Submitted by: Kingkiki lover | 13th December 2023
Firstly, congratulations to the boys on being runners up in the Singapore Cup!
Tactical Review
Just like the anchor in this picture and the anchor in HaiPhong’s club crest, Haiphong’s badge design really struck a chord of familiarity within me. The anchor evoked memories of my secondary school's logo and a HGFC football player from my secondary school, who we will touch on later in the writeup. (P.S. Guess the player in the polls below.🤣) Just like HaiPhong, my secondary school’s crest also had a big anchor, and the anchor signified “the school’s determination to anchor to its beliefs.” Well, could that be any more true when we take a look at HaiPhong’s possible set-up against us? as well as how we can all be on the same page heading into this final matchday? Let's find out!
Hougang United vs Haiphong fc AFC cup 2023 second leg! Foreign Talents:
We all remember Yuri Mamute from the last preview, right? He was hailed as a Boris Kopitovic-esque player, with that extra flair being that he’s Brazilian. Well, that still holds true, as his holdup play against the Cheetahs the last time out was excellent I must say, but his finishing and final touch to get the ball behind the net have been lacking. However, there’s a situation: he hasn’t been part of Haiphong’s squad since their 4-1 defeat to Sabah. In between this clash and the defeat, it seems like he has missed three games in a row. Whether he would come back into the squad is something we don’t really know, as there have been very few reports on what has happened to him. However, pulling a player back into a game after not playing since early November seems far-fetched.
It's the same story with Ben Van Meurs, who hasn’t played since November 30th. His two latest games, which were his AFC Cup games, showed him not being in the starting XI. He only came on as a substitute in the second half. I'm not sure what might happen, but we can never count him out of this game.
Lucao:
Lucao might be a name you didn’t stumble upon the last time we wrote an article on the first leg. But those who watched the previous encounter would have noticed that he was brought to the bench. Lucao now appears to be the bigger threat to us, as his killer instincts in the box and his tenacity on the ball make him a dynamic player. Lucao, the leading talisman for Haiphong, has been starting a few games and has accumulated five goals in the last five games of the 2023–24 V1 League season.
Unlike Yuri, Lucao is comfortable with both feet and dribbling in the box, which can cause problems for teams. He scored a hattrick, a volley, and a curler into the net recently. He is also not afraid to try different shots, such as a bicycle kick. However, his shooting from outside the box is not spectacular, so it is crucial for the team to close him down and give him little space to pop a shot.
More on Haiphong: Locally, their forwards are of great quality on the ball as well. Look out for their left midfielder in Hoang Nam Luong, who will be a threat down the left as he will look to whip some balls into Lucao. Not going to lie, this makes their gameplay a little one-dimensional. Watching a few of their clips, it seems that they mainly allow the ball to get wide to their wider players before whipping it in or just testing the keeper from far.
Also, keep an eye on Joseph Mbolimbo Mpande, a versatile forward who can play anywhere upfront and could potentially make another appearance in the match, having signed for them in 2019.
Haiphong thrives on controlling the ball and maximizing possession to feed Mpande or Lucao. That said, their defense this season so far hasn’t been great.
But not everything is rosy for them. Since their last match against us, they have not kept a clean sheet in eight games, indicating that they may face further challenges.
Their lone holding midfielder in Bicou is a rugged midfielder and a strong, powerful runner with the ball; he drops back or contributes to numbers in the box during attacking phases. That's a common theme with Haiphong when, in the final third, they try to get their midfielders into the final third to get some bodies behind the ball. And if possible, Bicou does the same, trying to leverage on his tall frame. Haiphong will not go easy on us, and similarly, they would like to get another 3 points in this group after succumbing to a shocking defeat against us.
Once again the weakness of this 4-1-4-1 lineup would generally be being caught in transitions causing them to be disorganised: that’s one of the reasons why we were able to hit them on the counter and grab 2 goals from the previous game to turn the tide. Having a lineup as such also means that when defending there’s more space for wingers and wider players like Nazrul or Amy to come in and attack the space mostly because of how the formation relies on 1 holding midfielder to hold the fort in midfield.
Absence of our midfield stalwarts:
It has been quite some time since our midfield stalwarts in Zul and Shahdan have been gone from the matchday squads. Well, Shahdan wasn't gone too long ago, but his missing a huge chunk of the season made me feel as though he was still absent for ages.
Well, that's besides the point, what I wanted to point out is how deprived of energy and gusto we have looked in many games because of fatigue and lack of rotation. If you were someone from last season looking at Ajay and Irwan Shah as a pairing, it would definitely be something you wouldn’t expect.
Not to mention, that now they are basically starters, and even in the Singapore Cup finals, both of them played the majority of the matches.,
And Ajay wasn’t just treated as that U23 player. He was treated as an important player for the midfield.
His agility, paired with silky smooth ball carrying, acceleration, and work rate, can give some teams a tough time. Irwan Shah’s role of cleaning up the loose balls and stringing up simple passes in the midfield stays relatively the same as when he pivots with Zul, but now, with Ajay’s workrate, it just means that Irwan Shah doesn’t have to get stuck in as much as he would have if someone less mobile was in Ajay’s place.
But this doesn’t mean it is all rainbows and sunshine because we do lack a bit of variety in passing sequences in midfield; the lack of distinct through balls forward or long range passing just means that passes that reach our forwards are more predictable to cut out. That being said, this center midfield pivot isn’t leaving much to be missed from our old pairing. The boys have proven themselves despite the limitations and that is relieving for the fans.
I think our Cubs deserve a chance.
This season has been extremely tiring for the starting XI who play week in and week out, and I'm not talking solely about our continental competitions causing a tightly packed schedule during the later parts of the season, but the mental and physical turmoil in general. This season, we have seen many players enter and exit the treatment room; some stayed for longer, some went in and went out together, and some had relapses.
In question are the usual youth products who have made their appearances in the domestic league before; youth players like Louka, Iryan, and Raimi have all made their debuts. While other youth talents never got a chance like the prodigious Rauf Sanizal.
Well, I’m not expecting any of them to start the game but introducing them earlier in the second half sounds like an option that could be explored! Let’s not forget that players like Rauf, Iryan, and Ashvin have gotten call-ups to the U19 setup recently. But enough said, all I’m hoping for is for the youth to get some game time in this final game, especially when it’s an away game, where we don’t usually experience such atmospheres in Singapore, not to mention HaiPhong’s 30,000 seater capacity stadium and the fact that they are one of the best supported clubs in the V League.
Closing Statements
Trying to understand and predict which players would be in the squad for HaiPhong isn’t the easiest, and well, it shouldn’t be the main point of focus because we have more things to worry about, like how we would be able to maintain a good quantity or quality of attacking situations now with so many players out, like the likes of Hazzuwan, Gabriel, and Kiki. It’s a difficult game for sure, especially with Haiphong’s return of their foreign imports like Lucao and Bicou. They have quality players in every single position. But I have faith in our boys, for sure. We pulled off incredible comebacks throughout the season, and including the 1st leg come-back on the list of feats, we've managed to be the runners-up in the Singapore Cup - with a depleted squad and a controversial first cup game.
The cup final also showed the heart and desire of our boys to control a game where we were unlucky to have a decision against us, and an unlucky deflection. Perhaps only the third goal against us was deserved: Shawal's goal. On another day, especially with more reinforcements, the result could've been different. We didn't park the bus, we brought the game to our opponents. 💪🏼
It’s been a fun season, to say the least. Not so fun in terms of results, but it’s the process and the journey thus far that make it so fruitful for fans and the players as well.
This match won’t be easy considering that HaiPhong’s matchday atmosphere is also immense, so to the cheetahs who might be reading this, we, the fans, will be behind you this Thursday, be it in the form of the Hools over at HaiPhong or the rest of us at home.
Do what you do best and show some character in the process! Play your hearts out and with Semangat, it's the final game of season, so let’s try to get that one last win 🦾. #1H1H
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Haiphong FC Quick Report:
- 4-1-4-1 formation still used
- Dangermen: Viet Hung Trieu, Joseph Mpande, Bicou Bissainthe, Lucao
- Bicou has looked dangerous shooting from outside the box adding to their shots-on-goal percentage.
- Squad will be different from when we faced them back in JBS
- Likes to whip balls in and hope for Lucao to finish them
- 4-1-4-1 formation ensures that they have superiority in numbers in final third
— Tune in to post-match results in our "Upcoming" section of the website after the matchday.
Will Maksimovic Wreak Havoc Again?
0%YES OF COURSE, HE'S AN ABSOLUTE UNIT!
0%Not this time perhaps :/
Who was the player from my secondary school?
0%Irwan Shah
0%Ajay
0%Gabby!
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