SINGAPORE — It has taken more than a year and 17 international matches, but Lions head coach V Sundramoorthy believes he has finally found the solution to his team’s long-standing goalscoring woes with a new 3-4-3 formation.

Singapore adopted the formation for the first time against Hong Kong  during last Thursday’s friendly, which ended in a 1-1 draw.

While that result stretched the Lions’ winless run in all competitions to nine games, Sundram’s charges looked distinctly more threatening going forward than they had previously, even if the team’s profligacy in front of goal meant they were unable to add to the scoreline despite carving out several good goalscoring opportunities.

Encouraged by his team’s display, Sundram says he is likely to stick with the same formation when the Lions take on Turkmenistan in their crucial 2019 Asian Cup qualifier on Tuesday at the Jalan Besar Stadium (7.30pm).

Explaining his decision to adopt a new formation, Sundram said at Monday’s (Sept 4) pre-match press conference: “We assessed our players’ strengths and weaknesses to see whether we can play this system, and looking at the players we have, we felt like this formation was a good fit for us.

“We have tall centre-backs like Irfan (Fandi), Daniel Bennett and Madhu (Mohana), who can play in the back three, and on the flanks, we can use the pace of players like Nazrul (Nazari) and Faritz (Hameed).

“In the middle, we’ve got good holding players in Hariss (Harun) and Izzdin (Shafiq), and their presence there gives more room for Faris (Ramli) to go on the attack. 

“As you can see, we have more balance in this formation to move forward.”

Following their goalless draw against Bahrain in March, and their 1-2 defeat to Taiwan three months later, Singapore are currently bottom of the four-team Asian Cup qualifiers Group E with one point. Turkmenistan — who beat Taiwan in their opener but subsequently lost 1-2 to Bahrain — are second on three points.

As such, a Singapore victory will give a lift to the Republic’s hopes of qualifying for the finals of the tournament, which will be held in United Arab Emirates.

Sundram insisted that his team will not hesitate to take the game to Turkmenistan in their bid to claim the crucial three points.

“It’s going to be a difficult game…they’re (Turkmenistan) physically a very strong side who are capable of beating the top Middle-Eastern teams,” said the 51-year-old ex-international. 

“But we will need to go forward to attack (them) and score goals. It’s a very important game for us. But playing at home, with the fans behind us and with the boys all motivated, anything is possible, so hopefully we’ll be able to go out there and get the win because we need something to keep our hopes (in the Asian Cup) alive.”

But Lions vice-captain Hariss Harun acknowledged the team will need to be more clinical in front of goal if they are to get the victory.

“We created enough chances (against Hong Kong), but we need to put these away,” explained the 26-year-old midfielder. “That’s where we’ve been lacking and need to improve on.

“Nonetheless, I felt we’ve adapted well to this new formation despite having not used it before … all the players understood the tactical demands of this new system and performed their role. There’s always room for improvement, but I think we’re well prepared and ready to take on Turkmenistan.”

Turkmenistan, who are ranked 141st in the world — 30 positions higher than Singapore — may be favourites heading into this clash, but head coach Yazguly Hojageldiyev is taking nothing for granted.

“We see that, as a team, Singapore doesn’t concede a lot, so this means that they’re defensively very strong,” Hojageldiyev said. 

“They’re still in with a shout to qualify for the Asian Cup, so we must prepare ourselves for a difficult match. We will attack them, but also ensure we don’t lose our defensive focus or we’ll be punished.”

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