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On-song Dolphins pose tricky test for Etoile
Paul Green
info@sleague.com
The visiting side only recently moved off the bottom of the Great Eastern-YEO’S S.League while the home team, Etoile FC, just surrendered first place to Tampines Rovers after defeats in two of their last three games, including a last home game loss at Queenstown Stadium, where Tuesday’s game against Sengkang Punggol is being played.
On form – and ignoring the league positions – the Dolphins are on a roll with two wins out of two, albeit against moderate opposition, while the hosts are on shaky ground after winning only once since a long victorious stretch gave way to a 0-0 home draw against Gombak United at the end of June.
Then followed a loss to Albirex Niigata (Singapore) and another to Beijing Guoan, with a win over the Young Lions in between.
That 2-1 success at Jalan Besar against V. Sundramoorthy’s charges was hard-earned in a game that could so easily have finished 2-2, but for poor finishing at the end of the match by the young Singaporean side.
So, Etoile have been far from convincing of late, allowing injury-troubled Tampines to reclaim top spot after the Frenchmen went down to Beijing at Yishun a week ago.
And with Sengkang keen to add another scalp to their late-season collection and make it three out of three, will Etoile hit the panic button and make changes?
Or will the home team rely on much the same unit that had taken them to the top after a slow start to the season?
Importantly, one of Etoile’s most reliable players, central defender Loic Leclercq, is suspended for this game after picking up his seventh caution of the season against Beijing.
Meanwhile Sengkang will have their otherwise ever-present left-sided player Duncan David Elias back, after his own enforced disciplinary break has been completed.
The visiting Dolphins will, of course, have to do without suspended midfielder and usual skipper Nor Azli Yusoff, so vice-captain Kenji Arai, the winning goalscorer from their last game against Balestier Khalsa, will take the armband.
All of the Etoile players are available to play, except long-term injury victim Andrea Damiani and Leclercq.
After their last home game against Albirex and the last match at Yishun Stadium, coach Patrick Vallee was asked if he felt he needed to change much for this upcoming match in terms of tactics, team selection or giving special attention to any opposition players.
“No, our approach to this game is the same as for all matches,” was his response on the eve of the match.
“We intend to play good football. We have prepared the team in order to win tomorrow against Sengkang.”
Sengkang had given Etoile a difficult game early in the season when they drew with them 2-2 at Jalan Besar, and then lost only 0-1 at the same stadium later on in the season.
Does Vallee think that Sengkang is a team that finds it easier to play against his side than against some other teams?
It does bear noting that until their last two games when they won 1-0, they had been getting no decent results at all.
Vallee acknowledged this.
“The last two games, they got good results. We know it’s a good team and that it will be a very hard game (again) for us,” he said.
There is a chance that Jordan Webb will play against the French team, even though he has missed a lot of games for Sengkang.
After the last match when Canadian wingman Webb came off the bench and had a strong late second half, Dolphins coach Aide Iskandar said that the club had been holding the player back until he was fitter and could make more of an impact, and the results were there for all to see against Balestier.
Webb’s possible inclusion in the Sengkang side, maybe even from the start this time, holds no special concerns for Vallee and his team, though.
“We don’t know his fitness (levels) so we cannot talk about him,” said Vallee.
“We only know he is a good player.”
With so much rain about and heavy pitches the norm rather than the exception at the moment, one might imagine the French camp might be a little concerned about the likely condition of the pitch on matchday at Queenstown.
Again, however, the coach dismissed such suggestions.
“The field is the same for the both teams,” he said.
“Our goal is to play good football and keep our French style.
“We were able to train normally on Monday evening even though the pitch was not in a very good condition,” he insisted.
Going by trends, the match is likely to be a close one and Etoile, though hot favourites in the minds of many, will not have things all their own way by any means.
Encouraged by the demolition job done on Etoile by Chinese side Beijing last week and by the smash-and-grab raid executed by Albirex before that, Sengkang will fancy their chances of at least snatching a draw or even an upset win, more so considering how little they have to lose.
They have their tails up, Webb is back and Elias is available again. All those factors point to a strong showing.
Etoile, on the other hand, have the chance to reclaim top spot at least until Wednesday, when Tampines get to grips with Gombak United at Jalan Besar Stadium.
While the battle at the bottom may be easing a little, the tussle at the top has never been tighter. |
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