Specials

The Football Association of Singapore have fined our Technical Director Luka Lalic S$5000 for a post which made fun of the officiating during our 7-1 win over Albirex Niigata (S). I am still very annoyed by how this whole episode was handled, so let me dive into a few areas where I think the FAS really could have done better. It Was the Correct Charge for Luka Let me start off by saying that by the letter of the law, Luka Lalic is guilty of what he was accused of. He was accused of breaching Clause 92.1 of the Singapore Premier League 2024/2025 Regulations. By the letter of the law, sure he did breach it. Luka also accepted it, and “[acknowledged] that he could have acted differently to communicate his views on these topics in a more effective manner”. He also “expressed regret for his actions”. Let’s look at the offending post in question – Thank you Deepanraj Ganesan for the screenshot. By the letter of the law – it can be said to be disparaging because it seems that Luka meant to say that the VAR team is a bunch of clowns. I think he would have got away with it if his caption was “This is a goal, with VAR. That cannot be”, or “This is a goal, with VAR. We have to do better”. Those are probably more fine, because he is just stating facts. Anyone with half an eye can see this is an offside goal. But clowns? While it’s funny and I am sure supporters called the VAR team far, far worse, club staff and players must understand that their words carry more weight than that of the average layman, and so they should rightly be held to higher standards. Ok, so it was the correct charge, but should he have been charged, and was the fine excessive? Let’s dive into that. Luka Should Not Have Been Charged – Bad Optics I put myself in the shoes of the FAS. A club official just took a shit on our referees. However, the mistake was a really really poor one. It was an offside so clear that we called it from the stands. I remember being so confident that VAR would review it and disallow it. But hey, it wasn’t disallowed. Mistakes happen. Even the great English Premier League had a very similar incident, where Luis Diaz’s goal was wrongly disallowed due to a VAR error. The opposite of what happened, but no less important. In the aftermath, Jurgen Klopp called it a crazy decision, and said that the circumstances were very unfair. Virgil van Dijk said that he was losing faith in VAR. Both were not punished for their comments. The point of punishing players and officials for disparaging remarks is to ensure that matchgoers, footballers, and all involved in football do not lose faith in the institution. However, in this case, FAS should have taken a peek at how our friends in the EPL handled it and applied common sense. Yes, by the letter of the law, you can throw the book at Luka Lalic. But should you? When your officials made a monumental error and all Luka said was [clown emoji] [clown emoji] [clown emoji]? It’s like cheating on your wife, NOT APOLOGISING, and then pointing out to her that oh by the way I know I screwed up, but you are still not allowed to rant about it on IG – didn’t we say before that what happens in our marriage stays between us? Err hello, you made the mistake first right? I would have gone with a private / public warning for Luka Lalic, and then an APOLOGY for my officials making such an error. I also feel that the timing of these two statements together is not by coincidence. If you’re wondering why I bolded and underlined those words, it’s because if you read their statement carefully, FAS did not apologise. Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word Excuse me. Where is the apology? Where is the word “sorry”, or “apologise”? When supporters are aggrieved at a decision, when you’ve let your stakeholders down, the least you could do is apologise. We know that officials are human. The role of a referee is not an easy one. I took the refereeing course offered by FAS before and came out with a much greater appreciation for what our officials do week in week out. So let me be clear – referees can make mistakes. They are just like you and I. But unlike you and I, it seems that the organisation protects them to such a degree that it cannot apologise on their behalf. The effort it takes to craft such a media statement, artfully dodging the words “sorry”, “apologise”, “regret”, “let down”, or any word that would convey anything remotely resembling an apology is truly amazing. If only they had put such effort into their match previews. Not only are the bullet points not worthy of being stand-alone bullet points, the team news for Brunei DPMM is wrong. In the match right before this game, Farshad Noor was sent off for two yellow cards. Also, DPMM had already published on their website that their Aussie centreback Flottmann would be out for a long time with an ACL injury. At the time of publishing, Flottmann had already missed two games and the commentators had already discussed his injury. I am not even asking whoever came up with this to look up stats and love the game as much as I do. I am just asking him to watch the game and give a shit. That’s not too much to ask for, surely. Ok I digress. Back to the things FAS could have done better with this debacle. But ok la dammit, that preview didn’t come from an organisation that loves football. Ok really back this time. Luka’s Fine was Disproportionate So ok fine, you wanna set an example, you wanna

Chin Heng chips in with yet another guest article, this time detailing my time with him exploring Brunei. This might be useful for any Sailors or indeed any SPL fan who intends to make the trip across to watch an away game in Bandar Seri Begawan. We apologise for not being able to check out more sights as we were only there for 2 days 1 night – till next time! So you have probably heard the story by now – a few over-enthusiastic fans, including myself, booked a trip to Brunei to watch Sailors play against DPMM on 15th June. We assumed that the game would be in Brunei because, well, the SPL announced that it would be in Brunei when the fixtures were announced. Maybe we shouldn’t have put so much faith in Brunei DPMM and SPL. An announcement was made that the game would be relocated to Singapore on 18th June, just 8 days before the original date of 15th June. Fortunately, an extra 7 days was apparently more than enough for DPMM to fix the ‘technical issues’ that they couldn’t resolve over the 6 months of the off-season, and they finally played at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium on 22nd June against Geylang. What a game that was too, and I can only imagine what it would be like to watch a game in that majestic stadium ☹. Anyway, after Eddy and I decided to make lemonade with those Bruneian lemons and spend two days sightseeing in Brunei, we thought it would be a good idea to write some sort of guide to Brunei. DPMM will (probably) be playing the rest of their home games (maybe) in Brunei (perhaps) so our fellow fans could get a sense of what to expect, in case they wanted to make the trip to Bandar Seri Begawan for the next DPMM away game. (spoiler: we think it will be an enjoyable away day experience!) Currency You don’t need to visit the money changer before travelling to Brunei because the Brunei dollar is pegged to the Singapore Dollar at par (i.e. 1BND=1SGD). In Singapore, you may have encountered merchants who do not want to accept Brunei notes, but there is no such issue in Brunei, as Singapore notes and coins are widely circulated there. The only minor inconvenience we encountered was at a parking fee payment machine which did not accept Singapore notes, so we had to run to a nearby restaurant to ask to swap notes. Other than that, every shop we came across accepted Singapore dollars without batting an eyelid. Note that credit cards are not accepted at many smaller malls and restaurants, so plan the amount of cash you need to bring along accordingly. We also noticed that prices of fast food and major brands (like Nike/Adidas) are similar to or even slightly higher than Singapore, though food options at the night market was very cheap, with the prices of many items starting at a dollar. Getting to Brunei There are very few direct flight options from Singapore to Brunei, two to be exact. Singapore Airlines and Royal Brunei operate 1 daily flight each to a very small Brunei International Airport in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital city of Brunei. The Singapore Airlines flights have slightly better timings for an away day as it arrives in Brunei in the late morning and flies out of Brunei in the afternoon, ideal for a 2 to 3 day trip over a weekend. As a result of the limited options, air ticket prices do tend to be on the expensive side for a 2-hour flight, and you can expect to pay between $500-$700 for a flight to Brunei. A cheaper option is available if you have previously accumulated miles under Singapore Airlines’ Krisflyer programme, subject to redemption availability. Krisflyer also runs occasional ‘Spontaneous Escapes’ promotions with 30% off redemption prices to certain locations, which was what Eddy and I took advantage of. Do note that some redemptions or purchases under promotions can be non-refundable. Eddy and I found out to our horror that ours was non-refundable, and that’s why we made our way to Brunei despite the game being relocated. Getting Around Brunei Once we had the flights sorted, we had to figure out how to get around in Brunei. Bandar Seri Begawan is a small city, but the public transport system is not very well developed. There is no subway system and only a handful of public bus services available. The best way to get around Bandar Seri Begawan is either to rent a car or use their ride hailing app Dart. We rented a car at $180 for 2 days and it turned out to be a brilliant decision – all major attractions in Bandar Seri Begawan were within a 15-minute drive, parking was cheap and easily available in most places, and at ~50 cents a litre, petrol was literally cheaper than water in Brunei (our petrol expenses added up to a grand total of $4 for the 2 days lol). With a car you also get the added advantage of leaving your bags inside while you explore the town, and given the super low crime rate in Brunei, this is definitely something we felt safe doing. The Stadium Even though the game was postponed, we dropped by the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium anyway, perhaps hoping to pick up hints of the ‘technical issues’ that led to the relocation of the game. (Till today, Eddy and I don’t believe there were really any technical issues, but we have no proof, so … zip) The stadium was conveniently located next to the airport, and it took us only 7 minutes to drive there after picking up our rental car. There was nothing going on in the vicinity of the stadium, and we came across more stray dogs than humans in our short walk around the perimeter of the stadium, but what a beautiful stadium it was. The main grandstand

This is a bit of a late one, due to my busy work schedule. I remember when the 2024/2025 Home shirt was first unveiled, I felt super underwhelmed. It looked a lot like last year’s shirt. Same material, same collar, same colour, just a slightly different pattern on the shirt. And the pattern is so subtle that you can’t even really tell the difference at first glance. Take a look for yourself. The angry comments came. There were even accusations of LCS staff being lazy to design a different shirt. The memes came as well. In the off-season, fans have very little entertainment to themselves. There’s no watching the Sailors anywhere, and Singapore football doesn’t have a thriving ecosystem when it comes to transfer rumours and contract negotiation rumours. Without much else to excite us, one of the few things fans can really look forward to is the unveiling of the new shirt for the season ahead. So why did the Sailors not design something that excited the fans? Something fun, something edgy, something … different? Let’s start by clearing up the obvious. LCS Designers Are Not Lazy The least possible reason in my opinion is that the LCS designers just got lazy. Believe me, as much as these designs dismayed Sailors fans, the designs would have absolutely killed the designers. I bet a part of their souls died when they realised that this design would be the one used. The graphics dude in LCS is one Najwan Noor, who is known for his stellar design work. Don’t just take it from me, go take a look at his Twitter account yourself. Or I could walk you through a few examples – I mean, just look at that amount of effort for a regular, run-of-the-mill league game. The attention to lighting and detail is quite frankly amazing. More recently, there was this – If you look closely, you will see that the books on the shelves spell out chant lyrics that the Crew uses, while the TV features a Crew sticker on the left side as well. Of course, if you have a keen eye, you would also have spotted that near the left finger, there’s SailorFanTalk’s banner right there, hiding in plain sight. The attention to detail, and to fan service does not tally with the view that the club just didn’t give a shit about the fans. If the designers put in so much effort for a matchday poster that will be forgotten after weeks, or even days, would they not want to give their 110% for a shirt that they will look at for months on end? Go figure. So if it’s not the club, then is it Puma? Puma Just Not Very Inspired The short answer is “Yes”. For me at least. There was recently an article which ranked the best Puma kits of all time, and I’d urge you to go take a look. All I’ll say is Puma, if that’s your top 10, I don’t wanna know what’s your bottom 10 designs. Very uninspired, very boring, very template. You can imagine a Nike or Adidas top 10 list would look so so sick and spark much debate about which shirt is the true GOAT. Puma’s list just leaves you wondering how they even made the top 10 at all. To make matters worse, as some may know, we don’t even get Puma’s best designers to aid us with coming up with a design – given LCS’s status as a “small” club, we get our designs from the teamwear catalogue. I hope this doesn’t come as a shock to those who don’t know. So if we wanted a white shirt, our options were kinda limited if you take a look at this catalogue. Well that’s Option 1. It would have looked very similar, and no less boring. One point to note is that this is made out of Ultraweave material, which you may remember as the material for last year’s blue away kit. Apparently the players did not like Ultraweave as they felt it clung on to their body too much, and it was thus uncomfortable to play in. So, let’s knock out Option 1. Well that’s Option 2. Hmm. The less said about this the better. A truly ugly shirt. It looks like you wore a white shirt and then got run over by a car. Or you’re a zebra that really likes 50 Shades of Gray. Next. Option 3. I fell asleep assessing this picture. Boring. Drycell material, dry in creativity as well. And guess what, that’s that. I should have known, given that I am an Arsenal fan and Puma was far and away the worst kit sponsor Arsenal had in their entire history. I don’t think LCS were given much to work with. Had they picked any of these options, I think the fans would still have been very underwhelmed. It would at least be different, I guess, and there is some utility in that. In that regard, I wonder if SEA or Forrest may have considered using another logo as the official “sponsor” on the shirt, just to switch things up. Maybe SeaMoney instead of the SEA logo? Why are Puma Able to Customise Kits for Other Clubs? Because those clubs sell kits, and are viewed as priority for Puma. That is the sad truth, I guess. Look at those numbers. While these do not represent the total number sold, because a good amount of business is probably done at the stadium, these numbers are nowhere near what the top clubs generate. Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan, who are all sponsored by Puma, generated €73 million, €54 million and €47 million respectively. It is thus perhaps understandable that Puma would rather not spend too much resources on manufacturing a custom kit for LCS. But should we settle for this? Maybe LCS Needs a Supplier in the Same Position As Us The Sailors shirt looking so similar to

In this SailorFanTalk special, we have guest writer Ernest contributing yet another article! Ernest returns to share about his experience travelling with the Crew for yet another away game, this time a familiar city just across the border. He quips about the journey there, the sights and scenes, the hospitality and ultimately, lessons we can learn from our footballing neighbours. Friendly Neighbours Johor Bahru. Singaporeans often cross the border to enjoy the benefits of a superior exchange rate – 3.51 at the time of writing. From affordable (and arguably tastier) food, groceries to heavily subsided petrol, we love to patronise their offerings. With a gradually weakening currency, Malaysians have been the subject of some light-hearted jokes.  However, Johor Darul Ta’zim are no laughing matter. In the span of a decade, they have managed to establish themselves as the best Malaysian football club (by some distance) and a regional powerhouse. The slogan Decade of Dominance is well deserved, such is the success of the team. Being an ambitious team ourselves, we can surely take some lessons from their meteoric rise. We took the opportunity of a pre-season friendly to visit their ground. Gathering at Home The club were kind enough to charter a coach for ardent fans. We even received extra jerseys and scarves to look the part for this away day. I have to applaud the club’s constant effort to engage the Crew. The invitation was extended to non-members, which I’m sure will go a long way in expanding our fanbase. It is a good look for the club to start such initiatives, not just for LCS but for local football.  We were soon on our way. The coach was comfortable and spacious, leaving enough room for some pre-match chats and snoozes. It rained in the afternoon, the skies had cleared by this time and it set the stage for a great day ahead. A Stadium Fit for Royalty Yeap, that’s half of us marvelling at the behemoth that is the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium. As the name suggests, it was named in honor of Johor’s current ruler, Sultan Ibrahim ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar. He was also recently sworn in as the seventeenth Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia. All this is to say that this venue is a glorious sight.  Everyone was in high spirits, the journey here was pleasant and we had tons of free time before the match. We took some pictures and proceeded to check out the amenities the stadium had to offer. I headed excitedly to the new megastore JDT Direct first. The last time I was here, the merchandise was sold in booths located near the outdoor parking lots. It was refreshing to see a brand new retail space that attracted even opposition fans. There was a feature wall at the entrance showing JDT memories through the decade, before leading to the main store itself. It reminded me of stepping out onto the pitch from the player tunnel, which may have been the inspiration behind this concept.  We happened to visit on the day of their 24/25 3rd kit launch. They were going at a lower price than last season’s jerseys and many of us Crew left the store with shopping bags in hand. They also offered name printing services. There were tons of accessories on sale, even a cute angpao set that I was reluctant to leave behind. The staff were ever so helpful, and greeted us at the door when we left the store. This leaves me excited for the upcoming LCS kit launches. The new SPL season will be upon us very shortly and I’m sure fans will be clamouring to get their hands on the kits. The new signings have also garnered much interest and there will be many requests to print their names on their new kits. Currently, most of us get our jersey fix through the Shopee store, matchday merchandise booth and the vending machine at Mattar Road. The only way to print names would be through The Sporting Edge website, but ask a random fan and he/she wouldn’t have a clue. The fans would prefer to print their jerseys on matchday itself, which I’m sure the club will be looking into. HINT HINT. Matchday Grub With retail therapy out of the way, we proceeded to survey the food options. There were plenty, with chains like Starbucks, KFC, Subway and my personal favourite, Woodfire Burgers. It was the second last day of Ramadan for our Muslim friends, understandably the queues were a little long. The prices were lower than you would expect even at local standards. I understood from a JDT fan that the club’s owner, Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Idris (also known as TMJ) subsidised prices so that the local fans would find it affordable and choose to dine in at the stadium. This is a great way to address the needs of the fans whilst boosting matchday revenue and numbers. LCS have taken a step in the right direction, with the home leg of this friendly featuring a few food trucks including the beloved Old Chang Kee. It was a nice sight to see many fans having their meal at the stadium before the match kicked off. Moving forward, it would be wise to continue such initiatives, encouraging fans to reach the stadium early and possibly increase match attendances. Boys of Straits The famous JDT fan group or Ultras if you will, Boys of Straits. I have always been in awe of their drumming and chanting routines, executed with surgical precision and military unison. They are in my eyes a vision of what the Crew can be one day, if we continue growing. Eddy, Joseph and Charmaine had the opportunity to speak with Adam, the admin of the BOS Instagram account. He reached out earlier to meet at their very own merch store, MARKAZ. It’s really surreal to see the BOS have a dedicated space not just to sell their merchandise, but also to celebrate the journey of

In this SailorFanTalk special, we have guest writer Tan Chin Heng contributing yet another article! Chin Heng joined The Crew and SailorFanTalk in away trips for the ACL last season, and is an avid traveller, taking in football and rugby matches far and wide. Taking lessons from places he has travelled to, here he writes about his wishlist as a supporter for the season ahead! With the first two games of preseason gone, it feels like the SPL is well and truly back! Okay not really, since our first pre-season game featured exactly zero first-team regulars, and a smattering of first-team players got some minutes in the second game. Nonetheless, it was still some minutes for our younger players, and it was also good to see familiar faces back in Bishan stadium after a few months. As we countdown to an exciting new season with (possibly) 10 teams in the SPL, as well as our first foray into ACL2, I thought it would be a good time to take stock of how the club did last season off the pitch, and also come up with a wishlist of some improvements that I would love to see in the coming season. Our Sailors are always at the forefront of new initiatives on and off the pitch to elevate the scene in Singapore, so I am hopeful some of these changes will happen. What the Sailors Did Well Last Season Our 2023 season can be described as solid, with our first Singapore Cup title as well as credible performances in the ACL against some of the best teams in Asia. Off the pitch, Sailors have also done well in a number of areas: Communication with Fans Over the past season, I think the club has done a commendable job at communicating with fans in general, as we receive frequent updates and content through email newsletters and social media. Every matchday we are inundated with matchday content, pre-match videos and interviews before the game, live updates during the game, and match recaps post-game. We also enjoyed quality content in other areas, as we got to see players and staff not just in a football context. Things like Mothers’ Day videos and articles, the International Womens’ day articles (one of which won Story of the Year at the FAS Awards Night), fun and games on tiktok etc. clearly took plenty of effort to put together, so kudos to the team for bringing such a wide variety of content to us and I would love to see more of the same in the coming season. Matchday Experience A lot of work has also gone into crafting an enjoyable matchday experience for fans last season. There were several F&B options available at the stadium (beer, nachos, burgers, pizza) and we also saw a decent selection of merchandise on matchday (jerseys, training kits, t-shirts, keychains, tote bags etc.). The variety of halftime entertainment also brought some additional buzz into the stadium – contests for fans and performances (and T-SHIRT MAN) were good ways to bring some excitement into an otherwise boring 15-minute interval. Fan Engagement and Giveaways Throughout the season, we saw many contests and giveaways organized by the club, from match tickets and merchandise to fully sponsored away trips to ACL games. I was fortunate enough to be a recipient of a sponsored trip for the ACL away game in Hong Kong (paid for the other two away trips myself), and the experience certainly made me feel appreciated as a Sailors fan. All of these giveaways were not only fun to participate in but also presented an opportunity for the club to ‘pull’ more fans in. I could certainly see a casual follower being converted into a die hard fan if they won, say, a match ball signed by the whole first team. While plenty of good work has been done for fan engagement and the matchday experience, it would be great to see further improvements in these areas (just like how the team strives to improve on the pitch to compete against the best in Asia), which brings us to the next topic. Wishlist for Next Season Without knowing the inner workings of the club, I would make a reasonable assumption that the goals / objectives of the club off the pitch include building a strong fan community (increasing overall numbers of fans attending games as well as building a core group of highly engaged fans). With that in mind, there are a list of things that I would love to see in the upcoming season, based on anecdotal experience from talking to fellow fans and also experiencing league games in other countries. Greater Variety of Merchandise While the club has provided a decent selection of merchandise last season, I think there is still some demand for a greater variety of Sailors’ merchandise. It would be great to see a greater variety of apparel (polo tees, jackets, shorts) as well as smaller items that are easy to use in our daily lives (shoe bags, phone/airpod casing, pouches, luggage tags etc.). Perhaps even some novelty items such as trading cards or jigsaw puzzles? Most importantly, I hope to see a jersey printing/customization service made available on matchday as fans currently need to jump through quite a few hoops if they want to get any printing done for their jersey. I also noticed that not all the merchandise available on matchday was available on the Shopee store, so ideally we can see the full catalogue of merch available on Shopee in the coming season. In an era of rampant consumerism there are probably a good number of fans who are willing to spend on anything with a Sailors logo on it, so please Sailors, take my money. Wider Engagement of Fans and More Benefits for Season Pass Holders Season ticket holders are typically the most loyal supporters of any football club, turning up to almost every game rain or shine. It is thus essential to keep this

In this SailorFanTalk special, we have a guest writer, Leon! Those who know the fanbase well will know that Leon is one of the most ardent content creators who is a Sailors fan. You might also know that he plays social football to a pretty high standard, and has amassed quite a following on TikTok and IG for his lifestyle content which also features goalkeeping videos. It seemed natural for me to link up with him to get this article done where he gives us his unique goalkeeping insight into each of the 6 saves in this goalkeeping highlights reel. Introduction over, let’s dive into the meaty stuff – take it away, Leon! Criteria for Picking Save of the Season To do justice to my 18 years of goalkeeping, and to keep up with my self-proclaimed role as Singapore’s #1 Tiktok Goalkeeper, I’ll have to break down and rate these saves according to the following criteria – Watch the saves on TikTok or Instagram! I recommend you watch them once first, then come back to see my comments as I talk you through them. Save 1 – Zharfan v Balestier (Penalty save v Ryoya Taniguchi) Reaction speed: 10/10 Some might say it’s a guessing game when it comes to penalties. However, I’m a firm believer that penalties can be read. Plant foot, hip direction – these things matter. Play it in 0.5x speed and you’ll realise that Zharfan waited for the plant foot of Ryoya to land before choosing a direction. Ryoya’s contact with the ball confirmed Zharfan’s commitment to the dive. Zharfan has a record of going the right way for penalties – I don’t have the exact stats but every single time he faces a penalty he seems to go the right way, even for the one conceded against Tampines (LCS win at OTH) (OTH is blue btw). For him to read, react and commit all within that 0.15 seconds – is pure class. Insane reactions. Footwork: 10/10 The change of weight, the plant foot, everything was straight out from a diving tutorial. Or a textbook. If “How to Save a Penalty” was a video – this is it. Diving: 10/10 I’m sorry, but I just have to give this save so much credit. It’s a one-step power dive. Full extension. Two-handed, full stretch. Realise after Zharfan lands he is already beyond the posts. Zharfan isn’t the tallest of goalkeepers, but for him to reach such a well-placed shot from Ryoya is just insane. Apologies for giving so many 10/10s, but this save really is bloody outstanding.  Bravery: 5/10 Balls of steel from our custodian to stand his ground, and instead of guessing, goes with his guts to just bloody read Ryoya before going for the dive. This was still early on in the game – so for him to really stay calm and pull this off really is impressive. Nonetheless, as this point is about bravery, we have to consider that he didn’t have to put his body on the line, and there was no direct threat to him as it was a penalty. 5/10. Save timing: 6/10 On the surface level, it’s a 5-2 win, so this save might not seem too significant. But it came right after our penalty didn’t find the back of the net – which was basically a huge middle finger to the opponents, and of course made the Crew go wild. 6/10. [Editor’s note – one of our followers on IG pointed out that this was a crucial save because Ryoya and Maxime were neck and neck in the race for the Golden Boot at this point. Fair point that I thought I’d include in here.] Total average score – 8.2/10 Save 2 – Zharfan v Young Lions (Double Save) Reaction speed: 10/10 Bloody hell – I loved this one so much. Nur Adam sliding in already blocks Zharfan’s vision once. Brilliant fake from Harhys. Then Lionel and Hariss come in to try and cover the angle, and they block Zharfan’s vision once more. Reacting quick enough to get his hands to it once is already commendable, but the second save is what makes it even more outrageous. It was a clear shooting opportunity. Zero blockage. Mano E Mano. And it was a hard shot as well. And yet he still manages to get his hands to the ball. 10/10. No contest. Footwork: 8/10 Amazing kick-in of his left foot to drop his body fast enough to block the low shot. I would have him do the spin that Kepa/Cortouis usually does to get up even faster – but even though it wasn’t pretty, man palmed the ground and got up fast enough, then dived a little backwards to save the shot. Granted, it was a very fast shot and reaction time meant Zharfan had to claw the ball away at the last second – it definitely could have been faster. I’m being critical about the nitty-gritty, and I hope you understand why. If I don’t, I’d be giving every single part of this review a 10/10 so.. 8/10. Diving: 6/10 Contrary to what it might seem – I would say that the first save was more demanding diving-wise as compared to the second. Why? The first ball was a dipping and bouncing ball – requiring a very precise drop of the body to get his hand in position. Incredible. The second save, while equally stunning, was a reaction save that demanded a backwards dive. It got the job done, yes, but it wasn’t pretty. But as above – I have to be extremely critical – these are all his BEST SAVES after all 😩 Bravery: 7/10 Great mentality to not give up after deflecting the ball right into another striker, and to force the second shot by staying his ground. Normally I’d have seen a keeper go out and try to Emi Martinez such a ball, but Martinez isn’t Zharfan. He doesn’t have the same guts to stand his ground and tell

Happy New Year, wherever you are reading this from. It’s been another enjoyable year of watching our beloved Sailors play, even if perhaps we would have wanted to do better in the league. Still, plenty of memorable action, and in the coming days and weeks, we will spend a bit of time recapping some of our highlights of the season. We start with the most important thing in the game of football – goals. Our Sailors scored 79 in the Singapore Premier League, 21 in the Singapore Cup, and 5 in the AFC Champions League. That’s 105 goals in 36 games, almost 3 goals per game. You can imagine how hard my task was! I set out trying to limit myself to 5 goals, but ended up nominating 7 goals. It could and really should have been 10 or more, such was the quality of the goals on offer, but without further ado, here’s my pick of the top 7 goals this season. Let me know what yours are by commenting here, or over on TikTok or Instagram. Goal 1: Maxime Lestienne v Tampines Rovers (5-2 win, 4 Aug 2023) Maxime scored a hat-trick in this game to lead us to an important victory, and the quality of these goals were top-notch. Let’s start with the first goal he scored. There didn’t look to be too much danger when he received the ball on the right edge of the penalty area, but in the blink of an eye, he stepped inside, and without having to beat his defender, he unleashed a wicked curling shot with his left foot, which nestled into the bottom corner of the net. An amazing goal and a crucial one to give us the lead against bitter rivals in their homeground. Goal 2: Shawal Anuar v Balestier Khalsa (5-4 win, 1 Jun 2023) When I saw this one go in, I immediately thought “Goal of the Season”. I mean, it’s a weak-foot shot from Shawal Anuar from about 45 yards, taken first-time, rising high into the night sky, and arcing perfectly downwards just in time to drop below the crossbar, past the despairing dive of Balestier keeper Hairul Syirhan. The technique required to do that is insane. But to add to that, the move starts with a fantastic last-ditch tackle from Nur Adam to stop Ryoya Taniguchi from scoring. Hafiz Nor picks up the ball, dribbles it out of danger, and plays a long ball for Abdul Rasaq. Even though it is slightly beyond him, his commitment to chasing it down leads to a rushed clearance from the Balestier keeper. There is a team element to this goal and the fact that it was almost a goal for Balestier and then turned in the blink of an eye to a goal for us, makes it so satisfying. Goal 3: Abdul Rasaq v Albirex Niigata (S) (3-2 win, 21 May 2023) A very important goal. The circumstances surrounding the goal perhaps make this the most important goal of the lot. 2-0 down at half-time against our bitter title rivals, and staring down the barrel of defeat, the team came out re-invigorated, and with an important addition – Abdul Rasaq came on for the ineffective Bernie-Ibini Isei. Before he grabbed the winning goal, he had already played a big part in holding the ball up for the 2-1 goal that gave us hope. For the goal, it was amazing – a clearance-cum-pass from defence was cushioned by Maxime Lestienne first-time for Diego Lopes. Diego knocked it into a corridor of space – first-time as well. Lestienne raced into the space, and with a few quick looks into the box, spots Rasaq making a great run. He plays a first-time cross that curls nicely away from Hassan Sunny, and drops at the boot of Abdul Rasaq. He too, takes it first-time, slamming it into the back of the net on the volley. Goal 4: Lionel Tan v Balestier Khalsa (5-2 win, 31 July 2023) I remember when Lionel shaped to shoot, I was mouthing “DON’T SHOOT!” in the stands. I had never seen Lionel shoot on target from that range, and usually, centre-backs don’t take shots from that range. But I am glad that he proved me wrong. What a goal. The power, the swerve, the accuracy, the nerve to hit it from that range as Balestier sat back to try to keep us away from goal. For me what takes away from the goal is that Hairul Syirhan is already on the side of the goal that Lionel’s shot ends up, and I felt he could have done a lot better on that. Goal 5: Maxime Lestienne v Geylang International (2-1 win, 7 May 2023) The second of 2 free-kick goals that eventually won the game for our Sailors on a day when we were far from our sparkling best. Geylang always plays out of their skin when they face us, and this game was no exception. We needed a mammoth defensive shift from Mamat to prevent Geylang from scoring on a few other occasions, but we managed to hang in there at 1-0 down for the longest time before Maxime stepped in with 2 freekick goals. The first one was impressive, but the second one was even more so. It was right in the top corner, going in via the crossbar. The fact that it was so late in the game and virtually gave us an undeserved victory made this goal all the more important. On a day when the team was below par, the contributions of Mamat in defence and Maxime from set-piece opportunities made all the difference. Goal 6: Richairo Zivkovic v Jeonbuk (2-0 win, 8 Nov 2023) Jeonbuk is easily the hardest opponent that we played all year, which automaticallly gives this goal a bit of an edge when it comes to picking Goal of the Season. Aesthetically while it may not be the most pleasing one of the 7 goals, the goal