Coach Clement, Cheetahs cool

The Lion City Sailors' Diego Lopes may be the most expensive player in the history of Singapore football, but Hougang United head coach Clement Teo will not be losing any sleep over how to stop the €1.8 million (S$2.9 million) Brazilian midfielder ahead of their Singapore Premier League tie at the Jalan Besar Stadium today.

This, despite Lopes' starring role on his debut. On Wednesday, with their game against Tanjong Pagar goalless at the 45-minute mark, he was brought on as a half-time substitute. The 26-year-old proceeded to control the game from the middle of the park and was at the heart of everything good going forward. The result: A 5-0 victory for Lion City.

Tanjong Pagar's Raihan Rahman also gave a glimpse of how opponents might possibly thwart Lopes, "welcoming" the Brazilian to the league by hacking him to the ground from behind as he took his first touch.

There were also several others who tried to take a no-holds-barred approach to try and limit Lopes' influence on the game.

"Yes, we have seen that Diego (Lopes) is someone who can change a game but to have a man on him and just focus on him is not something we will look to be doing," said 54-year-old Teo, ahead of the clash between the league's second-and fourth-placed teams.

"One player, especially of his quality, can make a difference but there are other players there as well who can cause damage. My conversation with our boys has been short and sharp. I told them they need to ensure every player wins (his) individual battle on the field and stays disciplined and organised.

"Nothing is impossible and we will go out looking to grind out a result."

It helps the Cheetahs' cause as well, that they go into the tie with the Sailors brimming with confidence after a 4-1 win over Geylang International in their last outing. Hougang have three points after two matches, after going down 3-1 to Albirex Niigata in the opener while the Sailors drew 3-3 with Tampines Rovers in their first match of the season.

Said Teo: "It is a good time for us (to face the Sailors). Confidence is very important and the win was a big boost for us. But we need to be careful of not being overconfident. All the players are really looking forward to this game because we know the opponents have the best players in the league and I think it's a great challenge. We are up for it.

"And we must remember - they can concede and we saw that in their match against Tampines. Everything is possible."

One player who is well acquainted with the calibre that the opponents have in their ranks is Shahril Ishak, who moved to Hougang following the expiry of his contract with Lion City.

Shahril, who contributed three goals and two assists in just 372 minutes across nine games for the Sailors last season, picked out the midfield trio of Shahdan Sulaiman, Saifullah Akbar and Song Ui-young as the home side's main threat.

Said the 37-year-old former Lions captain: "Their most dangerous players are in midfield. They control the game from there and their passing is usually very quick. We need to be careful of the balls they play in behind the defence.

"Of course, they are the favourites. Not just for the game but for the title as well, together with Albirex and Tampines, but our mentality is that we want to compete with these teams.

"We go into this game with nothing to lose."