diego lopes – 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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Diego Lopes – Legend

1 Comment / Player Profiles, Specials / Eddy Hirono

In a week where Diego Lopes is rumoured to be joining a Chinese Super League team, we thought it’d be a nice time to pay tribute to him. Diego arrived on our shoes in January 2021, 3 years ago. In that time, he won every Singaporean trophy available, and was a fan favourite because of what he did on and off the pitch. When he came, Forrest said that having a top-quality player like Diego will not only give us a boost, but also hopefully give Singapore football a lift. One thing he did not say was that Diego was gonna win our hearts. And as we read on, we’re gonna find out that he really, really did. Strap in, buckle up, and let’s take a drive down memory lane as we discuss Diego’s short but eventful time with us. The Recap Arriving with a hefty price tag of S$2.89 million, Diego’s performances were always going to be intensely scrutinized. In the romantic after-glow that often accompanies the departure of fan favourites, supporters sometimes forget the tougher times – it was not always smooth-sailing for the brilliant Brazilian. In his first season (2021), despite the title win, Diego found himself starting just 10 of the 21 games in the league, coming on after half-time in 9 games. Whether this was down to fitness, tactical or other issues, your guess is as good as mine. I remember thinking at the time that his omissions from the starting line-up were very glaring – you do not pay that much for a foreign player just to sit him on the bench half the time. 2021 was also the only year that he did not make it to the SPL Team of the Year. Things got significantly better in 2022. He started 22 times in the league, only missing some games due to injury. It was also Diego’s first experience of the AFC Champions League – and the stand-out of course was the historic 3-0 win over Daegu FC, a game in which he scored a goal. He was sorely missed in some games nearing the end of the season due to injury. That, coupled with Pedro Henrique’s injury at the same time, probably put paid to our title chances. Then the final year came. Once again, he started almost every game in the league, but was conspicuously absent in half of our AFC Champions League games. Considering he was available for all our games in the Singapore Cup run which took place around the same time, his absence was tactical, and not injury-related. That was perhaps the biggest clue about what the club thought of Diego, and whether he was going to be retained. Our historic 2-0 win over Jeonbuk was achieved without Diego, and it seems a pity that he was not part of the momentous occasion. Daegu was a huge win, but the only Sailors fan up there watching it live in Buriram was me. The day we beat Jeonbuk saw a packed Jalan Besar Stadium with the Crew out in full force. It felt weird not to have one of our most important players of the past few years in the team. But, there was no lack of important memories in our club’s history with Diego. I mean, he did rack up 34 goals and 31 assists in his 85 appearances for the club. Let’s talk through some of them. THAT Goal Against Hougang Take your mind back to April 2021. We were second in the table, at the halfway mark of the season. We faced a tricky trip to Hougang Stadium – tricky not just because of the pitch condition but also because they had already defeated us 3-1 earlier in the year. It was the first game in a while that the SPL allowed supporters to attend without producing an official ART or PCR test result. There was also an increase in the number of allowed supporters – 250. It led to one of the better atmospheres in the Covid era before kick-off, and the tension was palpable. In a game of few chances, Hougang had a few half-chances in the first half and at half-time, I remember feeling it was gonna be one of those days where Hougang would grab a result against us. And then, the magic moment arrived. In the 69th minute of the game, there seemed to be very little on when Faris took a routine throw-in from the left side of the pitch. It reached Diego Lopes just inside the box, and with a little swivel, he let the ball drop across him and hit a magnificent half-volley towards goal. It rocketed away from his foot, but then swerved and dipped just under the bar and into the far corner. The Hougang goalkeeper could only watch on helplessly. A magnificent strike by the mercurial Brazilian player, and what a crucial goal it was too. We eventually won the title by 2 points, so yes, if the math is mathing, maybe not an exaggeration to say this was a goal that won us the title? That Moment That Clinched the Championship The final match-day of the 2021 SPL season was a tense one. Both Albirex and the Sailors started the day on equal points. On paper, it seemed simple – beat Balestier Khalsa and hope Albirex would not rack up the goals to make up the goal difference against Tanjong Pagar. It was very tense during the second half because we were only 2-1 up against Balestier, and reports of goal after goal filtered through from Jurong East Stadium – could Albirex make up the goal difference and leapfrog us in the table? Or worse, would Balestier grab an equalizer? Nerves were eased when in the 78th minute. Faris Ramli swung in a pin-point low cross and no prizes for guessing who was at the far post. Diego Lopes stooped low to head it in, to really start the celebrations in the stands.

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[Preview] Disgustingly Good

2 Comments / Match Previews / Eddy Hirono

Albirex are not a good team. They are a disgustingly good team. You probably didn’t pay good money just to hear me tell you this. Wait a minute, this website is free and you don’t pay at all lol – but the point remains. You do not need me to tell you that Albirex are disgustingly good – but let me take a few paragraphs to tell you how monumental this task ahead of us is. Attack is the Best Defence, but Defence is also the Best Defence, and Fouls are also the Best Defence What the heck was that long sentence that doesn’t seem to make any sense? Patience, my friend, read on. Albirex are the top-scorers in the league, and also boast the best defensive record. They’ve scored 30 goals, 4 more than the Sailors who are the 2nd-highest scorers, despite playing one game less. They have also conceded 3 goals only. THREE GOALS. After playing 9 matches, to have conceded only 3 goals is frankly ridiculous. Of course, Hassan Sunny’s addition has boosted their backline with experience, and also a fearsome shot-stopping goalkeeper, but according to the SPL website, Hassan Sunny has only had to make 19 saves. Compare that with Zharfan having to make 43 saves, and I think you can draw your own inferences about how much protection the 10 outfield players are giving to their respective custodians in goal. Their attacking prowess is no fluke as well. They have the most shots in the league, and the most shots on target in the league. I’ll throw in another interesting stat for you – despite their superb form, Albirex are also the team with the highest number of fouls in the league. Their tally of 133 fouls in the league is the same as DPMM’s, but DPMM has played a match more, so the foul-iest team in the league is Albirex! Bet you wouldn’t have thought that. This is a purring attacking side capable of mixing it up with a tinge of dirtiness. To confound your mind even more – despite having the most fouls in the league, they have the fewest yellow cards, and no red cards. A purring attacking side capable of mixing it up with a tinge of dirtiness but also disciplined enough to avoid censure from the referees? Wow, end me now. Dangermen Usually when I do previews, I like to talk about some of the dangermen in our opponents’ squad. It’s … kinda hard to do this here. Do we go with Seia Kunori? The top-scorer with 7 goals? Keito Komatsu with 5 goals? The commanding midfield of Albirex? Hassan Sunny in goal? Old man Tadanari Lee with his bags of experience (and also 4 assists, the most in Albirex)? Riku (who we’ve written an article about earlier this season)? It’s really impossible to pick just one, or even two dangermen to focus on. And that poses a problem for us. Our defence has not been the most commanding this season. We’re obviously still missing Pedro Henrique and we’ve conceded 15 goals from 10 games so far. It’s the 3rd-best record in the league, but nowhere near good enough if we have serious ambitions of winning the title. This defensive porosity has also resulted in us dropping 4 unnecessary points against Young LIons and DPMM Brunei. I posed the question to one of our supporters last week – if we cannot keep out DPMM and Young Lions, what hope do we have against Albirex? The fan (Ryan) said what he needed to say – that though the chances are slim, there’s still a chance. I guess because the ball is round, anything can happen, at the end of the day it’s 11 v 11. There, I’ve thrown out all the football cliches I can throw out. Back to the point of dangermen – when a team doesn’t have just one or two dangermen, it becomes very difficult to try and keep them out. For Albirex, if they keep Maxime and Diego quiet, chances are they will get the win. Of the 26 goals scored by the Sailors, only 4 of those goals did not feature either a goal or an assist by the dynamic duo. If they can work out a plan to shut the two down, we are in some serious trouble. We have a lot of talent on the pitch, so I hope that Coach Risto will come up with a plan to get the local boys more involved as well. For us, it will be difficult if we try to focus on any of their dangermen – they’re ALL dangermen. If we focus too much on a few of them, we lose sight of the others, and that could be fatal. Not all Doom and Gloom We have Maxime in the form of his life. Top of the scoring charts, top of the assists charts, and always capable of some magic. We have Mamat looking back to his best and hopefully coming back this game. We have Diego still chipping in with assists. We have quality off the bench that we can call upon. If Tampines can beat them, then there is no excuse for us to not believe that we can as well. We have a 100% home record as well, so maybe there’s something magical about the Bishan pitch? I am really clutching at straws here, I am freaking afraid of Albirex lol. Conclusion I always back my team and I am always optimistic, but I honestly find it hard to be optimistic about this one. I’ll still of course be supporting the team and willing them on to victory (from Japan, sad that I am not around for this match), but I’ll be happy with a point here. A defeat leaves us 7 points behind, and they will still have a game in hand. In a shortened season this year, that will be almost impossible to come back from. We have also not

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[Post-Match Thoughts] Not Our Best But Some Positives

3 Comments / Post-Match Thoughts / Eddy Hirono

I usually try to wait for Instat to come out with some stats about the game before giving you my thoughts, but those jokers are taking their own sweet time, so here goes. In the preview article, I spoke about the need to capitalise on Tampines slipping up against Balestier Khalsa. We did just that, getting the crucial three points. However, I think the performance left much to be desired. We were ultimately bailed out by two free-kicks from Maxime Lestienne (who else) and a great defensive display by Zulqarnaen Suzliman. Here’s a few post-match thoughts. Maybe I’ll start with the positives and then slowly work towards the negatives. Maxime Lestienne The dude’s a machine. What else can I say? 8 goals and 8 assists in 9 games is pretty mental. That’s 1.78 goal contributions per game. Imagine lining up against a player knowing that statistically, he is gonna score/assist about 2 goals – that must be kinda demoralising. But it’s what we’ve come to expect from our brilliant Belgian. If Forrest is reading this, please sign him up. Renew his contract for x number of years, where x is 55 or 78 or something. We want him here forever. Not only is he a real asset to the team, he is also someone that excites us fans. Speaking of someone who excites fans … Nathan Mao There has been much buzz online about whether Nathan’s 5 minutes cameo against Tampines Rovers was a publicity stunt, and whether he deserved those 5 minutes. I mean for me, I didn’t think it was that deep, really. The game was lost, and there was no harm giving a few minutes to a prodigy from the academy, just to allow him to experience an SPL game. If I were to be cynical, maybe it was to distract the supporters, give them something else to get excited about on a day when we played at a level so far below Tampines Rovers. If you wanna relive the match and how it played out, be my guest, check out our depressing post-match thoughts where we spoke about Nathan as well. So, Nathan not only played against Geylamg. he started. In so doing, he became the youngest-ever player to start a SPL game at 15 years and 42 days old. Previously, the record holder was Raoul Suhaimi for Young Lions (15 years and 239 days old). Not only did Nathan start, he played an hour. Of course, this is in part due to the U23 rule where a U23 player must be played, and most of them are at the SEA Games. We referenced this in our preview article as well. However, it must be said that the U23 player can be removed at half-time, and we have seen clubs in the league do that, LCS included last season. It is to Nathan’s credit that he stayed on past half-time. In the first half, Nathan looked brave with the ball and in a half that was crying out for some attacking verve and impetus, something for the supporters to get excited about, Nathan was arguably the only one to provide it. Trying my best to analyse his performance without the “oh-he’s-15-years-old” lens, I genuinely feel like he did very well. There were some moments where he brought the fans off their seats – for example, 3:25 onwards in this brilliantly-shot video. Throughout the time he was on the pitch, he never looked out of place, and that’s the greatest compliment I can pay him given he is at such an early point in his nascent football career. It would be easy for someone making his first professional start at that age to just take the safe option all the time, but he mixed it up, sometimes opting for the easy pass, but sometimes also running with the ball and beating his man, getting fouls. Very encouraging to watch, and he was given a warm reception from the fans when he was subbed off. Even our former CEO had nice things to say about him in the post-match interview. Keep it up, Nathan! Zulqarnaen Suzliman (Mamat) A monster game from a full-back who we expected huge things from ever since he came back from Young Lions last year. His performances for the national team and in the league actually got me quite excited when he came back, but unfortunately due to injury, I think it took a long while before we saw the true Mamat. This was a monster performance and a vital one, because in defence, it looked like we were so vulnerable to the counter-attack but Mamat was able to bail us out on three occasions. First, he blocked a shot on goal off the line, and he then denied Yushi Yamaya on two separate occasions with determined last-ditch tackles. Don’t take my word for it – the club has put together a nice little compilation of those moments. Check it out here and decide for yourself – We spoke to Mamat after the game, and he showed humility and said he’s happy he saved the team from conceding three goals, and that it was just his defensive instincts kicking in. Aside from contributing in defence, he also went up the other end and got fouled for the crucial freekick that Maxime scored to equalise. It came as a result of the team collectively picking up the pace in the second half, and Mamat tried to run beyond the defence to get onto a clipped pass over the top. This led to the defender fouling him to impede his progress. In a match where Geylang were content to shuffle from side to side in a deep defensive block and attack on the counter, it was vital that our wide players (including the fullbacks) tried to get behind the defence and outnumber the Geylang defenders. Thank you Mamat for your contribution this game! Substitutions of Hafiz Nor and Shawal Anuar I mentioned above that collectively

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[Preview] Young Lions v LCS – Normal Service to Resume

1 Comment / Match Previews / Eddy Hirono

The last time we met Young Lions, it was an absolute disaster. If you want to relive it, you can check out our post-match thoughts, and tactical analysis back then. We struggled to create any really good chances, and considering last season’s Young Lions were on the end of some really poor scorelines, to draw 1-1 with them was terrible. The expectation is that tonight’s game will be very different, and should result in a comfortable Sailors win. It is after all, the second-best attack in the league vs the second-worst defence. Let’s take a look at some of the differences between last season’s game and this season’s game. A More Settled Defence (than last season’s SG Cup game) We started a back four of Hafiz Nor (LB), Anu (CB), Amirul Adli (CB), and Haiqal Pashia (RB)) last season against Young Lions in the 1-1 draw. That’s ridiculous considering we had the likes of Iqram Rifqi and Hariss Harun on the bench. Surely we could also have played some youngsters who were natural defenders? We have no such problems coming into this game hopefully. Nur Adam was on the bench in the last game and may come in for Chris. Bill may also come in either in central defence or on the right, if Coach Risto wants to shuffle his pack a little bit considering this is the second game in a week. Other than that, it’s highly unlikely that we have to do what we did last season. One thing about our defending this season though, is that we are allowing a large number of shots from our opponents. It has been a recurring theme this season for Zharfan to have saved a lot of shots, even if sometimes it seems that the Sailors are allowing their opponents to take shots from long range. It’s not even close, the number of shots he has saved. On top of that, he tops the list for supersaves as well, which discredits my theory a little that most of the shots faced by the Sailors have been long-range speculative attempts. Hopefully, moving forward, Coach Risto finds a way for us to be less reliant on our keeper pulling off saves. This is a Better Young Lions Team Not only have this Young Lions team added two foreigners in Jun and Kan Kobayashi (not brothers, just a common Japanese surname), they also have Jacob Mahler back in the team after his recent suspension and a horrible injury layoff last season. Interestingly, Jun Kobayashi is leading the league in number of defensive challenges won, and ranks pretty highly in aerial challenges won as well. In their 8 games this season, they have had better xG than their opponents in 3 of the games. This has resulted in them picking up 1 win and 1 draw in their 8 games so far, which is far better than last year’s record where after 28 games in the league, they only won twice and drawn twice. They have also shown their mental strength in picking up these results. Both times they were behind – 1-0 against Hougang, and 2-0 against DPMM Brunei, but managed to get 2 late goals to put points on the board. LCS Attacking Options in Form The last difference I will touch on is that LCS attackers are currently in-form. Maxime is looking insane currently. His tally of 13 goal contributions so far is the highest in the league. It would be a brave man to bet against him notching at least a couple of goals/assists tonight. Abdul Rasaq has 5 goals this season from 5 games, and has already equalled his tally from the whole of last season. Diego Lopes has 2 goals and 5 assists from 7 appearances, and has a great understanding with Maxime. I do not envy the Young Lions defenders tomorrow if these 3 start. While Bernie didn’t score on his debut, he absolutely bodied one of the Hougang defenders during his time on the pitch. He also looked like he knew how to utilise his size to hold up the ball perfectly for his teammates. It was a debut with some promise, and you don’t get many better opponents than Young Lions to try to open your account for the season. Conclusion This is a must-win game given the profile of the opposition. Anything less than a win will invite a lot of debate about whether or not the Sailors are up for the fight. I think it is going to be comfortable, especially if we can get an early goal. COME ON YOU SAILORS! Score Prediction Joseph, Ethan, and myself predict the scores, and track our success in a table. Stay tuned to find out who is the prediction king! 3 points for exact scoreline predicted correctly, 2 points for predicting the winner and margin of victory correctly (but not the exact scoreline), and 1 point for predicting the outcome correctly (win, lose or draw). Eddy’s prediction: YL 0 LCS 6 Ethan’s prediction: YL 0 LCS 4 Joseph’s prediction: YL 1 LCS 4 And here’s the leaderboard – Written by Eddy Hirono If you’d like to support the work we do here at SailorFanTalk, you may want to visit https://ko-fi.com/sailorfantalk and leave us a tip!

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[Post-Match Thoughts] Five-Star Performance (Hougang 0 LCS 5)

2 Comments / Post-Match Thoughts / Eddy Hirono

Life is much easier, and writing is much easier when the Sailors win, and win in such fashion. If you thought that this game was a walk in the park (which was something we suggested in our preview), then you’d be both wrong and right. To help illustrate that, let’s take a look at the stats. Some very interesting stats. You would be forgiven for thinking that the Sailors were lucky to win the game if you look at the respective xG achieved by each team. However, that came down to two reasons – more patient chance creation, and better individual quality. More Patient Chance Creation 2.5 xG vs 2 xG suggests that Hougang created nearly as good chances as the Sailors did – however one look at the Shots stat changes that thought. Hougang took 25 shots, mostly speculative, while the Sailors were a bit more patient with their possession, and took only 15 shots. If you do some very basic back-of-the-napkin math, Hougang clocked in at 0.08xG per shot taken, while the Sailors clocked in at 0.17xG per shot taken – so each Sailors shot was twice as likely to make it into the back of the net. That probably accounts for the Sailors’ high passing stat as well. As much as Hougang are a possession-hungry team (this was only their 2nd out of 8 games where they have less possession than their opponents), the Sailors played more passes than Hougang, perhaps in a bid to fashion better chances for their forwards. I will now show you a comparison of Sailors shots against Hougang shots, with a particular emphasis on shots that are 0.20xG and above. Hougang’s shots above 0.20xG LCS’s shots above 0.20xG (Diego’s goal + 2 Abdul Rasaq goals) In fact, if you look at Hougang’s shot chart, 14 of their 25 shots came from non-threatening areas of the pitch. Of these 14 shots, only 4 made it on target. Perhaps with a little more patience, Hougang could have fashioned slightly better shooting opportunities. That being said – Coach Risto and his staff must be analysing the tape to see if they can limit the number of shots being taken. Even if these shots are from non-threatening range, how many times have we seen bad things happen just by virtue of the fact that the ball is in dangerous areas? A wicked deflection off a defender leaving a keeper stranded, an unsighted goalkeeper not seeing a shot till it’s too late because of the mass of bodies in front of him, an unlucky bounce off an uneven pitch (thank goodness TPY Stadium is no more), a save that is parried out to another attacker – the possibilities are endless. To achieve true domination and to allow for less variables in the game, we should be trying to limit our opponents from taking such shots. Looking at the graphic above, 11 of those shots were in a decent area, and 3 were on target. On another day, some of these will go in, or lead to major chaos. Better Individual Quality SPL Twitter, SPH, and the club’s official website all led with similar headlines – Maxime Lestienne stole the show. It’d take a real fool or contrarian to argue that Maxime didn’t have a good game. 2 goals, 2 assists, all of which where he looked a class apart from the rest on the pitch. He kicked things off with a stunning free kick, and wrapped things up with an unerring finish into the far corner after blitzing past the Hougang defence. In between, he was involved in what is becoming a trademark cutback for Abdul Rasaq to finish, and also a move straight from the futsal courts where Diego used him to hold up the ball and then release to him for an easy finish in the box. It’s now 5 goals, and 8 assists in 7 games for our Belgian superstar – the only game where he did not register a goal or an assist is the 4-0 defeat to Albirex where we were reduced to ten men for the majority of the game. Even opposition fans will concede that Maxime is a class apart, and this ties in to the point made earlier. I showed you the graphic with 3 of our goals being 0.20xG and above. Well, the other 2 goals were below 0.20xG and they were Maxime’s goals. One was the beautiful freekick that had Zaiful Nizam grasping at thin air, while the other was pretty underrated if you ask me. Media outlets described it as a “neat finish”, but I don’t think that does justice to the difficulty of the finish, especially given that Zaiful is a very accomplished keeper. Maxime basically put it into the only part of the goal where Zaiful would not be able to reach, and that finish, particularly while running at pace, is not an easy one. But the night wasn’t just about Maxime. Shoutout also to Zharfan, Abdul Rasaq, and maybe a surprise one in this list, Anu. Let me elaborate Zharfan In the post-match reactions, I spoke to a fan and assumed that he would name Maxime as Man of the Match, given he notched 2 goals and 2 assists. However, I was caught by surprise a little as he named Zharfan as his pick for Man of the Match. And that got me thinking – while the score was 5-0, games really can turn on moments. Hougang is a team low on confidence, but what would have happened if they managed to get one or two goals when the Sailors had not raced away to a 3-goal lead yet? That might have turned the game, and if you look back at the game, Zharfan did pull off some crucial saves, not least the double save from Sahil who absolutely thwacked the ball at goal from a narrow angle, which was followed up by a good parry when Gabriel Quak tried to curl

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[Preview] Tampines Rovers v LCS – Stopping the Top Team in the League

2 Comments / Match Previews / Eddy Hirono

If you read the title of this post and felt it was familiar, you’re right. Our last post was titled “Stopping the Top-Scorers in the League”. Balestier Khalsa came in to the last game as top-scorers of the league with a swashbuckling style of football that ensured goals at both ends, but after a convincing 3-0 win against them, we are now the top-scorers in the league, with 12 goals after 5 games. Leaving aside the 4-0 defeat against Albirex, we have scored three goals in every game and generally looked comfortable, if not fantastic. Why are Tampines the top team in the league though? Through a combination of watching the matches, combing through the stats, and talking to my fellow fans of the SPL, I had hoped to conclude that it’s because of luck. However, it really isn’t. They are controlling their games well, scoring goals, and Faris has really found his groove. Bad news for us. Tampines in Control There’s a whole bunch of stats up there for you to take notice of, but I try to focus on Tampines’s very impressive average Opponent’s xG of 0.67. This probably goes a long way to explaining how they have kept all those clean sheets, including against Albirex. Their defence looks a lot more settled than at the same stage last season, where they had already conceded 9 in their first 5 games. Credit that to the addition of Milos Zlatkovic maybe, but my opinion is that it’s more than just that. Tampines are in control. They have a very impressive ball possession percentage of 63%, and an accurate passing percentage of 87%. This alone does not always tell the full story as there are teams that achieve high passing percentages because they just pass the ball aimlessly around the back without actually going forward or trying to create anything. This is why I included the last stat in the table above – entrances to the final third. This shows that as much as Tampines like to knock the ball around at the back, they also do get forward, and do in fact get the ball into the final third far more often than the Sailors do. It is pretty telling as well, that going into this match, Zharfan Rohaizad has the most saves of any goalkeeper this season. In previous articles, I gave praise to the Sailors defence for mostly limiting shots from our opponents to speculative efforts from outside the box, but conceding a high number of shots on target can still potentially bite us in the ass, as it leaves us vulnerable to any number of things that could happen from those shots – keeper blunders, rebound goals, a sense of unease spreading through the defence and the fans, etc. Faris Ram(li) Has Got it Going On Faris Ramli is a man on fire, and a man with a point to prove. Before we talk about his goalscoring achievements this season, I feel I am obliged to say that Faris is a real gem of a person. He was released by the Sailors but unlike others (or maybe just one player) who were released, he was professional till the end, and never moaned and whined about not getting a new contract. I mean, that’s what a contract is, isn’t it? It works both ways. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, a long contract is a double-edged sword for a player. While it guarantees financial security, it can also mean that they will find it hard to get offers for them when they are playing well, because the club can just point to the contract and say “nope, if you want my guy, you’re gonna have to pay what we want”. Even if there were some hard feelings about not being retained, Faris thanked the fans, still maintains a good relationship with us, and bade farewell to us with a cracking goal against Dortmund. (I am just jinxing myself, aren’t I? He is gonna score a last-minute winner, run the length of OTH and do a knee slide right in front of the LCS fans? Hahahaha hope not!) But back to the football. Faris Ramli, 4 goals in 5 games, what a start. Add to that 2 assists as well to Boris Kopitovic, and you can see that he is really in top form. For context, Faris only scored a total of 4 goals last season for LCS (including cup games). I am happy for him that he has been able to rehabilitate his career and his reputation a little, even if it sucks that he is doing it in the black and yellow of Tampines Rovers. Let’s hope he doesn’t score tonight, and if he does, let’s hope he doesn’t celebrate it that hard. Diego and Maxime But it’s not all doom and gloom, is it? Of course it isn’t. This will be the first time that Diego and Maxime start a match against Tampines together, and as far as I know, they are not weighed down by any injuries or niggles. This is something that we should be excited about. As much as Tampines’ defence has improved, we all know what Diego and Maxime can do together. Just ask Daegu last season. This season, the pair of them have started off really well too and are both at their creative best. I’ll let the numbers speak for themselves. Those stats are not even funny. They lead the league in terms of accurate key passes – meaning passes that lead to a shot being taken. The gulf between Maxime and the rest of the league seems funny, but it’s true. And we all know how difficult teams have found it to keep this pair at bay. With a combined total of 8 assists between them, I am very excited to see what they can do against this new-look Tampines defence. I only wish we had Kodai Tanaka to gobble up these chances. If

[Preview] Tampines Rovers v LCS – Stopping the Top Team in the League Read More »

[Tactical Analysis] Room For Improvement (LCS 3 DPMM Brunei 1)

[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

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