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To develop Singapore-style offensive football: FAS’ Sablon

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FAS technical director Michel Sablon, often hailed as the man who transformed Belgium into a footballing force, has laid out comprehensive plans to do likewise for Singapore. (Photo: FAS)

To develop a Singapore-style of offensive football in a 4-3-3 formation that is anchored by a winning spirit.

That’s the aim of Michel Sablon, the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) technical director, who was speaking to Yahoo Singapore a day after a presentation to showcase his plans for shaping the future of Singapore football on Monday morning.

The Belgian said that school coaches will be trained by their FAS counterparts to introduce a similar style of football based on passing and movement, instead of the usual kick-and-rush style that he had observed during his time here.

During his presentation, Sablon said repeatedly that his plans will “take time” to bear fruit. But the man who is widely credited as the mastermind behind his country’s transformation into a footballing force believes that he can help The Lions roar again - only if hard work is applied in order to reap long-term gains.

The plans by Sablon, who was brought in by the FAS in April last year to revamp local football, are targeted at 11 different key areas, all of which are geared towards producing top-class players from the bottom-up.

Sablon, who had already introduced a grassroots manual last August, was confident that the new initiatives are tailor-made for local football.

“I didn’t make it my manual, I made an FAS manual taking into account all the differences in culture between Asia and Europe,” he explained. “I will not copy-paste the Belgian system, that’s no use.

“I (try to) bring my expertise and knowledge into this system. That’s why we produce a manual that is in favour of football in Singapore.”

One of the main areas to be revamped is the school-level football competitions, which Sablon noted was an “important” part of the game here.

Currently, school teams can play up to three games per week during the football season, which leaves little time for them to train properly. The crowded schedule also increases the risk of injuries faced by players.

More development, more scouting in schools

To combat this, two new competitions for Under-17 and U14 players will be introduced. The aim is to have four groups of six schools in each of the four zones - north, south, east, west - and for the group winners to play each other in the Schools Champions League tournament.

All the other teams will then play in the Schools National League. This allows schools that will otherwise have no football to play after being knocked out in the group stages under the current format the chance to play more games during the season.

“The advantage is that almost all the students play approximately the same number of matches and not too much; before, they played three in a week and now it’s maximum one per week,” Sablon told Yahoo Singapore in an interview on Tuesday.

The plans were proposed to the relevant authorities in September last year and are expected to be implemented in 2017.

Another change is the introduction of four schools - one from each zone - with established footballing traditions to also play in the Centre of Excellence (COE) U15 league, starting from this June onwards.

School and COE competitions will not clash with each other anymore, and with an increased number of games, club coaches have more opportunities to scout for talent.

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New initiatives like the Goalkeeping Academy Singapore (GAS) are already underway. (Photo: FAS)

Raising the standards of coaches

“Our aim is to improve the quality of the games and to help coaches to do it,” Sablon said. “Then, the quality of the games will be better and it will be much more interesting for the players also.

“Since school competitions are huge, we want to also test this pathway and not lose all the players. Then, we will evaluate the development in both clubs and schools and see what pathway we should go.”

A new Singapore Coaching School will also be set up, with instruction content to be made Singapore-specific. Courses will be conducted by Asian Football Confederation (AFC) instructors and overseen by Sablon, National Youth Teams head coach Richard Tardy and FAS head of coach education Mohamed Basir.

Changes and initiatives will also be introduced in nine other areas, including sports science and medicine, physical preparations for games, identifying talent for youth teams and goalkeeping development.

Sablon said that a system of regular checks and evaluation methods will be used to gauge the progress of the long-term initiatives. For example, coaches who are not up to standard will not be certified, while video analysis will be used to determine the progress of players.

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The current Singapore national team in training. The aim is to develop a new style of play in five to six years’ time. (Photo: FAS)

Targeting same development philosophy in Singapore

The Belgian acknowledged that it was vital for the National Training Centre, which was first mooted in 2010, to be completed as soon as possible. It was reported by The New Paper last year that the centre is scheduled for completion in 2018. FAS confirmed that talks are ongoing.

“We have so many activities [going on now],” Sablon pointed out. “Those activities are so huge that if you can have it at our own centre, it’s marvelous. If we have our own NTC, we can start at 7 in the morning and train until 10.30 at night every day.

“Our aim is to implement the same development philosophy in all the different parts of football - the clubs, schools, COEs and NFAs (National Football Academy),” Sablon said.

“In Belgium it took me eight, nine years. But we made a consistent plan applied by all the clubs, the academies in Belgium and they were successful afterwards.”

Sablon said that the “100 per cent” support of the FAS has given him the confidence that these plans will eventually bear fruit. But he reiterated that the results will take years to show.

Explaining that more efforts have to be put in on a daily basis, he said, “There are no eight hours a day (work weeks), there are 15 hours a day. It’s the mindset that is key to changing things.”