Best heads forward for Albirex
Gary Koh
info@sleague.com
Albirex Niigata (Singapore) avenged their opening-day loss to Geylang United by using their heads as they claimed a comfortable 2-0 victory at Jalan Besar on Friday evening.
Goals from Taisuke Akiyoshi and Kenji Adachihara, each nodded home either side of half time, allowed the White Swans to climb to eighth in the league standings, one spot behind their defeated opponents.
The young Japanese went into the game with goalkeeper Junichi Watanabe making his full league debut in place of suspended first-choice Yoshito Matsushita.
Meanwhile Eagles defender Jonathan Xu replaced the banned Baihakki Khaizan at the backline, while Farhan Farook was tasked to lead the attack as their lone forward.
Albirex got off to a dream start after just four minutes, when Akiyoshi timed his run perfectly to power in a header at the far post off an Akira Takase cross on the right.
They strengthened their grip on the game after that early goal as they attacked the Geylang half with their short passing and quick movement play.
Their dominance almost resulted in another goal close to the half-hour, when Takase fed Tetsuya Kishida through in the box, only to see the latter’s attempt blocked by Eagles goalkeeper Yazid Yasin.
Geylang struggled to produce a response to their opponents’ pressure play, and their direct plays towards Farhan, Noor Ali and Syed Thaha often ended up finding a white shirt instead.
Eagles coach Mike Wong decided something had to be done to remedy the worsening situation, and sent on English forward Lloyd Butler in place of the ineffective Farhan after 32 minutes.
The introduction improved little as the forwards were often left frustrated by Albirex’s well-marshalled offside trap.
The Japanese nearly went into half-time two goals to good when Kunihiro Honda’s low free kick was firmly held by Yazid at the end of the first period.
If fans of the Bedok-based side were hoping for things to turn their way in the second half, they were to be as disappointed as Wong was.
Albirex might have conceded three goals after scoring the opener the last time these two sides had met, but that was way back in February, when the team had yet to settle down as a unit.
Three months on, the same group of players have shown a vastly-improved level of mutual understanding, and there was much more awareness and purpose to their play as they confidently dealt with whatever their opponents could hurl at them.
As the minutes ticked away, Geylang desperately tried to up their tempo in attack, throwing men forward in search for the equalizer that never came.
The Eagles were often caught by the timeliness of the offside traps from the Albirex defence, leaving Watanabe with little to do.
That left the blue shirts to resort to rough physical challenges in their panic to regain possession and launch another wave of attack.
The White Swans custodian was finally called into action on 70 minutes, when he punched away a Butler header off a Noor Ali cross before clutching a follow-up from Slovakian midfielder Miroslav Latiak.
Geylang paid for their inability to break through seven minutes from time, when Albirex top scorer Adachihara headed in his sixth league goal of the season after Ken Matsumoto exploited the space on the right to run through and cross from the goalline.
Down by two goals, the Eagles found no way through and ended their night goalless as late attempts from Butler and substitute Ashrin Shariff went begging.
Albirex coach Naoki Nauro was heartened of his boys’ sustained progress after they have settled down from their slow start to the season.
“Tonight I am pleased that we could use our style of play according to our plan, rather than the victory in itself,” he beamed.
“Every game we try to go about improving our game for the next match and learn how to avoid the mistakes we made in the last game.
“I am happy with the strides the team have made so far.”
He also revealed how the White Swans had tactically kept their opponents at bay and protected Watanabe with their organized offside traps.
“We had a concept for our game, that was to control the defence and push forward as much as we could,” he explained.
“Our outfield players attacked well from start to finish. We succeeded in pushing the ball far from our goal as much as possible and keeping it in the other half of the pitch.”
His Geylang counterpart Wong pointed out his side’s tactical deficiencies following their second straight league defeat.
“With Baihakki out, the stability was missing and it became a five-man defence as the left and right wingbacks dropped too deep to protect Jonathan, who was making his first start of the season,” he lamented.
“The wingbacks were supposed to compete and support the attack. When they did not compete, the team looked disorganized.
“Farhan dropped too deep back which allowed Albirex to come in and take advantage of the space. The moment the penetration was lacking, it became 5-5-0.
“Our movement up and down the defensive line was not so good and we needed to be stronger in the middle.
“I would also have preferred the forwards to push up and go past the defence instead of getting anxious and trying to get behind instead.”
The former national age-group coach admitted his men failed in their tasks against an impressive opponent.
“Albirex played good football and had nice off-the-ball running. They played between the defence line and the midfield line, killed the space to win the ball,” he noted.
“I had told the players to watch out in particular for the off-the-ball movement but they failed to close down the gaps and keep an eye on their running.
“Our central midfield was inconsistent while we were too anxious to get behind the defence with our long balls.
“In the second half, we showed more urgency and had better movement. We had some opportunities, especially late in the game, but we did not take them.
“As we pushed men forward, our defence opened up and Albirex exploited the gaps to score the second goal.”
With the latest setback, Wong warned the players that their livelihoods were at stake if they wanted to make the most of their careers at Bedok.
“While we missed Baihakki, any player who takes over in his place has to perform. As professional players, they have no excuse for not performing,” he said.
“Some of them lacked urgency in their jobs not just on the field, but also off the field and I would need to talk to them about this.
“Whether he is a regular or a bench player, everyone has to fight for his first team place. It is their responsibility as it is their job that feeds their families.
“We have 19 in the first team plus two from the Prime League. We can manage without the suspended two players (Baihakki and Thaha) for the next game against SAFFC.
“If we cannot even manage this, then the players might as well pack up and sell roti prata!”
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