League leaders HU play Singtel Cup Champions, Woodlands tomorrow in the Quater Final of the Singapore Cup.
HU suffered their 1st league defeat of the season at the hands of the RAMS and with morale at a low after a hard fought game against gombak, the RAMS have every chance of salvaging at least a draw to bring back to their northen base.
Year in year out, the RAMS have been underachievers of the league, signing prominent players like Agu, Dickson, Bennett but still never seriously challenged for top honours in the past yrs. This season, with the exception of Latiff and Park, the rest of the team hasnt played up to expectations, especially last season Sleague player of the yr, Laakkad Abdelhadi who seems out of sorts recently. Having said that, Jorg Steinbrunner's men always rise to the occassion against the top guns of the league and my prediction is at least a draw for the underachievers given the form the protector is in.
May the best team prevail..
Monday, June 18, 2007
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Before Lady Luck says Bye Bye..
After a third of the season, the media and fans alike have started to brand HU as the title favourites and seem to disregard the challenge posed by tampines n SAFFC who are 2 pts and 7pts adriff but both teams have a game in hand. The big question - Will HU be able to sustain their title challenge?
Below are my thoughts of the team based on the 7-8 games tat I caught them in action.
If there is one player that stood out for the Sleague Leaders, it has to be Lionel Lewis and I am postive all fans alike will agree with me. The 1.88m goalie has performed heroics to propel HU up the table and he is the main reason why HU has the defence has only conceded a miserable 9 goals. When HU played SAF and tampines, Lionel repelled what was thrown at him on numerous occassions and laid the platform for HU victories over those games. Without these 6 points, HU would have been in midtable position. You will be surprised that when HU played the minnows like gombak, liaoning, Lionel was also called into action. To win the title, HU has to ensure that Lionel stays injury free and available for all the games, including those against Sengkang or Korean.
With Vincent Subramaniam at the helm this season, we see a new HU formation of 4-3-1-2, a formation that has not been used in the Steve Darby or Zolst Buch regime. With only 3 midfielders, it has restricted HU to minimal possession in most of the games they played in.
Dakitar might be a combative n aggressive player but no way can he control the middle of the park alone. Thats when Lions internationals Sharil Ishal and Jiayi comes into action. However, it leaves a gap on the flanks when the protectors move forward as their fullbacks, Jummat and Rosman arent as adventurous as their predecessor Sivakumar or Immran Sahib. This has resulted in HU relying heavily on the pace of Ludovick and Indra upfront, a tatic, that has saw them defeated Tampines and SAF despite defending for long periods of the game.
Speaking of Indra, I seriously doubt his ability as a playmaker. Being the first local born player to score 100 sleague goal, he is not the at all well known for his dribbling, vision and passing. By putting him in the hole behind the front 2, the coach is wasting indra's talent and hence we have missed his goals contribution.
Qiu Li has been impressive last season for the young lions but in truth he has been a disappointment this season. The chinese has been rather quiet in the games so far, not helped by Vincent's rotation policy upfront. No doubt he is a great target man, but the coach seems to prefer Ludovick upfront alone, with Qiu Li and Indra supporting from behind. Vicent also has the tendency to leave Kone on the bench and I wonder why. The young Ivorian who usually plays on the left, has explosive pace and maybe tats why Vincent choose to let him come on as a subsitute. Kone is a too shiny a gem to leave on the bench.
IMHO, HU has a potent strikeforce, but it has not been deployed to its fullest potential. They should drop either Qiu Li or Indra and play with onli two upfront. Push Sharil to the right flank and partner Jiayi with Dakitar in the middle of the park with Kone starting on the left of midfield for a more tried and tested 4-4-2 formation.
Another achillies heel facing the protector is their lack of depth on the bench, especially in the defence department. Their reserve goalie, Ridzuan, was awful 2 seasons ago when he had the chance to prove his worth. And should Mani or Dakitar become unavilable, who can the coach call upon to replace the defensive pillars? The youngsters that have came in for the odd game or two like Hairul Hadar or Syaqir Sulaiman hasnt shown that they are capable of filling the boots.
The league table does not lie and although HU are at the top of the table, the most die-hard of the protectors fan will tell you that they are not playing the most attractive football in the league currently. They need to act fast before lady luck deserts them..
Below are my thoughts of the team based on the 7-8 games tat I caught them in action.
If there is one player that stood out for the Sleague Leaders, it has to be Lionel Lewis and I am postive all fans alike will agree with me. The 1.88m goalie has performed heroics to propel HU up the table and he is the main reason why HU has the defence has only conceded a miserable 9 goals. When HU played SAF and tampines, Lionel repelled what was thrown at him on numerous occassions and laid the platform for HU victories over those games. Without these 6 points, HU would have been in midtable position. You will be surprised that when HU played the minnows like gombak, liaoning, Lionel was also called into action. To win the title, HU has to ensure that Lionel stays injury free and available for all the games, including those against Sengkang or Korean.
With Vincent Subramaniam at the helm this season, we see a new HU formation of 4-3-1-2, a formation that has not been used in the Steve Darby or Zolst Buch regime. With only 3 midfielders, it has restricted HU to minimal possession in most of the games they played in.
Dakitar might be a combative n aggressive player but no way can he control the middle of the park alone. Thats when Lions internationals Sharil Ishal and Jiayi comes into action. However, it leaves a gap on the flanks when the protectors move forward as their fullbacks, Jummat and Rosman arent as adventurous as their predecessor Sivakumar or Immran Sahib. This has resulted in HU relying heavily on the pace of Ludovick and Indra upfront, a tatic, that has saw them defeated Tampines and SAF despite defending for long periods of the game.
Speaking of Indra, I seriously doubt his ability as a playmaker. Being the first local born player to score 100 sleague goal, he is not the at all well known for his dribbling, vision and passing. By putting him in the hole behind the front 2, the coach is wasting indra's talent and hence we have missed his goals contribution.
Qiu Li has been impressive last season for the young lions but in truth he has been a disappointment this season. The chinese has been rather quiet in the games so far, not helped by Vincent's rotation policy upfront. No doubt he is a great target man, but the coach seems to prefer Ludovick upfront alone, with Qiu Li and Indra supporting from behind. Vicent also has the tendency to leave Kone on the bench and I wonder why. The young Ivorian who usually plays on the left, has explosive pace and maybe tats why Vincent choose to let him come on as a subsitute. Kone is a too shiny a gem to leave on the bench.
IMHO, HU has a potent strikeforce, but it has not been deployed to its fullest potential. They should drop either Qiu Li or Indra and play with onli two upfront. Push Sharil to the right flank and partner Jiayi with Dakitar in the middle of the park with Kone starting on the left of midfield for a more tried and tested 4-4-2 formation.
Another achillies heel facing the protector is their lack of depth on the bench, especially in the defence department. Their reserve goalie, Ridzuan, was awful 2 seasons ago when he had the chance to prove his worth. And should Mani or Dakitar become unavilable, who can the coach call upon to replace the defensive pillars? The youngsters that have came in for the odd game or two like Hairul Hadar or Syaqir Sulaiman hasnt shown that they are capable of filling the boots.
The league table does not lie and although HU are at the top of the table, the most die-hard of the protectors fan will tell you that they are not playing the most attractive football in the league currently. They need to act fast before lady luck deserts them..
Monday, June 4, 2007
Which is better? Schooling or Working?
I have been working for a week or so and today is my fifth day of work. Nice environment, friendly colleagues, convenient location, very welfare HR, good prospects? Maybe not..
In any case, I am exhausted after work, maybe its bcos I lose out on my afternoon naps, yes, napS, as I can nap a couple of times in the afternoon. Life has been pretty mundane since I started work. Wake up, go to work, come home, eat and sleep and the cycle repeats. Tats boring isnt it? How I wish I can inject more colors into my dull lifestyle.. I guess I need another week or two before I can accustomed myself to this new "schedule" and hopefully, I would have muster enuff energy to engage in after office hrs activities like shopping, watching soccer or movies...
Who says life is stressful as a student? Revision, tutorials and exams are nothing as compared to working. Its equivalent to getting trapped in a cage from 8-6... BUT no work no $$, so get ur ass moving and start getting serious in ur work..
In any case, I am exhausted after work, maybe its bcos I lose out on my afternoon naps, yes, napS, as I can nap a couple of times in the afternoon. Life has been pretty mundane since I started work. Wake up, go to work, come home, eat and sleep and the cycle repeats. Tats boring isnt it? How I wish I can inject more colors into my dull lifestyle.. I guess I need another week or two before I can accustomed myself to this new "schedule" and hopefully, I would have muster enuff energy to engage in after office hrs activities like shopping, watching soccer or movies...
Who says life is stressful as a student? Revision, tutorials and exams are nothing as compared to working. Its equivalent to getting trapped in a cage from 8-6... BUT no work no $$, so get ur ass moving and start getting serious in ur work..
Answers to the Quiz
Stadium 1 - National Stadium
Stadium 2 - Jurong West Stadium
Stadium 3 - Choa Chu Kang Stadium (s-league stadium with largest scoreboard other than Jalan
besar)
Stadium 4 - Jalan Besar Stadium (Vincent and Surachai seated)
Stadium 5 - Queenstown Stadium
Stadium 6 - Woodlands Stadium (next to the sports hall)
Stadium 7 - BISHAN Stadium
Stadium 8 - Toa Payoh Stadium
Stadium 9 - Hougang Stadium (onli stadium with such settings n flag posts)
Stadium 10 - Tampines Stadium (hyundai adver board and NTUC income building behind)
Stadium 2 - Jurong West Stadium
Stadium 3 - Choa Chu Kang Stadium (s-league stadium with largest scoreboard other than Jalan
besar)
Stadium 4 - Jalan Besar Stadium (Vincent and Surachai seated)
Stadium 5 - Queenstown Stadium
Stadium 6 - Woodlands Stadium (next to the sports hall)
Stadium 7 - BISHAN Stadium
Stadium 8 - Toa Payoh Stadium
Stadium 9 - Hougang Stadium (onli stadium with such settings n flag posts)
Stadium 10 - Tampines Stadium (hyundai adver board and NTUC income building behind)
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