Going Out Of Style
Dark Times Ahead
If observers were wondering whether
Tian Yonghang's intent to break up the squad had done a number on the team's mentality, they had to look no further than today's 0-7 collapse against SingaStyle, on his coaching debut in the league. This was quite simply the worst that this Grilled side had played in many a season, as they totally lost themselves, at Singa Arena.
The top-of-the-table clash had been billed as giving whoever won it a big leg up towards the title, but after Tian's announcement, it was clear that the Birds could not realistically stay in contention - if his initiative towards hocking nearly the whole first team off in the next few weeks goes through. In these circumstances, the soon-to-no-longer-be Birds stars surely could not help but recognize their final matches as simply putting themselves in the shop windows, and many of them reacted quite poorly to that.
Not only that, an ambitious SingaStyle side entering its prime had to be one of the worst opponents for a Grilled XI in such a frame of mind; their Dutch head coach Lukas Hameleers had spoken of his core maturing as a unit, and with all their starters save defender Sieb Kempers indeed just reaching 30 years of age or slightly younger, they definitely had the legs and brain to challenge the Birds. To compound matters, Tian would go with a lightweight midfield trio of Chu, Kamel and Kannan - none exactly known as an anchor - and the expected soon happened.
It would first take twenty-odd minutes of grinding the visitors down, as SingaStyle raised themselves above the standards exhibited in their five-all draw in the teams' previous encounter this season. They had been more cautious with a 3-5-2 then, but exchanged sweeper Chen How Ming for an extra Tomas Cosio at forward today, which happened to be just what they needed to counter Grilled. Cosio's link-up between midfield and attack was just what they had been missing, and with the Birds forced on the defensive, the way was opened for former Austrian youth international winger Erwin Küng to run at Chu and then Douglas in the the 25th minute, before sidefooting neatly into the far corner.
This was a great finish that only lifted the hosts, and the Birds' fightback would go awry almost immediately, with
Salah Kamel booked for going hard - but seemingly fairly - into Umberto Benveniste. On another day, this might have been a turnover to spark a counter, but today it was just what SingaStyle built their second goal off. The match resumed with it being pumped into the Birds' penalty area after a long stoppage, and Procopio Dagnino struck it between
Jānis Salmiņš' legs on the turn, apparently unknowingly.
Grilled were served further notice that this just wouldn't be their day, as
Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud and then
Bilal Mohammad Harun found themselves choking at the last moment when presented with good opportunities next, while Fernando Tomás Soares delivered from the other flank for SingaStyle in between. In fact, it might well have been four as Soares made to punish Salmiņš for venturing out too far in the 36th minute with an audacious lob from over thirty yards, and the goalkeeper's blushes would be saved only due to it veering marginally wide at the end.
The break brought some respite for the Birds, and they would reorganize themselves with Panigrahi off for
Gilbert Webb, who as it turned out was no better equipped to deal with SingaStyle's forwards. Nevertheless, Grilled again wouldn't do too badly for the first fifteen minutes or so of the second half, and they even came closest to scoring through
Chan Ze Han four minutes in. Chan's strike was uncharacteristically hesitant, sadly, nothing that would bother Suhe Tegus much.
SingaStyle would then explode back into the foreground in the 62nd minute, with Dagnino again tearing it up on the right. None of the Grilled players near him knew quite what to do with his inventiveness, which Chan having to fall back to try and cover at times - which did nothing for the Birds' attacking threat. Even that would not be enough to prevent the Italian from getting it to Daniel Salaun eventually, and Salaun would cut powerfully to the inside of Webb, before unleashing his left foot for 4-0.
Petronel Paneş slipped through on the kick-off return with the Birds half-looking like they had given up, which had captain
Moey Xin Seng trying - largely in vain - to raise his teammates' spirits. There was scarce little hint of the joy, or even the base pride, that this sorry band in green had managed over the past glittering seasons, as they yielded ground more easily than not.
Douglas Carapaica could hardly be blamed for resorting to a sliding challenge on Neo Ting Feng in the 71st after being hung out to dry, and the former Singapore international would have to depart with a crocked ankle, after it went awry.
Ulrich Grasser would replace Neo as Douglas followed Kamel into the referee's bad books, and it was just Grilled going through the motions now. Salaun added a sixth five minutes from time, mercilessly showing the 37 year-old Webb up, for his loss of pace. Abd Hadi seemed almost relieved to come off for
José Luiz Velho for the final few minutes, and the Brazilian ironically came perhaps the closest that any of his mates had to a consolation, but would be denied by Tegus' quick recovery. Instead, it would be Cosio to stick the dagger in, with his commanding header in extended injury time.
