Jakarta Casual

On the 6th February, Lion City Sailors announced coach Aleksandar Rankovic was out despite the team unbeaten and top of the Premier League. Perceived wisdom is that losses in the ASEAN Club Championship against Nam Dinh and Svay Rieng sealed his fate.

I remember thinking at the time there was an arrogance about such a move. Yes, LCS were imperious domestically and yes the club owners may think the club is too big for their league and they should be doing better regionally. They were also knocked out of the AFC Champions League 2 at the group stage.

Getting rid of Rankovic with the team boasting a perfect eight wins from eight games and a newly acquired Singappore Cup in the trophy cabinet does suggest the owners sensed retaining their Premier League title isn't in any danger and they felt sure a new guy could just come in and keep the machine ticking over.

Then events on the pitch turned around and bit them on the bum. 

First up was a 1-1 draw against rivals Tampines Rovers - their first points dropped of the season. 

Next came a superbly ding dong affair against Albirex Niigata. The Champions came from 2-0 on 14 minutes to 2-2 in the second half before Komei Lida made it 3-2 and a nervy ending ensued before Sailors keeper Ivan Susak levelled in the 8th minute of injury time.

On paper, two points against two sides isn't that much of a disaster and, unlike Johor Darul Ta'zim across the Causeway in Malaysia, LCS were always going to drop points at some stage. But to draw two games in quick succession conceding four goals along the way, they had conceded four in their previous 10 games (!), hot on the heels of changing coach may cause some butterflies on deck.

Not forgetting the Sailors have also lost the services of Maxime Lestienne, one of the finest imports to the game in many years.

It's all well and good a club acting like they're Chelsea and always looking to replace a coach for falling short but they need to be sure what they have built behind the scenes is strong enough to withstand any change in the helmsman.

This weekend they play Geylang International and while the Eagles may not be the freescoring loons they were last season, on their day they can ask anyone questions. And Tampines, with four wins in their last five games come up against bottom of the table Young Lions, waiting to pounce on another Sailors slip.

New coach Jesus Casas will be hoping his Sailors return to the form that saw them storm to the top of the table or he could be feeling the pressure a bit quicker than he might have expected.

# posted by Me @ 5:56 PM