Balestier Khalsa looking to put more pressure on Home

This evening sees Balestier Khalsa take on a Home United team who are looking to bounce back after a humiliating mid-week defeat in the AFC Cup. Both teams are sharing Bishan Stadium this season making this match a local derby that neither set of supporters will want to lose.

Balestier Khalsa have had a solid, if unspectacular, start to the season and currently lie in fourth place. Balestier are looking to improve on last season when they found goals hard to come by, scoring only 25 times in 26 games and finishing in the bottom half of the table. Balestier search for more threat upfront saw them release both of their foreign strikers during the pre-season. Top scorer Keegan Linderboom, who found the net only 6 times last year, and his Croatian teammate Vedran Mesec, who only scored twice in 17 appearances, did not endear themselves to the Tigers' faithful and nobody was too sad to see them leave. Croatian coach Kraljevic, turned to two of his compatriots to address the issues upfront and bought in 23 year old Sime Zuzul and 26 year old Kristijan Krajcek. Shortly after signing Zuzul and Krajcek the 53 year old coach Marko Kraljevic, who also played for the Tigers in the mid 90's, left the club to take the helm at Malaysian second tier outfit Kelantan FA. Balestier turned to local coach Khidhir Khamis who at only 33 years old is the youngest manager ever to take charge of a Singaporean professional team. The choice to go from the experience of Kraljevic, who had been in charge since 2014 when he won coach of the year, to the inexperience of Khidhir raised a few eyebrows but there were no lack of options to choose from. Khidhir beat off 8 other applicants, including several experienced foreign coaches, to land a top job at Balestier. Khidhir was quoted as saying "As far as I see it, we'll go into matches and we're either going to win, or learn"; he will have to learn quickly if he is to challenge at the top of the league this year.

They began by demolishing Young Lions 4-1 with 2 goals from Zuzul on his debut. The striker has already equaled Mesec's goal return last season and his physical presence up front looks set to cause problems for a Home United defence that has struggled to deal with crosses so far this season. Balestier's midfield maestro Hazzuwan Halim also got himself on the scoresheet and looks set for another strong season. Hazzuwan has worked his way up from the youth team at Balestier and is a vital part of the team. He was joint top scorer last season and will be looking to chip in with more goals this year. Hazzuwan won the 2017 young player of the year award after a season in which he played up front for the Tigers, he is expected to play a deeper role today against Home and will look to dictate the tempo of the game. The tigers look more dangerous up front this season and will be able to take advantage of any mistakes by the Home United defence.

Zuzul scored twice in the opening game of the season

Balestier's second game of the season saw them take on an attack minded Hougang United. Hougang may have dominated possession but Balestier were well organised and difficult to break down. Hougang were only able to score once to win 1-0 and Balestier were perhaps unfortunate not to walk away with a point in a game that many expected them to lose heavily. The signing of former U23 national captain Illyas Lee has no doubt improved Balestier backline, the Tigers will be confident of keeping a clean sheet against a Home United team that has looked toothless upfront so far this season.

Despite Home United's well documented troubles they are still likely to be favourites for today's game. Khidhir told the New Paper that "Maybe Home lost their confidence, but they have quality players who have resilience and, most importantly, know how to bounce back. We have to be careful not to be overconfident." Overconfidence is certainly not Home United's biggest concern. The 5-0 loss against Kaya FC in the AFC Cup this week follows consecutive defeats in the league that included losing 5-1 to high flying Tampines. Home's defence is an obvious area of concern, they have conceeded 10 goals in the last two games and constantly look likely to make errors, the expected absence of first-choice goalkeeper Rudy Khairullah will only add to this concern. Home's second choice goalkeeper Haikal Hasnol was at fault for at least two of the goals during the week, his tendency to flap at crosses will fill Zuzul with confidence. Expect Balestier to bombard the Home box with high balls should Haikal start later today. Home have looked weak in both full back positions, Ho Wai Loon and Faritz Hameed need to concentrate more and ensure that Balestier are not gifted too many opportunities.

Home's problems are not only in defence. The team have only scored 3 times in their opening 6 games. Home have played some good football this year and have shown that they are able to keep possession well. Against Kaya they enjoyed more than 60% of the ball but could not create enough chances. When they did, Isaka Cernak was again wasteful in front of goal in the Philippines and he seems incapable of providing the goals that Home are looking for. The long term absence of Song Ui-Young, who scored 20 times last year, has been hard for the Protectors to deal with, he is not expceted to return until after the international break. Song's replacements, an aging Shahril, is yet to find the net this year and looks increasingly isolated up front, Home need to get crosses into the box if they expect Shahril to solve the goal scoring problems, he simply lacks the pace to get onto the end of the through balls which Song loves. Last year's young player of the year, Adam Swandi, hasn't yet showed the ability he demonstrated last season when playing for Albirex. Swandi has been left out of the Singaporean national team for the Airmarine Cup and looks low on confidence. Saswadimata Dasuki needs to find a role for Swandi in the team and make sure he is spending more time supporting Sharil rather than providing cover for Home's error prone full backs Ho Wai Loon and Faritz Hameed.

Both teams will be looking to go into the international break with something positive from today's game. I can't see Home keeping a clean sheet in this one and expect Zuzul to get on the end of at least one cross. However, I can also see Home scoring, probably through Adam Swandi who will be keen to remind the new Singaporean national team coach that he should still be at the forefront of the national team's plans. I predict a score draw for this game and think both teams would be happy with this. Home are just desperate for the upcoming international break to shift the focus away from them and onto the national team while Balestier would see it as a point gained against one of the league's best teams.

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