The 2024/25 Singapore Premier League season preview with Tanjong Pagar Utd FC.
Head Coach, Hasrin Jailani and Team Captain, Akram Azman, joins me as we continue our preview of the season. They summarise the club's poor outing in 2023, feeling the pulse of the locker room as we uncover the trials that tested the Jaguars, from the lack of contribution from foreign players to anemic goal tallies.
We navigate the strategic pivot poised to elevate the team, infusing the roster with foreign flair and fostering youth development.
With the departure of seasoned pros, the stage is set for young blood to seize their moment under the spotlight.
Lets Go!
The 2024/25 Singapore Premier League season preview with Tanjong Pagar Utd FC.
Head Coach, Hasrin Jailani and Team Captain, Akram Azman, joins me as we continue our preview of the season. They summarise the club's poor outing in 2023, feeling the pulse of the locker room as we uncover the trials that tested the Jaguars, from the lack of contribution from foreign players to anemic goal tallies.
We navigate the strategic pivot poised to elevate the team, infusing the roster with foreign flair and fostering youth development.
With the departure of seasoned pros, the stage is set for young blood to seize their moment under the spotlight.
Lets Go!
Hi, we are back on the Silver Fox Hustle podcast and we are doing, as you know, the SPL preview for the season, and we've done a couple of clubs already, and today it's Tanjong Pagar FC's turn, and together with me in the studios is Tanjong Pagar's FC head coach, hazrin Jalani, and their team captain, mr Akram Azman. How are you guys?
Speaker 2:alright fine. So far, so good bro how about you, akram?
Speaker 1:how was the off season from last season? The break?
Speaker 3:I'm good. I'm feeling a lot fresh. This year I came from a really good break when I managed to go for vacation over the last year and came back strong, hoping to do better for the team.
Speaker 1:Beautiful actually, this is the first time that we've got a captain in the studio, so it's a wonderful opportunity for a player as well to express his opinions on the preview. Now, before we start Hazrin for looking forward to the season, let's go back a little bit. We talked about last season, what went on, and it wasn't that great right? You guys finished 8th above the Young Lions only. You guys scored 39 goals, which again I think is one of the not only your problem, it's a couple of teams as well in the SPL they had problems with that as well Conceded 62 goals, you guys only won 6, drew 3 and lost 15. How would you sum up last season, hazmin?
Speaker 2:we start off with you well, if you look at our worst performance, I think I can say that it was in 2020, where we just started to be back in the league, but I think last season was a bit, I think, disappointing for us. Definitely, like you said, I think we just won six games and then we drew three. Most of the time last season, we played with a local backline. I think I just be true to say that. I think the foreigners last year let us down. Blake was the only player I can say that helped us throughout the season, and then we got Mirko. He was in and out as well. Consistency was not there. And then Pedro was out injured and then difficult for him to come in. Marin didn't score enough goals for us. So I can say that you know, it was a very disappointing season where we only have the local players for us to bring the game forward last season.
Speaker 1:Akram, you played last season, obviously, and we come from a coach's perspective looking, you know, in a helicopter view, whatever you want to call it. Akram, you played last season, obviously, and we come from a coach's perspective looking in a helicopter view, whatever you want to call it. Akram, how about you? You played the season as a player. Coming from a player's point of view, how was last season? I mean just looking at the quality and whatever. What was it like for?
Speaker 3:you. In general, of course, I'd agree with Coach Olin that it was really bad for us, but in terms of individual qualities, I think a lot of us Actually had more to offer In terms of be it the locals or the foreigners. In terms of individual technical abilities, I think we were not really. It's not that we couldn't compete, but when we come together on the pitch, I think it's a whole different story. It just comes to the attitude, and most of us, I think we come together on the pitch, I think it's a whole different story. You know, it just comes to the attitude and most of us, I think we were lacking on that aspect throughout the whole season and it really shut us down for the most part of the season.
Speaker 1:I think, azmin, you said something about the foreigners as well. You know, I think, pedro and Marin as well. You know you. Obviously we know Blake, what he did and what he can do. Mirko Sugic was, I think, one of at least the better of the other two, right, but you're going into a season and if you compare that to LCS and whatever, you guys are, on paper, weaker than them, and then when your foreigners don't deliver as well, I think it's always going to be a problem, right? Is that going to be the way forward for you guys this season in terms of trying to improve on that aspect the foreigners, the quality of the foreigners? We will talk about the foreigners later on, but is that one of the aspects you were looking at planning for the season?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think this season itself is already a lot different from the previous season we have a lot of young players. So for the previous season we have a lot of young players. So for us this season we are looking at better foreigners, but we analyse and we look at it that we need to strengthen the middle part of our team, so most of our foreigners are basically on that position.
Speaker 1:The backbone yes, nice, nice, I think both of you basically on that position the backbone, yes, Nice, nice, I think both of you spoke about. You spoke about some of the positives as well, but the negatives were, you know, more than the positives. Let's talk a little bit about the positive part, about the season last season. Hazrin, what did you think that you know was something positive that came out of last season for you?
Speaker 2:guys. For us in Tanjung Pagar, I think the most important thing is for us to let the players express themselves. We have players like Naqiu, who was from LCS and then previous season. We have Zafan, we have Rushidi and all that. Our main aim is always to make them notice by other teams, especially the bigger teams in SPL, so that the players can definitely earn more than what they are supposed to earn, so that, you know, we give them a chance to play and to get noticed. I think that's the main aim and also to develop younger players as well, to make sure that again, they are being noticed by other clubs. You know that they can earn better in terms of their salaries and all that I want to touch on this and again, it's not from me.
Speaker 1:I think there were critics out there who came out we were talking about last season, right, the critics who came out, and even, I think some of the opposing coaches were talking about this as well the style of play, uh, from tanjung paga as well, you guys, and and listen, I, I think right from the start of the season as well, and from the previous year as well, I think noah lamshah came out and said that you know, we are not going to hide things, we are just just, we are very practical. We are going to play direct football, we're going to play to our strengths, right. But there were critics, obviously, who say that you guys play direct and boring football. What are your thoughts, akram?
Speaker 3:I mean, at the end of the day, the coach does what he thinks is best for the team, based on the quality that he has within the team. So you can't really fault anyone. All we're trying to do is just play our game, and we play to win, not play to impress, you know. So, yeah, I think that's just a thing that we try to do here.
Speaker 2:Hazrin your thoughts on this Well, for me it's simple, you know. We don't care about what other coaches or other teams think about us, like what Akram said. You know, most important thing is that we we played according to our strength yeah we try to to win as many games as possible.
Speaker 2:but if that doesn't happen, then you know we are back to the drawing board and then we we try to see what's the best team. Maybe we are a little bit more defensive, and then we try to see what's the best team. Maybe we are a little bit more defensive and then we try to hit teams during the counter, but that's our style, you know. Nobody can say anything.
Speaker 1:Well, I wanted to ask you this later on, because we are looking forward to the season and I wanted to ask you what, in a way, is going to be the playing style for the season. I think I'll ask you this now, right off right Is there going to be a change or is it going to be direct football?
Speaker 2:To be honest, I think what we're trying to do this season, since we have a lot of young players in the team. We're trying to play cliche again. We're trying to play a possession, more possession-based, but maybe going forward we need to be more aggressive that base, but maybe going forward we need to be more aggressive.
Speaker 2:You know that end goal is always to score a goal, rather than you just keep on playing possession at the back or you know so well. I can say that hopefully we can achieve that. Maybe not this season, maybe we are trying to look at maybe 2-3 seasons forward. So we hope that you know we can achieve what we want to do rather than trying to play just defensive football.
Speaker 1:Alright, let's move forward and we talk about the season now. Alright, now before that, I think that are loads of players that you lost. You know, before the season, we talk about Blake, we talk about Sugich, we talk about Tajeli, khairul, khairul Hairi as well Khairul Amri. You know, all these players have left right, to name a few. Was it a case of the finance bit not fitting into the budget or was it tactical decisions? Azrin?
Speaker 2:most of it, I think, because our under-21s did well last season.
Speaker 1:Right, you guys were champions.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we want to give younger players the opportunity because, the players that are not with us anymore. They are at their prime. We look at Khairul Amri, you got Shaqay. They are good players, but at the end we discussed we said that I think it's time for us to move forward and rely on the younger players. Then we see how it goes for the next 2-3 years. So it's all about, I think, progression for the club as well, to look into the future.
Speaker 1:Nice, nice. And what do you think? Missing out on your mates who were playing with you and then they left Akram.
Speaker 3:Personally. For me, I think it's not an issue, because we always move forward in life, so everyone's just a phase. At the end of the day, we always think about who had the most impact in the team. So I have to say Kairou, lamri and Blake, two of the most impactful players in our team and obviously we're going to miss Blake, especially Lodz. He's been working us in the midfield area for far too long. I think he's already feeling the heat for himself.
Speaker 1:He's been overworked, you mean?
Speaker 3:Yeah, maybe so time to give him and then get new players and see what they can offer us.
Speaker 1:Well, someone who has left. I think we need to speak about him Noah Lamshah. He's left the club on an attachment. How big a miss will he be, akram?
Speaker 3:For me it's quite a big miss, because he's helped me a lot throughout since the first time. I've moved post-NS. I came straight to Tanjong Pagar and he's been me a lot throughout since the first time I've moved post NS. I came straight to Tanjong Pagar and he's been a huge help for me in terms of my playing style, improving my gameplay and my game intelligence as well. And also, we all know who he is in the football scene. He's a big player. He's a legend of Singapore football he is in the football scene.
Speaker 3:He's a big player, he's a legend of Singapore football, so obviously he has all these technical and all these tactical aspects that you would want to find out more from him. So, he has that to offer to us, but now he's no longer with us. But I'm pretty sure he's always communicating with the coaching staff and that's not an issue for us. So we always know he has. We have his support behind us, nice, nice.
Speaker 1:And let's talk about the players that have come in, right, there's some new players then. Reza has come in, right, anarki has come back, I think, pratip, the goalkeeper, and a few others. Right, can you speak about a few of them who have come in? And of a few of them who have come in and of course there are many, I think I saw on the website sorry, on Instagram that there are players being promoted from the under-21s. As you said, they were champions last season and they came up. Can you speak about these players coming up and even the new players coming up? What can they give to the team?
Speaker 2:this season. I just start with the under 21 players who was being promoted from last season. I think we've got, yeah, three, three players. As of now. We've got who was there? Farid, yep, and then we've got Zahil Zahil yes, zahil and also Alfian. Three of them. They did very, very well Last season for but we cannot promote Every single one of them, but we will definitely Look at our Under 21 players, for them to sit, even sit on the bench, and then I think, like I said, they give us this youthful and energy To the team. So this is what we want, because we want to progress forward, you know, in terms of energy, especially defensively in the front. I think that's the most important thing for us right now. And then we've got Anaki coming back. He was on loan with us. We wanted him to stay, but he wanted to continue with LCS. As you know for him, he is a very powerful player, strength, wise, you know speed and all that.
Speaker 2:So he will add in to that in our attacking part. Reza, as you know, I think, good player. He was from Young Lions and we went to Tampines. He need that playing time, you know, for him to develop as a better player. He needs that playing time for us. This is what we're going to give him this season, so that you know he can move forward in his career. Then Pratip young goalkeeper as well.
Speaker 2:So another player that can give Fasha a run for his money. Definitely Fasha has to be on his toes. I think Pratip is good enough even for me right now to start a game Still young but I think there's a lot of potential there.
Speaker 1:Run for his money, fasha, I think he needs to run also, akram, it's great that you are here because it's nice. It's a very nice sec, right, because we know now that there's a couple of players being promoted. Right, the youngsters we know that it's probably going to be a very youthful side, you know, with some of the experienced players leaving as well, right, so you are probably one of the more experienced players in the team right now. Right, how important are you guys, people like you, people like fasha, even faisal roslan as well, sharin as well. How you know important are you guys to people like you, people like Fasha, even Faisal Roslan as well, sharin as well. How you know important are you guys to the team now? Because you know they are looking up to you. Now, you know the players who have done it or have played a couple of seasons already. How important are you guys now? Definitely.
Speaker 3:I say we are very and it's not just the importance that we bring to the team but also the responsibility that we uphold from communication wise, showing the willingness to be open with these younger boys. I think it's very important for them as well.
Speaker 3:Yes, they may look up to us, but it is also up to us to decide how we want to portray ourselves to them whether it being a positive impact on them or negative, is up to us, but it is also up to us to decide how we want to portray ourselves to them. Whether it being a positive impact on them or negative is up to us. So, if we want a positive season ahead, definitely these guys including myself, faizal Sharin Fasha and myself we have to step up in terms of our leadership roles and our gameplay as well, to show to them that we are capable of more.
Speaker 1:I think, Hazrin, I think you've been in the game for the longest time and we played together as well. I think it is also important not the playing part as well for the senior players, right, I think it's?
Speaker 2:off the pitch. That's what we told Akram it's. You know, what is the thing that I miss earlier on is that last season we missed Farid, because Farid is the spokesperson for us on the pitch when we are playing. Because of injury, he has to, you know, just retire and then I think the players will agree with me that you know, he was the main captain inside the pitch that we miss because of his qualities, because of the leadership.
Speaker 2:I think we miss him last season, but I think Akram learnt along the way that we want him, even though he's young, but I think that's what we want him to do to improve on his leadership quality, not only on the pitch, like I told him before, he's also off the pitch. You have to look at the players, make sure they are always together. You know, as a captain, you cannot just, oh, okay, never mind, there will be groups, there will be cliques. So that's what we want him to, you know have an eye and look, you know, so that the team will always stay together.
Speaker 1:It's key, yeah, it's key. So, akram, we wish you all the best man as the captain, but you know, it goes with the job, it goes with the territory and I'm sure you're going to do a pretty good job. Let's move ahead with the foreigners. You know, and I'm going to read out to you the foreigners and you tell me about them, because I know nuts about these guys, man, you know, I think they are all new to the scene, right? So let's start off with the defender from France, malou Mansoko. Is that right? Patty? You call him or Patty Patty. So what does he bring to the table, man, or to the pitch?
Speaker 2:I think, to start off with, I think he's a bit shy because his name is Maluan Soko. He's a young, young player. I think 24, 24 first time venturing out to play overseas. That is where we have to come in the players, the coaches. You know it's not easy for young players to move away from the country. He'll miss home, and all that but playing wise, very strong player comfortable on the ball. He's a centre back right ok what I can say is that he's a modern defender. Definitely, you know.
Speaker 2:A modern defender now needs to be able to be comfortable on the ball you can play the passes and all that defending wise strong, but definitely I can say that he needs time. All the new foreigners definitely needs time, so we hope that he's able to to do it fast. Character wise I can say that a bit quiet, but you know big, say that a bit quiet, but you know big, strong boy a bit quiet a bit malu, as you said, yeah it's a bit malu and all that but,
Speaker 2:we hope that he's able to. Within these few months, he's able to adapt how about his countryman Cissé Salif? He's a forward yes, he's a forward what kind of a forward is he?
Speaker 1:is he the A target man kind of player?
Speaker 2:More of a, I can say, because of his age. He's 32 years old. We cannot expect him to defend first line for us, but his finishing is good. That's what we want. Maybe I can say that. Not really a target number 9.
Speaker 1:he will shift a little bit here left and right play off the other players listen, you guys scored only 39 goals. You need a lot of help from your strikers, and obviously not only him, but he needs to start scoring goals right from the kick off. Tomoki Wada from Japan. Tomoki Wada from Japan.
Speaker 2:Yeah, tomoki is a Japanese player. Last club he played was Mazi, if I'm not mistaken, in the Maldives League. As you know, technically, japanese players they are good. I think his football intelligence is also Position-wise. Positioning, I mean position-wise. He's playing in midfield, typical midfielder, you know, able to give that defence, splitting passes, able to hold the ball, able to keep the team together. But we need to be smarter in terms of…. We need to get him more involved, gustavo. Okay, I've to get him more involved.
Speaker 1:Okay, gustavo.
Speaker 2:Okay, I've not seen the players yet. Okay, as in, he's still not here in Singapore. Yep, yep, okay.
Speaker 1:He's from Timor-Leste. Is he the first Timor-Leste player?
Speaker 2:I'm so sorry. Some correction I think his name is Zeni Vio Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's not Gustavo and he's from Timo Leste. Is he the? I don't know, I haven't done my research on the history of Singapore, of the SPL. Is he the first Timo Leste player? I think so, definitely.
Speaker 2:Okay, nice, nice, nice, yeah, so we want something new okay as you know, this part of the region, players who are, I think you watched Timo Leste play before, full of energy. That's what we wanted. You know skillful and then can play a few positions on the right, and then I think I've not seen him so. I can't. We watched the video as well. It's impressive, but we want to bring in something different.
Speaker 1:And lastly, from Timo Leste we go to Timo Talipov. He is from Uzbekistan and he's a defender as well. He's a central defender as well.
Speaker 2:He's a centre-back, but he's also able to play CDM, so everything is linked. For our place we have Timo.
Speaker 3:Leste, we bring in Timo that kind of thing. You know, I can see that we bring in Timo that kind of thing.
Speaker 2:you know, malou a bit shy, you know so this, timo is from Uzbek, experienced player as well, travelled the world and played. Like I said, we wanted to strengthen our, our backline. Yes, so he will partner party. So at this point of time, so far we have been playing what few matches with them together. There's a lot of things to work on. So he's another player who's comfortable on the ball, able to give that forward passes, in between passes, in between the line passes and all that. So we hope that they are able to adapt to the league and then, you know, they can shine for us.
Speaker 1:You know, I think people underestimate how difficult it is to actually assemble a squad a team, because it's difficult to get players from all over the shop and then, obviously, with the foreigners, to come in, and then you know, to fit into the puzzle, sometimes you need a little bit of luck as well. You know something clicks and yeah. So we wish you all the best, especially with the foreigners, because last season I don't think the foreigners were up to scratch right can I add in sorry, I forgot that Zenevio from the United States.
Speaker 2:He qualified for the under-21 foreign. Ah, okay.
Speaker 1:So he's still young, right, right, right.
Speaker 2:And then we still have one more slot for foreign. So that's where actually we wanted to sign one of the players, but I think, due to some reasons, that we are not able to sign him Okay. So we are waiting for another player to come Nice.
Speaker 1:Akram, how has pre-season been for you in terms of matches, in terms of preparation so far? How has it been? I know for players it's one of the worst times ever in the pre-season training, right, but how has the pre-season been for you?
Speaker 3:So far, as a team, I think we're doing pretty well. Not too many issues on the pitch, even off the pitch, no issues. We're slowly adapting to one another, and that's what we need. So, in terms of fitness wise, I think there's still a lot more to work for us. Obviously, it's nearing the start of the season, so we need to put in a lot of effort for ourselves and other than that, I don't see any issues in terms of pre-season nice, nice, and you've played a couple of matches already.
Speaker 2:Yes, how has it been?
Speaker 1:We lost all the matches Were you one of the teams that actually played only the under-21s for the so-called pre-season games.
Speaker 2:Not really, I think, only the first one, two games. We have a mix. We didn't play all under-21s. I think the last game we played against Alvirex Alvirex we won, but they put in their second team. But for us, I think it's not about winning games right now, it's about the mistake made and then we can learn from that so we can rectify. So that's the most important thing for us right now. We played a couple of matches. We even played with JDT2. I mean I'm not shy to say that we lost all the games. We are at a phase where you know we are at a storming period. Right now. We make a lot of mistake, play, we make argument and all that you know. So it's okay. We take one step at a time so that we can rectify and then we can progress and hopefully we can pick up from there.
Speaker 1:I want to ask you this you pick maybe one and you pick one more. Okay, you can't pick yourself, obviously, right? Is there any player from Tanjong Pagar that maybe this season could be a breakout season? You know, you think that someone to look out for, okay, and you as well. Just think of somebody who you think that you know it can be anyone. Right, it could be even a foreigner, right? Azrin, we start with you.
Speaker 2:I always go for local. I think I give two names can no problem you can give five also yeah, so so for me, these two names, we want them to be able to to get noticed right, akram and Anarki for sure yeah so we hope they are able to, you know, repay back what the faith of the coaches you know by very simple, just by performing and get noticed. You know by very simple, just by performing and get noticed. You know so that no pressure, akram.
Speaker 1:How about you, akram? Maybe a player that you think you know is a breakout season for him, you know, I think he needs to step up, or you know that kind of thing.
Speaker 3:I think it has to be Shahadat, right, he's a powerful striker from Young Lions right. Yes, from Young Lions. I played with him during the NFA days as well, when we were younger. He's always been an in-and-out striker, so I really expect a lot from him. He can strike the ball well, and I think his movement is a lot better now, considering the amount of experience that he's gained through YL. So I'm really looking forward to be working alongside him.
Speaker 1:Nice Akram, you know that before a season, usually the coach comes up and has a target for the players. Do you guys as a group, without the coaches, alright, do you come together and say you know, I think maybe we want to achieve this? Do you have that so far? Or is it a team effort right now as in terms of an objective for the season, maybe more points than last season?
Speaker 3:So far, I think we're just looking at one step at a time, so we're not really trying to set ourselves too many objectives for this season yet. So we'll go along the way and then. But obviously us as players, we share the same goals and visions as the coaching staff as well. So whatever that they have put out for us is also up to us to achieve, and we all know we have to set a standard for ourselves. Considering the past few seasons, our club hasn't been doing well.
Speaker 3:So, generally as a general thought, us as players, everyone we know we just got to do better than the previous seasons in general, but specifically not yet Okay.
Speaker 1:Azrin specific objectives come on For the club, you know, in terms of, I don't know, can be in terms of position, points-wise, whatever.
Speaker 2:What we always do I think Akram still remembers before the start of the season we try to do it by rounds, bro. We don't want to go into the start of the season, we try to do it by rounds, bro. Yep, we don't want to go Into Start of the season. And then we said At the end of the season we go by rounds.
Speaker 1:This time there's four, right? Yes, wow.
Speaker 2:So we go by rounds, we see how it goes. Then you know we target certain points In one round, second round, third round, fourth round. I think that's much better for us. We did this last two seasons as well. We did very well. We are able to reach our target. I think that's much more better for us since we are having a young team this season, so that not to pressure, you know at the end of the season. So we do it slowly, one step at a time, and then you know.
Speaker 1:Is there a target for the first round?
Speaker 2:then, for now, we always go by points. That's what we do. We haven't sit down. I mean the technical stuff. We need to look at it and give the players a target how many points we need for the first round. If you look at it, if I can say, if we target 10 points it's always achievable. So maybe we can start off with that. You know you need only 3 wins, 1 draw or 2 wins and then out of 8, right, yeah, so it's always something because you look at it at the end of the season.
Speaker 2:Maybe 40 points can bring you somewhere, you know. So if 10 points a round, it gives you 40 points so slowly see how it goes, wonderful.
Speaker 1:Now, before we go, hazrin and Akram, any message for your fans, because I think the Tanjopaga FC fans they've been with you guys home and away. In Singapore there's no home and away, anyway, right, but yeah, they've been with you guys. You know, home and away, and in Singapore there's no home and away, anyway, right, but yeah, they've been with you. There's a good group behind you guys. Any message for them? Akram, we start with you.
Speaker 3:I just want to say to all the fans out there please continue supporting us. We really need your support, especially coming in this new season with fresh faces. So we need your utmost support. And so we need your utmost support, and we always do our best To try and Play to the best of our abilities so that we can, so that you can enjoy the football that we play and also enjoy the winning feeling with us Together as a team.
Speaker 1:Last say is always with the coach Fans.
Speaker 2:Okay, the most important people.
Speaker 2:The fans, you know For me, be patient with us. You know I think this season Okay, the most important people, the fans, you know For me, be patient with us. You know, I think this season, especially this season, the fans really need to be patient with us. We are just starting new sets of young players. We definitely need time, but we definitely need your support. We need your support for us to move forward as a club, as a team, which they have been doing, so we hope they will continue to support the club and also the players, be behind them, no matter what is the result, you know, so that we are able to stick together.
Speaker 1:Hazrin Akram, thank you so much for representing your club for this SPL preview. I wish you personally a very good season, especially with the first round, I think, to start off the season well. I think that's the most important you know, and then you know, pick up the momentum from there. So again, thank you very much for being here. This has been the latest episode of the SPL Preview with the Silver Fox Hustle podcast. But before you go, don't forget, click on the subscribe button. We are everywhere Apple Podcasts, spotify and YouTube. Please follow us All right Till the next time. See you, cheers, bye, we'll see you next time.