Highlights 28 June

Starting Eleven on 28 June
(Hopefully it'll change to Winning Eleven soon);p

Match Highlights

Referee actually walked around to check the pitch before starting the game, much to Adib's astonishment.

Hasan: "They always do that what..."
Adib: "No lah! This is the first time I've seen this!"

Game started, and we took the lead. A diagonal ball from Sufian 23 from the right flank found Firdaus who headed the ball past the keeper. Idea for the assist was thanks to Dedi's Master Plan (refer to prev posts).

While defending a corner, we conceded a penalty even though Hasan was floored by his man. Apparently, according to the ref, number 22 had used his arms to foul his man.

Farhan forgetting that his jersey number was 22, thus unaware ref was referring to him.

Hidayat saved the penalty.

Another diagonal ball (one of several) from man-of-the-match Huzer (at least for our side) found Syarif through on goal. Syarif finished like a pro - he missed by a couple of inches.

An opponent found himself through on goal, and Hidayat slid in after the player pushed the ball past him. The ref, who was rather on the ball, (pun intended) looked like he was reaching for a red. Thankfully he only showed a yellow.

Opponent equalised from the penalty.

Opponent scored again, but writer cannot recall the goal, so someone can edit this part.

Nasir getting a yellow card.

Nasir: "I slid in with my right but my left leg followed through... there was no malicious intent lah..."
(er, it's a Nasir tackle....)

Second half

Just outside our penalty box, Nasir slid in on an opponent and almost had sup tulang for dinner.

Adib: "I was more concerned about the guy's shin than the freekick."

Opponent scored from the freekick.

An audacious attempt at goal from kickoff by Sufian23.

Towards the end of the game, another long through ball from the opponent lead to another goal.

Nasir tackling another guy, and the guy landed on Syarif, who ended up prone on the ground. (That's a Nasir tackle)

Overall

We dominated the game in the opening phase, with some nice play down the flanks, good passing and off-the-ball movements. However, it gradually descended into a washout, as the opponents began to stamp their authority on the game (or perhaps, we allowed them to). We never recovered.

Dedi: "Did you see how they switched play from one flank to the other?"

Huzer: "We played well. They were just better."

Line of the game

Nasir: "Adil told me I could stay above the halfway line..."

Next Game

We will be playing against the Ustaz2 team, who have been hungry for a rematch since they conceded 6 goals against us last year. Again, players may like to consider donning a Ronaldo (former Real Madrid, not wannabe Real Madrid) or Ujfalusi lower body attire. Or Reebok underwear (ref Nasir).

Abu: "I don't go well with holy men."

Tactical Analysis

I'm sure you guys are pretty tired of Dedier Drogba's whining about how the opponent was better and there was nothing we could do. Although individually they were indeed better, as a team we could actually take them on. Just remember how Romania held France n Italy...Here are some tactical thoughts I had...views are entirely my own.

1) Remember the opening 20 minutes when we actually took the game to them? With 3 bouncing through balls to Firdaus that took 2 tries to actually go in, and Syarif's one on one chance? The great interplay down the left flank with Ded, Adib Syarif n Sufian all getting in the action? Thats what we should have maintained. That should have been our game plan. Basically we were pressing them very high up, with Syarif doing a good job closing down the defence and the wingers pushing up to cut off their wingbacks. Also with good, early balls that their defence could not cope. Somehow we slackened off, due to fatigue and prob also cos it may not be our style. That allowed them time and space, which started their dominance...

2) On a side note, I think Huzer should stop suaning Syarif about the missed chance. At the point when Syarif got the thru ball, he has ran 3 times more, at 3 times the pace and his heartrate was prob 3 times that of Huzer. So I understand why he missed. I have been there before. Its tons easier to send a thru ball and watch (and then comment on the miss) then to actually finish the chance. =)

3) No offence to the defenders, but the through ball thingy against us was getting very predictable but we still fell for it again n again. I thought some reaction mid game would be in order, but wat to do. About the defenders' positioning and how to counter that, I will cover in a separate article.

4) Once again, attacking wise, pushing wide and sending in crosses was the way to go. Rem how dangerous Abu's cross was, and how my cross/shot troubled the keeper? We did it well beginning of first half, den stopped until Abu and myself tried..Its something the wingers must think of doing. Hug the line, and cross early.

5) The strikers need to help in closing down, esp Fir. In the second half Adil and myself made a conscious effort to close down their 2 central midfielders together, but was undone once the midfielder turn back and pass to his defender. Closing down cannot be done by one or 2 players la, more must make the effort, then they will gabra and lose possession.

6) One another side note, I feel we should rethink one or 2 of our players' positions. Its obvious Sufian23 is a more attacking, free role kind of player who hardly sticks in a position. That means that putting him as part of a 2 man central midfield partnership is gonna make the central midfield zone a bit empty. He should be playing more as a behind striker role in a 4-4-1-1. An alternative is a right mid slot when we could express his creativity and hopefully send some crosses in. =P
And I'm thinking Syarif is also more of a flank player. His closing down of the wingbacks is quite effective and with his speed he could do some damage on the flanks, right down to the byline.

Thats all for now. Will go to work on the Art of Defending Part 2. We should make a conscious effort to snap this losing streak, and what a good time it will be if not next week on holy ground, where we beat them before. =)

Rgds
Arsene Nasz

22 June: What Happened

sufian23:

ok this is what happened to the game on 22 June, told from my experience...

Pre-Match

the game was arranged on 7 June, when we lost 0-2 to the team in a red (torture's team) at Mango. the contact was one of the oppo players who had another team.

so they had to get a field, and us the ref.

after a hangover from the last game on 15 June, i only started to scout around for a ref on Wed 18 June. by then it seemed that it was too late... and i had exhausted all my ref contacts.

then one of the refs, out of goodwill, said he was willing to ref this game provided we start at 3pm sharp, as he had an NFL game at 5pm at another location. so taht was a done deal, and everyone was informed to be punctual.

Match Day

I left my house at 11.30am to do some shopping before the game.

as i reached Northpoint, the ref (lets call him E) smsed to say he could not make it for the game as he "had to rush to the office". i didnt even bother replying.

thus began a mad scramble to get a ref. adib, shaiful, firdaus, hasan and the oppo were all activated to try get refs, although the lead-up to the game already showed that our chances of getting a ref were like, (Mu)slim. [Muslim is one of our players who comes for games from time to, er,...]

while shopping at Popular and Watson's, i got through to 3 refs.
Ref 1: "springfield too far away, saya jurong ah"
Ref 2: "you check first if game is cancelled, my game at tampines 3pm already cancelled"
Ref 3: "ok, saya on the way to sengkang, ada game 3pm. kalau misalnya cancel, saya call awak by 1.30pm, saya ref game awak, maybe awak ambik saya half way sebab saya tak familiar dengan padang tampines"
i was taking mrt/bus! but gamely, i went: "Ok! nanti saya ambik awak..."

after shopping, i had time to kill, so had light lunch at KFC, while waiting for refs to call back.
Ref 3 called back, "ok game saya cancel, so kita jumpa kat mana? saya tengah tunggu mrt ni..."
Me: "sebenarnya, saya pun naik mrt... saya masih kat yishun" Read: "aku masih tengah makan kat KFC!"
Ref 3: "oh yishun! mcm gitu kita naik mrt sama2 ah!"
Me: "ok, k... tapi saya rasa saya check padang dulu... dah 2 game kena cancel ah niari"
Timecheck: 12.45pm

then i tried contacting the oppo to check if the field was playable but to no one was picking up the phone.
Timecheck: 1.00pm

Called hasan to check procedure of cancellation of games. Call to cancel game is made by the field caretaker, who will call the person who booked the field. But the person who booked the field is not picking up the blinking phone!

Asked hasan to try SSC to check if game is on. Hasan called SSC, who gave number of Springfield caretaker, who then said he had already called the person to inform that game was cancelled.

-_-

as i was smsing the oppo, they called to inform that, "eh, game cancel ah..." wow, dats news...

so now, after original ref pulled out, we got a ref, but now no field.

as i was about to think of calling of the game, hasan comes to the rescue... "Let's try mango..." wokay!
timecheck: 1.20pm

hasan calls back to say mango not available... but the CC says the field at bedok north "yang nasi briyani", is available at 1pm, and 3pm. ok hasan, let's get the field!

so now, after original field cancelled, we managed to get aback up to our back up field. mental note: inform players immediately cos they're on their way to tampines...

meantime, ref keeps calling to check if the game is on cos he's waiting for me at some location... also, i need to inform oppo of latest update. KFC worker clears empty tray sitting at my table for half an hour.

called oppo: "oh, the field at bedok eh? dat one not so good right? (pause) i ask my team first can? get back to you in 5 min..."

walk towards MRT, oppo calls... "Bro, i tnk never mind ah... maybe we play next week? that field is not so good ah, senang injured..."

changed direction, walk towards bus interchange to change my itinerary to go Serangoon, type sms to inform team that game cancelled, got on the bus...

Ref 3 calls... "mcm mana game?"
Me: "game cancel ah..."
Ref 3: "oh, padang tak boleh eh?"
Me: "bukan... padang boleh... opponent pulak pull out.."
Ref 3: "oh bukan padang cancel lah... takpe, takpe, awak carry on, saya cuba carikan awak opponent... insya'Allah ada..."
Me: "ah? er, ok lah..."

change sms, inform team game IS on, venue changed, same time. this is the sms u all received from me. changed back itinerary, got off the bus at yio chu kang, switched to mrt. game on!

mental note: HP battery dying.
battery continues dying as i communicate with hasan and dedi to arrange meeting at eunos. ref calls... he found an oppo!

so now, after original oppo pulled out, we found a new oppo... set ah!

then, city hall mrt station... Ref calls... battery dying, dug for coins, quickly used public phone.
Ref: "Fan, game awak pukul 3 ke pukul 5?"
Me: "pukul 3 lah..." [sensing something is not right]
Ref: "ah, betul lah... saya dah cakap dengan opponent ni pukul 3... dia pegi bilang team dia pukul 5 pulak.... awak tak boleh main pukul 5?"
Me: [remembering hasan's earlier msg] "pukul 5? tak ada ah... kan dah cakap pukul 3... k, saya try lah..."
Ref: "k, k, nanti u call balik..."

hasan's on the way to book the pitch! called hasan hp repeatedly, no reply, sekel tak angkat talipon!... running out of coins. called shai, who's in the toilet, to get hasan's home number...

Hasan sis: "hasan? dia dalam toilet..."
Me: [dlm toilet jugak??] "boleh tolong panggil dia? urgent lah..."
[Hasan comes on the line]
Me: "can we get field for 5pm tak?"
Hasan: " i dun tnk so lah... i cannot get through to mango... and the bedok field, they only tell me 1pm & 3pm..."
Me: "eh?.. ohh... ok lah, (explains situation)..." [plans to call off game]

called ref to cancel game...

5 min later...
Hasan: "Yan, we got a field at 5pm!"
Me: "what? ok k... my hp is dying, i hand over to u k? here's the list of players (stored in hp) to update the situation, and here's the contact for the ref..."

called ref again...

Me: "ok game on! kita dapat padang pukul 5!"
Ref: "ah?? alamak... saya pun dah pening ni... saya dah berapa kali naik turun bas... ok k..."

timecheck: 2.45pm

stopover Raffles place for zuhur and relak jack cos of delayed kickoff.

timecheck: 3.30pm

Raffles Place MRT, found extra coins in pocket.
called hasan: "how is game on?"
hasan: "ok, ref cakap jangan book field dulu... he's still trying to get a team, cos most from the west... yang tadi tu, diorang from bedok, abih nak tahu where's the game... bila dah bilang the location [bedok north], diorang cakap jauh sangat pulak..."
me: "ahh??... abih amacam?"
hasan: "turun aja lah... some of us are here already..."
me: "hmm... ok lah.. i go there now, im at raffles place.."

timecheck: 3.55pm

arrived at Eunos MRT, walked towards bus interchange, changed mind, walk towards public phone and made phone call to hasan...
Hasan: "ah yan... ok, cancelled ah... ref cakap diorang cannot make it ah..."

and so, dats the story.......

any volunteers to liaise the next game? :)

Dedi's Master Plan

Ok guys I know the pic is a bit too small. Just click on the pic and it'll get larger. Or open it in a new window or sth.

Basically, the pic on the left should be where everyone shd be if one of the wingers has the ball. The pic on the right shd be where everyone shd be in a goalkick situation.

Let's start with the small annoying pic on the left.

What i notice while sightseeing down the flanks during our matches is that the winger has the ball and then he tries to run down the flanks, gets cornered by three defenders, loses the ball, and then i have to walk back while shouting, "eh defend la!" I'm sure you understand how frustrating it is to walk to a position while daydreaming and then suddenly your team loses the ball and you're like "what the heck? Basket must walk back."

I think the problem is that sometimes the winger has tunnel vision or sth and does not look for the pass on the inside. As illustrated by the pic on the left, the winger has four options open to him while he is gallivanting down the flanks.

1. First, he can give the thru ball to the RCF. In fact, this was what resulted in the first goal in our previous match. A cool ball by Dedi "Danger" Affandi found Sufian23 on the left, who executed a surgical thru ball to the eventual scorer, Firdaus "Fernando Torres".

2. Second, the winger can choose to cut back and pass it to the centre mid, who can then redistribute the ball. I think the winger should always see this as a realllly good option, especially if he does not possess the blistering pace of Syarif Schweinsteiger. Also, the centre mid is usually in a better position to assess the situation. So when in doubt, pass to Hatta, who incidentally looks like Kaka if you cock your head to one side and squint really hard. It also helps to open up our play, and is damn good if we have centre-mids like adil "owen hargreaves".

3. Third, he can choose to chicken out and pass to the wingback. This is the safest option, unless his wingback is in front of him. This is known to happen in BSRI games. Anyway, once the wingback has the ball, he's supposed to pass it to either the centre mid or the centre back. Either that or lose the ball to an oncoming striker and blame the winger. Alternatively he can just clear the ball. Yup.

4. Fourth, he can switch the play. Huzer is known to do this. If he does, pretend to run for the ball and congratulate him after the match for having "vision". Haha. but seriously, switching the ball or crossing the ball in provides opportunities for the striker and the other winger. yea.

Yea, hope that helps. Hmm i think i'm rambling, and i'm getting bored of writing this. The pic on the right is self-explanatory i think. Just follow the arrows. Yea.

dedier drogba

Shebby/Tohari Analysis

ok, i shall start a bit. i think our game lacks width. cos i remember from what nasir told me last year, when teams defend, they narrow down, i assume to protect the box.

when attacking, teams are supposed to push wide, i assume to make space.

an observation of UCL games will quickly support this. also, a quick tune-in to the blip view of the Euro08 games will also show how teams expand and constrict when defending and attacking.

it explains why, after 0-3 down, and few chances created, i had stood on the left touch line for abt 5min. when the ball came, i was unmarked, cos the oppo can't risk man-marking & stretching themselves in midfield. then, just relay the ball forward, and luckily, firdaus poked it home. :) it really was a conscious effort to try and create a goal.

what im saying is that it stretches the opponents, creates space, provides options for the defensive line and central midfielders to pass, and even goalkicks from the keepers.

we badly need a water-carrier in midfield. i don't think i'm up to it. our last two games have exposed us in midfield, cos i just dun have the fitness to track back all the time, and so-called shield the defence (which ppl like Adil do brilliantly at).

almost always, i know its my man to mark and i can see him getting free, but i choose to leave it, cos chasing back everytime will just make me pancit, obvious esp in last game's heat. sorry guys... those times, were consciously risking conceding goals.

we only conceded a penalty in the 2nd half, so i tnk the switch with Hatta helped to plug the defensive holes.

knowing yourself: i can try create goals but i'll leave the centre super-exposed cos im unable to run box-to-box (at least not yet). so if im not making a contribution to the game, then id rather be a sub. ;)

i also think, myself included, that we look extremely uncomfortable on the ball. we lose a lot of possession from poor first touches, and when we don't, we seem too keen to punt the ball back to the oppo instead of building up passes and a rhythm.

if we noticed, nobody, and i really think nobody, attempts to run with the ball even when there's space. it's okay as a philosophy but i think holding onto the ball for that few seconds can at least:
1) slow down the game when its at a frenetic pace (cos we're not all very fit)
2) put the opponents on the back track
3) allow team-mates time to run into space.
Note: we're not playing rugby, so we dun have to have territorial possession, kick long balls into touch, or go forward all the time.

yep, so far dats about it... sorry ah, but just that, in the last 3 games since i came back, we've been losing lah, so these are just personal observations. u all also give some analysis ah.

cos next week's opponents are going to be equally, if not even more tough.

sufian23

Highlights 15 June 2008

Perhaps, on the back of Singapore's exit from the World Cup Qualifiers the night before, the Emeralds appeared rather unmotivated and sluggish at the start of the game.

Match Higlights

Game started 30min late due to indulgent latecoming by half the team, again.

Opponents dressed in different AC Milan jerseys, with 3 Kaka's playing.

Poor marking and defending led the opponents to race to a 3-0 lead.

First half ended at 3-1.

Rennie was later fouled as he was sandwiched by two defenders while racing through on goal. Referee did not show the red card despite suspicions that opponent was the last man.

Confusion among oponents during the freekick as Rennie stood on the goal line beside the keeper, while their defender wanted to join in the tea party before instructed by his team-mate to move-up.

Freekick, just outside the box, was scored by Hatta, amidst protests of offside/obstruction of goalkeeper. Referee allowed the goal. (Dude, if u want the foul, u gotta at least attempt to save the shot ;) & fall, or somthing)

Opponents awarded freekick inside our box due to a backpass picked up by Hidayat. Ensuing freekick clipped the bar before going out.

Penalty awarded against Khairul for handling the ball, despite Adib's claims of ball-to-hand. Opponents scored.

We came back to score a third goal, but reporter missed the action and therefore, its not reflected here. This goal hasn't been updated in the assists/scorers list, so someone do help update k!

Shebby/Tohari Analysis
"If you know both yourself and your enemy, you can come out of hundreds of battles without danger" ~ Sun Tzu

Well, we'll hardly kow much about our opponents, so mebbe we can try knowing ourselves.

Those who regularly visit our blog, do contribute lah.

Highlights 7 June 2008

Starting Lineup, 7 June 2008

On a day of gatecrashes, the host of Euro 08 lost to Czech, Singapore lost to an 80th min Uzbek goal, and of course, we lost our game...

Match Highlights

Match starting late due to indulgent latecoming despite our shortage of players, hahaa..

Torture landing in a pool of water after being tackled, sparking a barrage of undesirable cheerleading from him for the rest of the game.

Syarif having a field day with Torture who, as you can see, managed to stick to him even on our starting lineup.

Syarif getting yellow-carded for a late challenge 'yang kaki boleh patah tau!', followed by a bust-up with Torture.

Rennie getting yellow-carded for another challenge.

Adib screaming "**** Off!" following a dubious offside decision against Syarif.

Fad having a sensational first-half showing, paired with Abu Dzar's unexpected sensational defending in half of the first half.

Huzer jampi-ing his side of the field before coming on (smoke was spotted).

Zarir's many excellent saves, albeit the two goals.

A Raffles rugby jersey making a soccer return.

Us getting only one corner throughout the game.

An open goal miss by (I couldnt see from the bench).

Huzer and Torture rolling in the mud at the far post during a corner.

Sufian's dive and failed attempt to win a freekick.

Learning Points: Hatta's post-match speech.
1) To avoid substitutions when we're having the attacking advantage, so as not to disrupt the flow of the game.
2) Kicking the ball out when our player is injured (or faking injury) is our prerogative - we don't need to kick it out. If opponents have possession, their kicking the ball out of play is then up to their sportsmanship.

Note: Next two upcoming games, opponents are of similar calibre k.

Cancelled

Guys, pls not that the game on Sunday 8 June has been brought forward to Saturday 7 June.

SSC just informed that Changkat Changi Sec have an event on Sunday and they need to use the field. Yeah right! Tell me that the school just started organising their event this week... Sekel punya SSC.

New details available on the right sidebar k.

that uzbek game

well, most of us were at the game. was reading the comments by raddy the next day... dunno what u guys saw, but from the 2nd half, at least, i thought the possession Singapore had could have been better utilised.

in other words, could there have been a tactical mistake?

for all of Raddy's comments that no one is to blame, the Lions were strong-willed, the Uzbeks were too good... no one has asked the coach about his tactics.....

eg. i counted about 5,6 cross field 'david beckham' passes which didn't find the target... and there were times when Singapore outnumbered the Uzbeks when counter-attacking, but we only scored one goal in the 2nd half.

the Uzbeks were good, but 7-3? our defence was indeed poor, but im not convinced we could only get 3, Raddy...

on another note, the papers were right, the Singapore team needs a leader. Indra as captain seems like Owen or Giggs. we need a Stevie G or a Roy Keane... we dun have one.

and for all the possession and space which we had agst the Uzbeks, we didnt have a Hleb or Scholes to think out of the box, especially when the Uzbeks were tiring.

mulling over to watch the Saudi game...


doing a shebby,
sufian23