geylang players were surrounded by Sailors defenders, so the angle did not favour the Geylang players. Zharfan will have tougher tests to come, but it is definitely encouraging for him to pick up his 1st clean sheet, especially after the chastening result last week against Albirex and the mistake he made against DPMM. Sailors Stay Patient and Create Better Chances While Geylang sought to test Zharfan from everywhere, you can see that the Sailors opted for a more patient approach, waiting to get into the box before shooting. This in the end contributed to the Sailors win. You can see this in the xG comparison between the teams, which stands at 2.5 for the Sailors v 0.94 for Geylang. Even if you remove 0.75 from the Sailors tally because it is inflated by the penalty award, it still is a healthy differential of 1.75 v 0.94. It was also important especially I feel, for Chris van Huizen to finally get off the mark in terms of assists. More and more you will see in games that opponents like to collapse their defence into the box, and stay compact and narrow to avoid being sliced open with a Maxime/Hami pass, or a Diego/Shawal dribble. It is then important in such games that Chris is able to punish these defences for defending just the width of their box, with his trusty crossing. Chris is a rare Singaporean player who can get some real whip on his crosses whether on his left or his right foot. On Wednesday, the second goal was created by patient play from two players – Adam Swandi and Maxime Lestienne. First, Lestienne passed up a chance to shoot, when Ridhwan rushed out and made a hash of his clearance. See below. He could have chosen to shoot from there, but he did not. He dribbled all the way into the box, and then instead of whipping a blind cross into the danger zone, he had the presence of mind to pick out Adam Swandi on the edge of the box. Even from here, you could have expected Adam Swandi to perhaps try to curl a shot in to the far post – but he turns that down, and instead waits for Chris van Huizen to provide support on the left. CvH is not even in the frame above yet, but Adam buys time and then plays him in for him to cross to Diego to score. This pattern of trying to create better shooting chances was also repeated in the last goal of the game, where Maxime turned down a chance to shoot, and instead squared the ball back for Rasaq to smack into the net. In light of Kodai potentially missing the whole season, the Sailors may need to continue creating high-quality chances, rather than quantity, now that we lack an elite finisher. Shoutout to Bill Mahmadou Quick shoutout to Bill Mahmadou, who only played half a game, but whose contribution indirectly led to the first two goals being scored. If you watch the highlights of 1-0 and 2-0, you will see that it seems like Bill was targeted by Geylang as a pressing trigger. Each time he got the ball, two or three Geylang players converged on him, trying to put pressure on him. This didn’t work as intended, as both times he managed to get a crucial pass away – first to Diego Lopes in acres of space, and then to Maxime Lestienne for him to launch an aerial through-pass behind the high backline (who had pressed up also to support Geylang’s press). It was incredible footwork and composure, especially for someone so young and so tall/big. Bill also gave the supporters something to cheer about when he absolutely bodied a Geylang winger into touch with a strong bodycheck. He not only passed the eye-test, he put up some really encouraging stats as well, despite only playing 45min. The stats back up what we see. He was efficient in using the ball, won most of his challenges, and even got in the occasional dribble. A very encouraging outing for the big man! Hopefully his injury is not serious, because he is one of the few U23 players we have who has really cemented a first-team spot. With Nur Adam also out, we will need Bill to stay fit. Frivolous Thought of the

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[POST-MATCH THOUGHTS] – Clear and Obvious Refereeing Error (Albirex 4 LCS 0)

Leave a Comment / Post-Match Thoughts / Eddy Hirono

The first 10min of the game was pretty even, and you probably know what happened after that, and what we are going to spend 99% of the time in this article talking about. Yes – it was that horrendous decision made by the refereeing team to send Anu off for an innocuous pull on Tadanari Lee on the halfway line. Let’s get this straight. Foul? Definitely yes. Yellow card? Definitely yes, it was cynical, calculated to stop an opponent from going past him. Red card? Nah you’re having a laugh. Anyone who’s ever played football knows this – if you’re gonna bring your man down, bring him down early. Do not let him go all the way into the penalty area, or just outside, where conceding a freekick or a penalty kick can have disastrous consequences. Manchester City practically turned this into an art form – the sight of Fernandinho putting on an innocent face after he trips someone on the counter is both annoying and also funny. Enough of the preamble – let’s dive right into it. I will try to be as objective as possible and lay down the facts as they are – feel free to let us know in the comments, or on our IG post if you have an alternative view. We’ll do a step-by-step analysis. We won’t even bother to talk about the rest of the game because once the red card was shown, the referee killed the game. Facing Albirex is tough enough with 11 men – with 10 men it’s almost impossible. Was it a foul? And was it a foul deserving of a yellow card? I don’t think Anu, or even the most hardened LCS fan will deny that this was 101% at least a yellow card. Tadanari Lee had cleverly flicked the ball around Anu, and was about to race onto it when he was pulled back slightly. I don’t even think Tadanari Lee made a meal of it. He was blameless in this – he tried to go for the ball, he was pulled, it was a tactical foul. Answer: Yes it was a foul, and yes, it definitely deserved a yellow. What is the VAR process? When can a VAR intervene? To answer this question, there is no better place to start than looking at what FAS themselves said in a press release prior to the start of the season. This is consistent with the International Football Association Board’s rules, specifically the VAR Protocol, which states that – Looking at the above rules, the VAR should assist the referee to check if a red-card offence has been committed. The on-pitch referee had given a yellow card, but it is appropriate for the VAR to check, and advise the referee if he feels there has been a mistake. In this case, we can assume that the VAR felt that this was a foul that denied a goal scoring opportunity. Not only that, but the VAR felt that this was a potential sending-off offence. Let’s look at IFAB’s rules when it comes to sending-offs for denying goal scoring opportunities. Focus on the wording here. The key words to look out for here have been highlighted in yellow. To qualify for a red card, the referee needs to be sure that Anu’s actions have denied a goal, or an OBVIOUS goal-scoring opportunity. There are two questions to then ask:- Was Anu’s foul a foul that denied an obvious goal scoring opportunity? I shall start referring to the denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity as a DOGSO offence for the ease of my typing and your reading. Whether or not Anu’s foul is a DOGSO, is dependent on four factors. These four factors are :- General direction of the play Let’s clear up the easy one – “general direction of the play”. This is an important factor to consider because even if the foul were to happen in the penalty area for example, which is obviously a dangerous area of the pitch – if the attacker was moving away from the goal to such an extent that he is unlikely to score, then it cannot be said that an OBVIOUS goal scoring opportunity has been denieed. In this case, I would say that Tadanari Lee’s push of the ball is right towards goal, and so factor no. 2 is fulfilled. Distance between the offence and the goal The next easy one is factor no. 1. There is obviously a reason for why distance between the offence and the goal is a factor to be considered. Generally, the further away from goal a player is, the more uncertainty there is when it comes to scoring the goal. Any number of things can happen – the player may lose control of the ball, the defenders may catch up, the keeper has more time to set himself, etc etc etc. Let’s take a look at the still image of when Anu fouls Tadanari Lee. Try not to chuckle (or chuckle in pain if you are me) when you see that the foul literally happens not just in the centre circle, but on the halfway line. An easy decision here on whether factor no. 1 is fulfilled – it is very far from goal and so this is a clear “no”. Likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball I think the touch taken by Tadanari Lee to bring it around Anu is a smart one, and I think he pushed it the right distance to still be able to get to the ball. As much as I hate to admit it, it was a very good touch, and Tadanari Lee would have been able to reach it and regained control of the ball. Factor no. 3 is thus fulfilled. Location and number of defenders I think this one is debatable. You can see in the image above that there are 2 other defenders with Anu. Bill is closer to his own touchline

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[POST-MATCH THOUGHTS] – Winning On A Cold Rainy Night In Bishan (LCS 3 DPMM 1)

1 Comment / Post-Match Thoughts / Eddy Hirono

Pre-game, the club cheekily said in their Instagram post that it was time to do it on a “cold rainy night in Bishan“. For those who may not be familiar with the reference, this is one of English football’s greatest cliches, where if you wanted cast doubt on a foreign signing, you would claim that while he may be a world-beater, you would question if he would be able to “do it on a cold rainy night in Stoke“. The origin of this phrase was from Andy Gray who in 2011 ridiculously claimed that while Messi was a world-class talent, he would not be able to do well in an away game at Stoke, presumably because the physicality of the Stoke players, and awful weather conditions would combine to nullify Messi. DPMM Playing Like Stoke? Enough with the history lesson. If there was any team that was going to be Stoke-like last night, it certainly wasn’t the Sailors. DPMM, making their comeback to the SPL were physical and robust all night, fighting and scrapping hard to try to wrestle some control of the game. In some ways, it was pretty admirable to watch, given that they managed to pump themselves up for the fight when they had not played a high-level competitive league game for three years. I had the privilege of speaking to Coach Adrian Pennock after the game, and he gave praise to his players for their attitude. He also said he was filled with enthusiasm after the performance especially because he was dealing with some injuries in the squad, and also because key midfielder Josip Balic was out. However, even though it pains me to say this because Coach Pennock was such a gent in the post-match interview, the fans (myself included) did get mighty pissed off by the time-wasting antics of the Bruneians in the first half before the goal went in. The keeper seemed to take an age with every goal kick. He Pickford-ed at every opportunity (do yourself a favour and check it up on youtube to see what I mean – but basically this means a keeper wasting time by dramatically falling onto the ball and taking a long time to get up even though it is a routine save). In fact, he wasted so much time that at one goal kick, a small boy in the stands behind me shouted “What’s wrong with this goalkeeper? He take one kick take 50 years ah?” Kids say the darndest things, don’t they – but in this case he wasn’t exactly off the mark. Perhaps if we can have some sympathy for them, this is their first competitive game in a while, and Coach Pennock also referred to the fatigue suffered by his players, especially in the second half, so maybe they were just trying to slow the pace of the game down a little. Still doesn’t make all that diving and time-wasting OK, but oh well we got the win, so, moving on. Defensive Frailty? Much like the Tanjong Pagar game, there is a bit of a worry within me watching our Sailors play because while we look to be in control for large parts of the game, when we come under some pressure, it really seems like a sense of panic spreads within the team, and this period of pressure becomes a little sustained. We then have to rely on excellent goalkeeping, or last-ditch tackles to really try and keep our opponents out. Last night, the goal came from an error by Zharfan Rohaizad, who up till then had been pretty decent. He was called upon to save a few shots, and he did that well. He was also good with distribution too. However, the error was a glaring one as he passed the ball straight to Varankow and this eventually led to a goal. I think this happens sometimes when we play out from the back, and I liked that Coach Risto played down the error when he said – Zharfan had a decent game otherwise, especially considering the wet conditions. He made saves when he had to, clung on to some of the crosses well, and although I am sure he will not be happy with his overall performance, it is definitely something to build on. Defensively, I thought Lionel Tan had a great game and he seemed to crunch into many challenges, getting on the nerves of the DPMM players, who repeatedly got into verbal tussles with him. He was involved in 15 challenges, and won 11 of them. Impressively, he only gave away one foul despite his front-foot approach towards defending which led to him sometimes being pulled out of his favoured central-defensive position. Also impressive was his 93% passing completion rate with 54 passes played – a high percentage considering one of the often-held criticisms about him is his lack of ball-playing ability. Anu won 82% of his challenges as well, and was generally untroubled until a spell in the second half, where the whole team seemed to lose composure for a little bit. In our post-match interview with Hami Syahin, he mentioned that there will inevitably be times in a game where the players lack a little focus, or the opponents look to be dominant in attack, but the team would rely on Hariss to calm them down and help them remain composed. I have to admit that from my perspective in the stands, it really did seem that the period before DPMM’s goal already showed us hints that DPMM were going to trouble the scoresheet soon – so I am not so sure that the composure was really visible to us fans. Why the apparent sudden defensive frailty in the 2nd half? Frankly I cannot tell. I’ve already tasked Zach to look into this, and hopefully he will have some answers for us in the Tactical Analysis piece that should come out in the next few days! Quick Thinking Makes the First Goal Before I

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Post-Match Thoughts – Half-Fit Kodai With a Brace (LCS 3 Tanjong Pagar 1)

Leave a Comment / Daily Musings, Post-Match Thoughts / Eddy Hirono

This season, SailorFanTalk endeavours to do a Post-Match Thoughts article after every game, followed by a Tactical Analysis column (usually written by Zach Wu). The former focuses more on thoughts and opinions from our perspective as fans watching the game, while the latter is more technical and seeks to be more neutral in its analysis of gameplay – after all, it is written by a Hougang United fan! It has been an exhausting week content-wise for us at SailorFanTalk. Monday saw Joseph and myself head down to Mattar Road (where the LCS Training Centre is located) for Media Open Day. Tuesday saw me heading to Yahoo SEA HQ to record a podcast with the affable pair of Han Keong and Neil Humphreys. Wednesday was spent trying to collate all the material gathered from Monday’s Media Open Day and publish it before the season opener. Thursday saw the first-ever SailorFanTalk and The Goal Difference collab, and then of course, the most important of all, Friday was matchday. Perhaps it’s just my conditioning as an Arsenal fan, maybe it was due to the Sailors’ implosion last year, or maybe it was just the fatigue built up over the week trying to juggle SailorFanTalk with a demanding full-time job – for some reason, I walked into Bishan Stadium today predicting a 2-1 win, but deep inside expecting a Tanjong Pagar upset. I know it’s strange given the Sailors are way stronger on paper, but when I saw the lineup had no Shawal, no Anu, had a half-fit Kodai leading the line, and a new-look backline of Bill and Lionel, I felt a little apprehensive. Add to that the number of former Protectors/Sailors in the opposing lineup, including Naqi, Faizal, Tajeli, Kenji, Shahrin and of course Shakir, and that apprehension turned into a real palpable sense of unease. And so when Mirko Sugic stepped up to take the penalty, the Arsenal fan in me went “Ah, here we go again, same old shit again“. The penalty came after a spell of pressure that Tanjong Pagar had put us under, pressure that was non-existent in the first half. Luckily for us, he missed, and we went on to win pretty comfortably – we were never troubled that much after the penalty miss. A few thoughts post-game – The Hami-Jonan Show I’ve said it before all the way back from Home United days – Hami Syahin is an absolute gem in midfield. He is the Singaporean Thiago. Always getting on the ball, always using deft little touches to maneouvre the ball away from his opponents, and then using a combination of short and long passes to keep the play moving. However, with Shahdan in the club, Hami never really got his chance to play much for the Sailors (7 appearances only last season). Shahdan is an absolute maestro, and almost anything Hami can do, Shahdan can do better, except maybe dribbling at speed with the ball. Even so, I did question last season whether players like Hami could have been relied more upon nearing the tail-end of the season Hami finally got a chance to start tonight and he was magnificent. I would love to see the stats when they come out to confirm that whatever the fans observed is true. He must have played many progressive passes, and maintained a high passing percentage. Despite his small frame, he also put himself about and bravely entered into duels with intensity. It was overall, a very impressive performance. Hami then came off injured in the 81st minute – hopefully it’s just cramps. He was replaced by Jonan Tan, and the young lad who turns 17 in June came on to rapturous applause from the Crew. I think the fans were very excited to see the debut of someone so young, partly because it fills us Sailors fans with hope that despite all the high-profile departures, the club still has a solid youth pipeline to supplement the first team with. And so it proved. Jonan was certainly not lacking in confidence. It started even before he came on. With the crowd cheering his name while he waited for the substitution to be called, he looked at the supporters half in amusement and half in appreciation. Where other young players making their debut might be experiencing all sorts of butterflies in their stomach, Jonan did not look unnerved at all. He was tidy with his passing, and even drove through midfield with the ball on occasion. He started the move for the crucial second goal, riding a half-challenge, and playing a pass into Lestienne on the left wing for him to set up Kodai’s goal (more on this later). It must have been a pretty sweet moment for Jonan, and we are certainly hoping for more to come from him. We leave you with an amazing little fact. Our current Academy General Manager, Tan Li Yu, was Jonan’s first coach when he was just 5 years old. We can confirm that we have seen a super-cute picture from Li Yu on this, and we are unfortunately unable to share this with you! Just have to take our word for it that it’s super cute. More to come from Jonan I am sure! Kodai is only Half-Fit Let that sink in. Kodai was injured in the back-end of the Singapore Cup last season. Funnily enough, his injury (fractured toe) was apparently caused by Lionel Tan – and they are teammates now. Not just teammates, but when asked by Grandstand, Kodai said Lionel’s his best friend in the club. He has not played football for 3 mths, and only resumed light training with the team 2 weeks ago. In fact, in the post-match conference, Kodai said that he ran to hug Coach Risto after his goal because he was so grateful that Coach Risto showed faith in him to start him despite him not being in peak physical condition. Coach Risto himself described Kodai as only 50% fit. And yet,

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Post-Match Thoughts – Too Little Too Late (LCS 1 Albirex 2)

Leave a Comment / Post-Match Thoughts / Eddy Hirono

Much, much improved from our previous games. In yesterday’s post (https://sailorfantalk.com/2022/11/04/albirex-match-preview-play-for-the-badge/), I asked for the players to show fight – “That’s all we ask for – give us a performance that we can be proud of, so that whatever the result, we can feel that they’ve done their best.” They certainly delivered. It was a much more gutsy performance, and right from the first whistle, it looked like it was only going to be a matter of time before the Sailors would open the scoring. Faris was leading the press up top with vigour, Anu was snapping into challenges even after receiving a harsh yellow. Hariss rolled back the years with a combative display in midfield. Bill Mahmadou was also switched on right from the start. Everyone put in the hard yards, and was not shy of making challenges to try to get the ball back for us. And so it was pretty sad that the first goal went to Albirex. They had struggled in the first half to mount any meaningful attack, and then the ref gave them a soft freekick at the edge of our area. This was to be a theme all night as the inept referee repeatedly turned a blind eye to fouls by the Albirex players. Up stepped set-piece expert Idetsu, and he curled it into the near post, past Izwan. An undeserved lead, and it left us with a mountain to climb. However, we didn’t seem that affected. The players still played the better football, but crucially couldn’t finish. Gabriel, Diego Lopes, Faris Ramli, all had great opportunities to get a goal but it didn’t happen until Hami Syahin’s switched pass was brought down by Maxime Lestienne, who then faked out the Albirex defence before passing it coolly into the bottom corner. 1-1, game on. Except it wasn’t to be. As the Sailors pushed forward, gaps were left at the back, and Kodai Tanaka stepped up to kill the hopes off. The Young Lions game was the problem As stated above, I think the players were blameless this game. They gave it all they got. Where I think we lost it, was against Balestier Khalsa and the Young Lions, but especially the Young Lions game. No attacking urgency, sloppy in midfield and defence, we deserved nothing from that game. Unfortunately, those 2 games not being capitalised on have come back to bite us on our ass hard. And sadly, across the 3 games, we deserve to go out. It was thus our last game of the season. We will have tons of time to look into why the season finished the way it did, and what the Sailors should do for next season. For now, I think it’s fair to say that these standards fall way short of the standards needed to play for the Lion City Sailors. Good in the last game, but abysmal the two games before. Till next time.

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POST-MATCH THOUGHTS – BLUE (YOUNG LIONS 1 LCS 1)

3 Comments / Post-Match Thoughts / Eddy Hirono

Well, that was bleak. In my post previewing the Young Lions game, I talked about how it was a must-win game. I also spoke about how Young Lions were missing Raoul Suhaimi, one of their most promising players. Yesterday, when the line-ups came out, two things stood out to me. 1) Jordan Emaviwe wasn’t playing. He’s been their key attacking outlet, so this was definitely good for us. Their “striker” was a central midfielder. 2) Bizarrely, we chose to line up with only 1 recognised defender. I was hoping to see lots of goals in the first half, because I had to leave at half-time to go play in the Fan Club Futsal League. The Crew had a match against Olympique Marseille Fan Club (we got smacked 11-0 haha), and I had high hopes of seeing the Sailors kill off the game in the first half. Instead, I was treated to a lacklustre display where players seemed to not want to take any risks when they circulated the ball, passing it about in a U shape. Try to visualise it – but basically the passes would go from left wing back to central midfield, back to Anu, Anu passes it to Amirul Adli, who then passes it to his right, and then it ends up at the wing again, and they do the same thing the other way round this time. It was painful to watch. There were also moments when the Young Lions started playing tiki-taka football. It is not often you get to associate the Young Lions with dynamic one-touch passing moves, but it happened, and it unfolded right before my eyes. I guess if I wanna be truly optimistic I can be happy that Singapore has some young players who are able to play good football. But as a Sailors fan, it was horrifying to watch. This is real football, not FIFA Also, is it just me, or does anyone else think it was absolutely crazy to play so many non-defenders in a back 4? Anu has deputised there this season on a number of occasions but I think even he himself would not say he excelled in his stints there. Then on the fullback positions it gets more bizarre. Hafiz Nor at rightback we’ve gotten accustomed to seeing due to long-term injury to Mamat, and the expulsion of Tajeli – but this time he was shifted to leftback. Rightback Haiqal Pashia? He’s never played there before in his life I think – please correct me if I am wrong. Was this arrogance? Tactically naive? I don’t know what it was, but what I do know is that when you’re trying to score a lot of goals to rack up goal difference, it’s not as simple as sticking on as many attackers as possible. I can only assume that this was Lalic’s idea of squeezing in as many goal threats as possible. However, how can people attack with conviction, if they know that behind them, their teammates might not be equipped to deal with a counter-attack? This isn’t FIFA, where defending is easy as long as your players are fast. Defence is an art, managing the gaps, dictating the height of the line, knowing when to push up, and when to drop back, etc etc etc. I felt that the defenders seemed not to know when they should press higher, and when they should drop off. When things got tougher and they came under pressure, I felt they dropped too deep. But can I blame them? No I don’t think so. When you have Iqram Rifqi on your bench, and you decide to play Hafiz Nor as your leftback, I have to ask “Bro, what?” The shocking own goal And then we come to the incident just before half-time. Was it Amirul Adli’s fault? Izwan? Both? I would say both, but I lean towards Amirul Adli more I think. It’s almost half-time, the stadium announcer had already loudly announced that there was only gonna be 1 minute of injury time. A hopeful long punt forward saw Amirul Adli do well to get in front of his opponent – and he would have seen that he was being chased down. The whistle was gonna blow very soon – why not just clear it to the sides? For Izwan, goalkeepers are sometimes told to stand to the side as well, so that even if they fail to trap any backpass, the ball will go out for a corner. Well, no need for me to relive the goal for you. If you haven’t watched it yet, do go and see it. It has to be seen to be believed. These are our national team players. Kim Shin Wook – should he have been sent off? Yes. Not much debate here. The answer is Yes. We got away with it. That he managed to score after that will make Young Lions feel even more shit. Conclusion We now need to beat Albirex – something we have only done once in our history. I have to say I am not confident, but with Maxime and Diego, you never quite know. Stay tuned for Zach’s in-depth tactical analysis. That should be out tonight.

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Post-Match Thoughts – Chaos (LCS 3 Balestier Khalsa 3)

Leave a Comment / Daily Musings, Post-Match Thoughts / Eddy Hirono

Well, that was …. interesting I guess. We had two guests from the UK over to watch the game, and they were thoroughly entertained. Which is not exactly great for us. Three times we went ahead, three times we were pegged back by what seemed like very avoidable (and very chaotic) goals. First goal, I thought Izwan should have parried it away harder, but unfortunately it went straight back into the middle of the penalty area and the rebound was swept home. Second goal and third goal, I thought Hafiz Nor could have done way better. But to be fair to him, he’s not a traditional right-back. If Tajeli and Mamat were available, he would not be in that position at all. It is a worrying sign that we seem to be struggling against a side that is the second-bottom in the league. It is also a very worrying sign that while we had 20+ shots, our opponents also had 20+ shots. This is why I picked the word “chaos” to describe last night’s game. I am not privy to the stats but I do wonder if the LCS fitness staff can see a drop-off in performance in terms of hard yards run because to the naked eye, it really seems to me that we look very tired. And let me get this straight – I am not blaming the boys for this. I think we can all see from last season how Tampines suffered badly after they came back from their Champions League games. Physically, they looked spent. And I feel we’re seeing much of the same from our Sailors in the past 2 months. It really seems like when an attack breaks down, our players just don’t have the legs to get back in time to keep our opposition out. If there’s anyone / anything to blame, I think I’d question why more of our squad players were not used earlier in the campaign. I look at someone like Hami Syahin, who I used to call the Singaporean Thiago Alcantara, and wonder, could he not have replaced Shahdan in some games once the game was won? Could he not have started in more games? The gulf between our lineup and the lineup of our opponents should be a huge one – at least on paper. If there is any criticism of Kim Do-Hoon, I guess he was abit too conservative and did not trust the bench players more. Might that have helped to preserve some of the legs of our key players a little? It’s hard to say. I will probably address all this in a longer post in my end-of-season review. I have seen a lot of talk also about how Luka Lalic is to blame for this alone. I am not so sure about that. While I am not the greatest fan of his big talk and how he shat on Kim Do-Hoon after his appointment, I think the players have to take some responsibility too. Their opponents are mostly not national team players, while we’re chock-full of them and have the luxury of calling on players like Hami Syahin and Gabriel Quak off the bench. Surely, man for man, we’re the Galacticos of local football. That we have to rely on Maxime Lestienne again and again is not really making me feel very optimistic about the Sailors, and by extension, our national team. This is essentially the mild version of what Joseph had to say. If you want the full blow of his disappointed rant, please head on down to his post-match reactions taken last night (Post-Match Reactions – Lion City Sailors v Balestier Khalsa (Singapore Cup 27 Oct ’22) – YouTube). For now, just two things before I end this post. 1) I hope Lalic manages to find a way to minimise errors from our players moving forward. If we continue making these mistakes, we will definitely not win the Cup. 2) We have got a guest writer to write tactical analysis posts on our Singapore Cup games, and tonight we will be publishing the first of these posts. Look out for it!

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