Transfers – SailorFanTalk

[Player Profile] Bart-er Trade – Will Bart Fill the Diego-Shaped Hole in our Team?

1 Comment / Player Profiles, Transfers / Eddy Hirono

If you haven’t read our piece on Diego yet, and seen how highly we regard him, do yourself a favour, click here and read it please. Bart Ramselaar comes with a similar price tag to Diego, but with arguably the bigger reputation. He will be expected to deliver right from the get-go as it very much feels like one-in, one-out. In this article, we will take a look at how his journey through football has led us here, and also what kind of player we can expect when we finally get to see him in action. Excellent Social Media Buzz Prior to the signing of Toni Datković, our beloved Sailors had been pretty quiet on the social media front, with limited content due to the fact that players were still on their holidays. We had some content when Hariss Harun and Lionel Tan went down to do giveaways of merch to fans, and also when the club opened its doors to some ardent fans who won a matchball in some other giveaways. But none of that really compared to the buzz when the club announced its new signings. The signings alone would probably have generated buzz, but the masterful way in which the club did it really set the pulses racing. Serious posts were mixed in together with the informal posts. You had your formal interviews with the pair of new signings where they outlined their ambitions for the club in the season ahead, but you also had Toni trying to figure out Singlish phrases, while I probably watched the amazing Bart Simpson v Bart Ramselaar video a few too many times. Those with fantastic eyesight would also have caught that in a teaser video hinting at a signing announcement in the afternoon, Bart Ramselaar’s face actually appeared for a split second. Go see it for yourself here and see if you can pause it right at the moment where you can see Bart’s face there, hiding in plain sight. And if all that content on Instagram was not enough, you get long-form content on Youtube where you can really hear at length from our signings. And if you’re more of a reading guy, the excellent articles on the official site give more depth to the person behind the footballer. Overall, just outstanding effort from the Sailors, and this is the excellence that we fans have come to expect from the club on all fronts. First Dutch International to Play in Singapore If I am wrong, someone please correct me, but I think Bart may be the first full Dutch international to play in our domestic league. Richairo Zivkovic has registered multiple appearances for the Dutch international youth teams, just as Bart does, but Bart has gone one step further and made 3 appearances for the senior national team. He has played with the likes of Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Virgil van Dijk. He has trained under the likes of Mark van Bommel, Philip Cocu, and Erik Ten Hag. He was well-loved at FC Utrecht, and had won the Eredivisie with PSV. I’ll address the big question everyone has – so why is he here? Why is Bart Here? Bart’s answer when asked in various interviews was that he had spent 10 years in the Eredivisie and it was time for an adventure to explore a different league. I am sure that this is part of the truth – but I would hazard a guess that he would have been able to seek adventures in other leagues of far greater quality. This is all speculation from this point on – but I think his big injury suffered in April 2022 had a huge part to play in how he ended up here. He was having a stellar season in 2021/2022, scoring 9 goals in 26 games and earning rave reviews for his performances. He was flying, starting every game and was an integral part of the team. However, he then suffered a knee injury which kept him out for 10 months, and when he came back in the 2022/2023 season, he was no longer a first-team regular. The situation continued into the 2023/2024 season, where he probably did not get as much game-time as he wanted. It is pretty heartening that he did start 4 games spanning December 2023 and January 2024, which suggests that he is fit and ready to contribute to the Sailors this season. In an interview with former Dutch international Andy van der Meyde, he revealed that one of the toughest times of his career was when found himself on the bench at PSV, so it’s not too much of a stretch to suggest that perhaps his lack of game-time also contributed to his decision to come to the Sailors. Nothing wrong with that – we should acknowledge our status also as a team participating in a league that is nowhere near as glamorous as the top European or even Asian leagues. Top players who come here from Europe are usually unhappy in some way with their situation. In this case, the fact that Rankovic has previously worked with him before in FC Utrecht probably didn’t hurt! Let’s just sit back and enjoy the talents of someone like Bart, whatever the circumstances may be that led him here! What Kind of Player is Bart? It is interesting that for someone who operates in midfield, Bart has more goals than assists in his career. 37 goals and 21 assists in 212 league and cup games in the Netherlands. In fact, in his stellar 2021/2022 season where he performed outstandingly well and was being talked about as potentially being able to make a big move at the end of the season, he registered 9 goals and 0 assists in the league. When you watch his highlights on Youtube, you begin to see why. He clearly has a knack for arriving late in the box to finish off team moves, and is a very sharp finisher. The

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[Player Profile] Now Dat’s What I Call A Signing

1 Comment / Player Profiles, Transfers / Eddy Hirono

Long before curated playlists on Spotify were a thing – I grew up in the 90s listening to compilation albums which packed 20 of the greatest songs of the year into one jam-packed CD full of hits. These were lifesavers because I had no money to buy individual albums. These compilation albums were called the “Now: That’s What I Call Music” albums. Ok thanks for indulging this old man in my random rambles – this was just me trying to explain one of the reasons why of all the music-related punny headlines I could’ve gone for, I went for “Now Dat’s What I Call a Signing“. I did also contemplate “I Want It Dat Way“, “Dat Thing You Do“, and the more current “How You Like Dat“, which was a reader’s suggestion. The other more important reason for why this headline is relevant is because of the profile of the player, and his big league experience. Let’s start right there and then discuss what we know about our new man, Toni Datković. 100 appearances in La Liga 2 Toni has made a century of appearances in La Liga 2, a league that is just one rung below La Liga, Spain’s top division. Although I found footage and detailed video analysis of Toni hard to come by, I think we can safely assume that someone who made 100 appearances in La Liga 2 will be expected to be heads and shoulders above the competition he will face in the SPL. This is a league where the strikers are of the calibre of Martin Braithwaite, Borja Baston, Balde Keita, Javi Puado, etc. The signing also brings to mind last year’s signing of Bailey Wright, another player who had come from the 2nd-tier league of a top footballing nation. However, just based on pure stats alone, I might argue that this signing looks to be even more impressive. When Bailey came to us, he had many appearances in the Championship, but they were mostly from a few years ago. His more recent experience right before coming to us consisted of 2 seasons where he was a regular for Sunderland in League 1, but then he was in and out for them once they got promoted. He was then loaned out to Rotheram, where he was also in and out of the team. Toni comes to us off the back of a 2022/2023 season where he featured 39 times for FC Cartagena, a mid-table team in La Liga 2, which suggests that’s where his level is currently at. Of course his most recent half-season spell was at Albacete, which came about after he left Cartagena in a pretty messy way. Toni’s side of the story is that he was forced out by the club because of their financial situation, while the Cartagena president’s version of the story was that Toni had interest from a Saudi club and the uncertainty brought about by the Saudi league’s transfer window closing later than the Spanish league’s meant that they had to let him go so that they had certainty over whether to replace him or not. I trust Toni because he is our guy now (not biased at all lol), and also because the Cartagena fans seem to love the guy. Another notable mention in his CV is the one time he got called up for the Croatia senior team, even if it was for a B team somewhat in a friendly played in China. The more illustrious names that played on the pitch with him that day include Borna Barisic (Glasgow Rangers), Luka Ivanusec (Feyenoord), and Josip Juranovic (Union Berlin). On paper, this signing is precisely the profile of player we need if we are to wrest the title back and aim for a deep run in ACL2. Tons of experience in a much stronger league than ours, still the right age (30), and making regular appearances. Earlier this year, there were very strong rumours that the Sailors were in for Ryoya Taniguchi – but it always felt a little off to me. Players like Diego Lopes and Pedro Henrique being allowed to depart, to be replaced by players of the quality of Ryoya? It just seemed unlikely. And that’s not a knock on Ryoya, who is a decent player – it is more of a testament to the scouting and financial ability of the Sailors. Given what we’re capable of, it would have been a downer if we signed someone from within our shores to bolster our defence. El Sicario – The Hitman With a nickname like that, we’re expecting Toni to play like Nemanja Vidic or Sergio Ramos. A take-no-prisoners approach to defending, destroying strikers who get near his goal. So it was pretty funny when he revealed in an interview the origins of his nickname – “When people first hear the term ‘Sicario’, they often think I’m a dangerous guy,” Toni elaborated “But after getting to know me, everybody says I should have nothing to do with the nickname. … He explained: “When you arrive in Spain and you say that you come from Croatia, everyone’s first thought is that of war. And when I take my clothes off, I have a few scars on my body, so I look a bit like someone who’s always fighting. That’s why my teammates started calling me ‘Sicario’. – Toni Datković in an interview with the club It is an excellent interview that delves into Toni’s life, family, and motivations, not just his career, and I’d strongly suggest taking some time out of your day to read it. So yeah, glad that that’s debunked then, he isn’t a terror on the pitch, it’s just a silly nickname given to him by his teammates, yes? 14 cards in 39 league games. While this does not seem to be characteristic of him if you take his whole career into account, if you keep really quiet, you can already hear Jansen Foo shaking his head, reaching into his

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[Player Profile] Hello Harith!

Leave a Comment / Player Profiles, Transfers / Eddy Hirono

A few days ago, our Sailors announced the signing of Harith Kanadi. Some fans immediately asked me who he was and what I knew about him. I promised I would answer some of these queries in the form of an article, so here it is. Why Are We Signing a Leftback? This is the first question I received. The answer seems to me quite simple, but I have been reliably informed that it is not so simple. What do I mean? I had thought it was obvious that Nur Adam Abdullah would at some point have to be enlisted, and so Harith Kanadi is a like-for-like replacement. One leftback in, one leftback out. However, there’s word out there that Nur Adam is not gonna be enlisted soon? I guess noone really knows. The signs surely point towards him having to go in sometime, and when that time comes, Harith will be our man at leftback. In any case, Harith adds depth to a position where we already have some cover. At leftback, we have Nur Adam and also Chris van Huizen. At a push, Mamat can also play there – he’s played there before for the Young Lions and excelled there. You’d have noticed of course that Chris can also play rightback, so if he’s played there, then the number of left-back options decrease and Harith may come into play. Besides these reasons, there may be another reason for his signing. Versatility When Harith first broke onto the scene, he played the majority of his games at leftback for Geylang. However, this season, we’ve seen him play at left wing in about half his appearances for the Young Lions. He has registered 1 goal and 2 assists, in a side that struggles to get goals. In fact, Harith is the second-top assister in Young Lions, despite already having left them. With only 2 assists, it kinda shows the problems that Young Lions have – they have only scored 24 all season, but that’s another topic for another day. Why is this versatility important? We saw against Spurs how our Sailors lined up in a back 5. This may be how we choose to line up against opponents who are technically superior to us in the AFC Champions League. If so, then Harith Kanadi’s signing gives us an extra option down the left, where we may employ a left wingback (LWB) to stretch the play, and help to contribute both in defence and attack. This role is usually quite demanding of players, because they have to provide the width on attack or there will be a lack of options for the midfielders and striker to link up with – however they also have to ensure that on transitions, they run back quickly to get into position. Fresh legs may be needed to ensure that the level of energy doesn’t drop when the player gets tired charging up and down the flanks. Yet another possibility is that if Harith can take the LWB slot, then perhaps Nur Adam can be re-purposed into a left-sided centreback in a back 3, especially if some of our central defenders are out injured/suspended, or if we need some more pace than what our centrebacks can offer. Something Different So far, you’ve seen me compare Harith and Nur Adam quite often. The comparison is quite understandable given that they both play in similar positions, they are of a similar age, and they are even of a similar height. Harith is 165cm while Nur Adam is 168cm. Nur Adam is obviously alot stockier, and so the way he gets up and down the flank is quite different from how Harith does it. When we spoke to Nur Adam earlier this season, he talked about wanting to get more assists. He now has 3 this season, and that’s from leftback position. Storming up and down the flank has always been his thing. Stylistically, Nur Adam is different from Chris van Huizen, our other leftback option, who also gets up and down the flank, but does so in a less forceful manner, and has a preference for whipping a lovely cross into the box for his teammates to feast on. Well – Harith is a bit like a combination of both I guess. Not quite as forceful running as Nur Adam, good crossing but not quite as deadly as Chris van Huizen’s crossing as well. A good mixture of both. And he shoots on his right foot too, and scored! We will put some links after the article for you to check out his goals and assists this season. This gives the coach options as well of course, which can only be a good thing, as we navigate a busy end to the season with the Singapore Cup and ACL games. If you watch his interview, he talks about getting assists for the Sailors, and on the back of some evidence this season of his crossing ability, we are confident he can get a few assists himself! What do Geylang Fans Say? When I was writing this, I realised that the best people to ask about Harith Kanadi, especially when it came to stuff that is not easily captured in stats or highlights, would be the fans of teams he played for. I reached out to Jeff from Ultras Eagles, and he had this to say. Harith is one of the Geylang Eagle’s fans favourite – one that we have voted to be the Fans’ Player of the Year in 2020 after the league resumed post-pandemic. He always gave his all each time he put on the green and white kit of Geylang. We at the stands never questioned his commitment and determination to win a game. For someone who was so young, he outshone the more established players because of his work rate and determination that were not unnoticed by Geylang’s coaching staff and the fans in the stands . While I would have loved for him to

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“Super” Signing – What Does It Mean for the Sailors’ Transfer Plans? How about Kodai?

Leave a Comment / Player Profiles, Transfers / Eddy Hirono

Well, this came out of the blue. There were no rumours of this signing happening – all the usual people in the know had not hinted at this signing as well. Supporters all assumed that Pedro Henrique would be back in a Mattar of weeks, not months, so we thought the plan was just to sit tight until then and let him make his comeback slowly. After all, Pedro had already come back from Brazil, and had been spotted chatting with fans in the stands. In fact, one fan (thanks Ryan Lim) even mentioned that he had spoken to Pedro a few weeks back and he had said he might be back in around six weeks’ time. Well, apparently not, according to the club article accompanying the signing of Manuel Herrera Lopez (Super), which states that “Súper is poised to take the place of Pedro Henrique in the Sailors’ first-team squad as the team launches an assault for the 2023 league title, with the towering 30-year-old Brazilian still in recovery following a season-ending injury in a 3-1 defeat to Geylang International last September.“ So this naturally raised some questions in the SailorFanTalk Telegram chat, and I was also hit by a flurry of messages wondering what’s going on, and what this means for our allocation of foreigners in the squad. Let’s take some time to answer some commonly-asked questions. Does this mean that Pedro Henrique is going to be de-registered? We don’t know for sure, but it is highly likely. Let’s do the math. We have Maxime Lestienne, Diego Lopes, Kodai Tanaka, and of course, Pedro Henrique on our books. While we can add more foreigners to this list, we can only register 4 of them for Singapore Premier League games. Please see below, an excerpt from the Singapore Premier League Regulations for 2023. Maximum of 4 players – Diego and Maxime show no signs of leaving (God please don’t let that happen), while Kodai Tanaka’s injury has spurred talk of him being replaced, but if you look at the rules, he must be replaced by an Asian player, and Super is not Asian. (I checked lol, cos I thought maybe he would somehow qualify as Filipino with his years at Ceres Negros). So logically, that means the club’s statement is to be taken literally, and Pedro Henrique will not be registered for the SPL squad for now. His injury is probably worse than what we as supporters had hoped for. Take care and see you soon, Pedro! How about Kodai Tanaka? Is he going to be replaced? Well, as long as the transfer window remains open, the Sailors can replace him. It’s a crushing blow for both the club, and Kodai himself, and it’s the last thing we’d wanna see. However, the club would be placing a lot of faith in untested youngster Abdul Rasaq if they were to choose not to replace him. Summarised very neatly by Deepanraj Ganesan in the tweet above, the clock is ticking. Kodai’s replacement must be an Asian player. Will we sign another Asian forward? Or boost our midfield ranks with that Asian slot? Only time will tell. How about Obren Kljajic? Wait, who? Ok I guess we should devote a section to him too. How about Obren Kljajic? Apparently, we have a U21 player by the name of Obren Kljajic (it gets easier to spell every time I spell it). We have heard that in pre-season, he played upfront, while various online sources state that his position is right-wing. Could he then be the one to replace Kodai Tanaka’s place in the squad? Considering that he seems to have Australian citizenship, and could thus fulfil the requirement of registering an Asian player in our 4th foreigner slot? We know next to nothing about him, so it remains to be seen if he will be trusted as Kodai’s replacement, or if the club will go out and sign someone. An unexpectedly exciting end to the transfer window! Written by Eddy Hirono if you haven’t got this season’s threads yet, the new jerseys are out on Shopee!!!! If you click on the links below and make a purchase, SFT gets commission of like a dollar plus, and you don’t pay more. Show your support for the work we do! And don’t forget to use your vouchers if you are a member. Check out Lion City Sailors Football Club 2023 SPL Home Jersey for $65.00. Get it on Shopee now! https://shope.ee/5panI7G7On?share_channel_code=2 Check out Lion City Sailors Football Club 2023 SPL Away Jersey for $65.00. Get it on Shopee now! https://shope.ee/5AL6Uq6bH0?share_channel_code=2 Check out Lion City Sailors Football Club 2023 SPL Purple GK Jersey for $65.00. Get it on Shopee now! (this one is our favourite!) https://shope.ee/d0Nxqsd7?share_channel_code=2 Check out Lion City Sailors Football Club 2023 SPL Green GK Jersey for $65.00. Get it on Shopee now! https://shope.ee/5fHWk5vXwf?share_channel_code=2

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Kodai Tanaka – Massive Upgrade?

3 Comments / Daily Musings, Player Profiles, Transfers / Eddy Hirono

So it’s been confirmed. After weeks of rumours, the club announced that Christmas did bring us the marquee signing we had been hoping for – Kodai Tanaka, Albirex top-scorer, and reigning SPL Player of the Year. I don’t think you need stats to tell you how good a signing this could be for the Sailors, but for those who didn’t watch him much this season, I hope this article will help you find out what you can expect from him next season. Positions played If you just looked at the number of goals he scored, you would be convinced that Kodai was a pure striker. 33 goals in the league, and a further 6 in the Singapore Cup, from 33 games – that is some tally. But he’s not just a pure striker. For those who watched Albirex games, he was quite often deployed on the left wing, so that either Ilhan Fandi or Tadanari Lee could play as the central striker. You will see that he spent about 41% of the time starting on the left wing. This versatility may be good for us moving forward. Imagine him and Song interchanging positions between central striker and left wing, or between central striker and false 9 – a truly tantalising prospect. Shooting Now we take a look at his shooting statistics – perhaps the most important for strikers. 39 goals from 33 games (in all competitions) takes him to a very impressive average of 1.18 goals per game. This is more than league top-scorer Boris Kopitovic, who had 41 goals in 36 games (in all competitions), and thus clocks in an average of 1.14 goals per game. Encouragingly for the Sailors, it is almost double the 0.63 goals per game contributed by Kim Shin-Wook. When we take a deeper look at the statistics, you will also see that only 3 of his goals are penalties, whereas Boris scored 8 from the spot (including 1 miss). It gets better when you see that he has got 39 goals from an xG of 26. He has comfortably outperformed his xG, and we Sailors fans will be hoping this is not a one-off. If you look at Shin-Wook’s xG of 28, and his total goal tally of 22, it somewhat confirms the eye-test that our top-scorer this season should perhaps have scored more goals. He did miss some sitters this season, none more memorable than the one against the Young Lions. Given that LCS created the most chances this season in the league, the hope is that the addition of Kodai Tanaka will lead to more goals. Take a look at his shot map below, and Sailors fans, I implore you to imagine what a “fox-in-the-box” like Kodai will do with the service from Maxime, Diego, Hami and Shawal. Assists and Chance Creation If you look at the chart below, you will see that Kodai is going to be much more involved in team play than Shin-Wook was. Perhaps the statistics may be slightly skewed by the fact that Kodai played left-wing quite a bit, but his total of 10 assists is pretty tasty considering he already has 39 goals. This shows that he is not just a one-dimensional striker. He also compares favourably to Shin-Wook and Boris when it comes to his passing figures – in fact he makes quite a lot more key passes compared to both of them. Without the use of stats, I think Sailors fans will also feel that the addition of someone more mobile to our frontline may suit us more. Throughout the season, there have always been complaints about Shin-Wook’s lack of mobility. Many Sailors fans have also wondered what it would be like if Song was used up top more than Shin-Wook – given that Song was the spearhead of our attack when we famously beat Daegu FC in our maiden AFC Champions League campaign. Perhaps now we will get to see what this looks like for us. Teamwork/Pressing In the modern game, pressing/defending usually starts from the front, and looking at these stats, it is pretty encouraging to see that Kodai pretty much outstrips both Boris and Shin-Wook when it comes to ball recoveries – especially the “ball recoveries in opponent’s half” stat. There is no better place to win the ball than in your opponent’s half. He also puts in the tackles and goes into many aerial challenges, and that is exactly what fans want to see. Hopefully this increased mobility and pressing from the front will lead to even more chances for the Sailors next season. Conclusion I don’t think I need to elaborate much after showing you all the statistics – Kodai looks like he will be a brilliant signing. There’s something also to be said about his resilience, because he played every league game. If he stays fit, this will be a top, top signing. The other side of the coin of course, is that Albirex also lose their top-scorer. Given that they also lose Ilhan Fandi for next year, Albirex must hope that they manage to find someone just as dynamic as Kodai for next season (sadly I wouldn’t bet against them unearthing another gem from Japan). They surely cannot pin all their hopes on the ageing Tadanari Lee. Not only have we strengthened our ranks – we have weakened our title rivals. To end off, I will just comment on this IG Stories post by Zia-Ul Raushan, who likens Kodai’s arrival to that of Robin van Persie leaving Arsenal for Manchester United, and propelling them to the title all those years ago. This echos Kodai’s comments in his first interview for us, where he said that he wants to be league champion with LCS, and also win the Golden Boot. I think I speak for all Sailors fans when I say, I hope Raushan and Kodai are both right! WELCOME KODAI! はじめまして! (Written by Eddy, with stats taken from football.instatscout.com) Photo taken from lioncitysailorsfc.sg

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Rusyaidi is a Sailor – More Fight, More Bite?

1 Comment / Daily Musings, Player Profiles, Transfers / Eddy Hirono

Earlier this week, we announced the signing of Tanjong Pagar United midfielder Rusyaidi Salime. Like the rest of our signings, this one has been rumoured for very long. What does he bring to our midfield? His comments upon joining us have been very positive – “I won’t back out of any challenges and you can expect me to be a tough yet fair player on the pitch. I will try my best to win every challenge as I possibly can and to stop my team from conceding goals,” “I’m someone who always gives my 100% for the team. I will work hard for the club, the fans and my teammates – let’s win something together in the season ahead.” Sounds like the kind of player fans will get behind – do the stats bear that out for him? Hunger and Bite Recalling a conversation I had with LCS staff about a month back, they mentioned that the club was going to get hungrier, leaner, meaner players. I think nobody fits this profile more than Rusyaidi Salime. Let’s take a look at the stats. Right off the bat, you can see that for two years running, Rusyaidi has been in a lot of foul trouble. 7 yellow cards last season is the second-highest, while his 8 yellow cards in the 2021 season ranked him top of the pile. Considering 2021 was a short season where he made 18 appearances, the yellow-card tally may be a bit worrying. A little too much bite? Perhaps the way Tanjong Pagar play factors into that as well – given that 5 of the top 10 yellow card recipients are their players. What is encouraging is that there seems to be some improvement from 2021 to 2022. If you look at the stats below (which include his appearances in the SG Cup), you will see that he was involved in more challenges and attempted more tackles this year compared to last. However, he has only got 1 more yellow card, and conceded fewer fouls (29 to 36), perhaps showing that he is beginning to pick his tackles abit better. Goal Threat Of course, given that the Sailors are also a team that expect to play attacking football and dominate most games we are involved in, passing and attacking stats are worth looking at. Does Rusyaidi pose a goal threat? The simple answer is “No”. He has scored just once in his last 2 seasons. Last season he had an xG of 0.79 and he scored 1 goal, a smart sliding finish in the box against Tampines Rovers (watch at 49 seconds). I’ll give you some food for thought though. Despite not scoring with his long shots, in the past 2 seasons, on occasion, set piece experts such as Raihan Rahman and Luiz Junior have allowed him to take direct free kicks at goal. Perhaps he cracks them in during training and we SPL fans have just not been lucky enough to see his hidden talent? That may be the eternal optimist in me speaking – there’s so far not been any evidence to suggest that goalscoring is one of his abilities. He certainly doesn’t lack confidence though, and on occasion, he cuts in to his weaker foot to strike them from range – so far, none of these have been goals, or even shots that trouble the keeper. Passing Let’s start by getting the obvious out of the way. Rusyaidi is no Shahdan Sulaiman – but who is? That is just an unfair expectation to place on our new signing. Shahdan is one of Singapore’s greatest midfielders and who continues to dominate games even at his age. Shahdan’s passing percentage from last season was a whopping 88%, and he attempted an average of 49 passes per game in the league (double of Rusyaidi’s 24 passes per game). Rusyaidi is not a like-for-like replacement for Shahdan. However, for a guy who is known more as a destroyer, or a box-to-box midfielder, Rusyaidi’s 79% passing accuracy is decent. He has also played 16 key passes, which compares similarly to Shahdan’s 18 key passes in 2022. All-Action Midfielder? I wish InStat gave me information on distance covered by players. I’d imagine that Rusyaidi would score quite highly on that. The eye test tells me that he’s an all-action midfielder and he’s everywhere on the pitch. If we take a look at the heat map data for him, and compare it to that of Shahdan Sulaiman, it’s interesting to note that they both have a bias towards the right-hand side of the pitch. Also, you can clearly see that Rusyaidi is involved a lot more in deeper positions on the pitch – whether this is something that he can adapt to when he joins a more attacking Sailors side, that remains to be seen. Conclusion I think Rusyaidi is an exciting signing. From the eye-test, he is an all-action midfielder who likes to get involved in all areas of the pitch. Tanjong Pagar United was a team that did not dominate the ball as much as the Sailors did last season, and as such, was a team that spent a lot of time on the counter-attack, or defending counter-attacks. Last season, one of the Sailors’ weaknesses I felt was in stopping counter-attacks early, and I feel that Rusyaidi’s bravery in diving into tackles, coupled with what seems to be an improvement in choosing the right moments to tackle, may reap some rewards for the Sailors this year. He has a tendency to really snap into challenges once the opponent has miscontrolled the ball a little – give him a slight opening, and the ball is gone, the attack is snuffed out. That’s what we hope he can bring to us next year. His passing percentage, while not astounding, is decent enough. If he can get the ball to our more dominant ball-players such as Diego Lopes or Hami Syahin, we should still be fine in the attacking department. To end off,

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Superman, Out

Leave a Comment / Daily Musings, Player Profiles, Transfers / Eddy Hirono

What has been rumoured for a month or so now has finally been confirmed by Albirex Niigata (S) – Hassan Sunny has joined the reigning champions. We had confirmation a few weeks back that he would not be retained, along with Shahdan, Gabriel, Naqi, Iqram, and Faris. Then the rumour mill started churning and there was news that he would be joining Albirex. You could tell there was probably some bad blood, as not only did Hassan not show up at all for the Dortmund game, which would have allowed us a chance to say our final goodbye to him, he tweeted this on 25 Nov 2022. It is not the most subtle, but in case you’ve not had your morning coffee yet, it says “The ship has sunk”. We now know of course, that he was perhaps referring to the wide-ranging cuts that were about to happen across all levels in the club, both in the playing and non-playing staff. I wrote about it sometime back too, and expressed my opinion that far from it being a “strategic reset”, it was probably just cost-cutting measures. You can check it out here. But let’s stick to the football chat and take a conscious step away from our off-the-field troubles. What does this transfer bring to Albirex, our closest rivals from last year? And does it weaken us alot? Takahiro Koga v Hassan Sunny Age – Koga is 24 next year while Hassan will be 39. For an outfield player, 39 might be a problem, but as we’ve seen with Hassan over the years, he just seems to get better with age. I remember during his Home United days, the other players would tell me stories about how Hassan is very professional and always looks after himself – sleeping early, waking up early to get some stretching in, and sometimes even dragging the other boys along with him to do that when on overseas trips. This of course meant that they would have to give up any night activities because Hassan would call them up at 6am or so to drag them out to stretch. Given his professionalism, age truly is just a number for him, and he still pulled off plenty of improbable saves last season. In fact, one might say that Hassan’s age works in his favour in that he is more experienced than Koga, who does have an error in him sometimes, especially due to his position during offensive phases (more on this later). Statistics – Comparing the two when it comes to percentage of shots saved, Hassan comes out ahead, at 68%, compared to Koga’s 64%. This stat is all the more impressive considering that Hassan’s stats include our AFC Champions League campaign where we played against much better opposition as compared to our SPL teams. Another stat that jumps out at me is the number of “supersaves” that are made by the respective keepers. Hassan’s 1.19 supersaves a game is considerably more than Koga’s 0.76. Of course, what is defined as a supersave is subjective and depends on how Instat classifies them – but I think just based on the eye-test, we Sailors fans can remember numerous difficult saves that Hassan was required to make last year. He more than deserves to be called Superman. Playing style – The last comparison is playing style. I think from what we’ve seen so far, Hassan is more than an adequate replacement for Koga. I think that he will be an upgrade on Koga. But how will he slot in to the Albirex style of play? I think one thing to note is that Koga leaves his line way more often to claim the ball than Hassan. If you look at the stats comparison above, you will see that Hassan averages 1.09 GK exits a game, while Koga averages 1.79 GK exits a game. The eye-test confirms this as well. Hassan rarely leaves his line. Another thing to compare is the ball touches map below. You can clearly see that Koga is a more “adventurous” keeper – for better or for worse. Fans of the SPL will know that Koga has been caught in no-man’s land on more than a few occasions in the past two seasons, which have led to embarrassing goals or moments. High-risk, high-reward I suppose – sometimes coming out to claim the ball can relieve the pressure on your defence and stop potentially dangerous situations. Conclusion What does this mean for Albirex and for Hassan? Well of course this comparison is not conclusive, but I think Hassan may need to adapt a little to the Albirex playstyle. He will be expected to shuffle more across the box to pick up passes from his defenders, and then play the ball out. His defenders may also need to adapt to a keeper who doesn’t come out as much. Overall though, there is no doubting that Hassan will be a good signing for Albirex. I don’t think there is a significant gulf between the quality of Koga and Hassan, despite Koga’s inconsistency this season, but where the impact may be felt more keenly is that it clearly weakens the Sailors. The drop-off from Hassan to whoever is going to replace him is going to be a large one, especially because Izwan is out with an ACL injury. We will do a statistical comparison when the replacement is announced (rumoured to be Zharfan Rohaizad), but I think the national team pecking order tells its own story – Hassan is far and away the best goalkeeper in our land. TL;DR – Hassan to Albirex will strengthen them slightly, but will weaken the Sailors by a lot. Sad. (Written by Eddy, with stats taken from football.instatscout.com)

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