Bernd Stange flattered to deceive during mixed Singapore coaching stint

1. The good: Singapore's miracle of Saitama

It seems a bit odd that the highlight of someone's managerial stint would be a goalless stalemate. But, then again, it was truly a stunning result when Singapore held mighty Japan to a 0-0 draw in Saitama last June.

To be fair, Stange is no stranger to masterminding the odd miraculous upset. His previous claim to fame was a 1-0 triumph over France when was in charge of European minnows, Belarus.

However, the main problem was that such results were few and far between. Even against supposed lesser opposition, the German was unable to get his men to deliver convincing victories.

2. The bad: All talk, no action

In his defence, it may not solely be his fault. But, for someone who promised glamour friendlies with some of the world's strongest national teams, Stange never delivered.

He claimed the Lions could only improve their FIFA world ranking by taking on the likes of South Korea and Saudi Arabia. Yet, the two biggest teams he could secure matches against were China and Qatar -- good nations on the continental level but by no means Asian superpowers.

He regularly stressed that Singapore fans should be proud of advancing to the third round of qualifying for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, insisting that results were all that mattered. He claimed that the feat was remarkable, considering it was with a completely locally born-and-bred team.

But, as a more famous manager like Louis van Gaal has found out at Manchester United, sometimes style is as important as substance. That is why Lions supporters have every right to be disappointed with 2-2 draws against Macau and Guam, as well as last October's narrow 2-1 win over Cambodia in the qualifiers.

3. The ugly: The Suzuki Cup debacle

It is true that Southeast Asian football is extremely competitive and unpredictable.

Apart from Thailand, who are a class above the rest, the likes of Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Philippines are all capable of getting a result against one another. Even Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia -- on their day -- have a chance of causing an upset.

Nonetheless, when you enter a tournament as defending champions and with home advantage, then surely a group stage exit has to be seen as a below-par achievement.

Stange claims that their two defeats at the 2014 AFF Suzuki Cup -- 2-1 and 3-1 losses to Thailand and Malaysia respectively -- were unlucky as they had held on right to the end before conceding late penalties.

"As you know, we aren't happy with the last Suzuki Cup performance but our exit came [due to defeats] against both finalists with penalties in the last minute," he said last Wednesday.

"We were not outclassed."

That may be true. But, surely a coach of Stange's experience should know a football match is 90 minutes plus injury-time, not 89. If he looks back at the TV replays, he can have few complaints about the spot-kicks awarded to the War Elephants and Harimau Malaysia.

In fact, Singapore's elimination was the first time since 2004 that the defending champions had failed to advance to the knockout round. That is simply not good enough.

4. The aftermath: Does Stange get a pass mark?

In 34 games at the helm ahead of his swansong on Tuesday, the 68-year-old has led the Lions to 14 victories, a win ratio of 41.2%. Purely based on statistics, this compares favourably to his predecessor Radojko Avramovic's 44 wins from 130 matches, or 33.8%.

But it is perhaps telling that Stange has emerged victorious against only these eight teams: Myanmar (three wins), Laos (three wins), Papua New Guinea, Cambodia (three wins), Bangladesh, Brunei, Syria and Afghanistan.

While 'Raddy' won three AFF titles, Stange didn't come close to beating one major footballing nation, even with the advantage of the synthetic surface of Jalan Besar Stadium for much of his tenure. While the 2-1 Jalan Besar win over Syria in AFC Asian Cup qualifying in October 2013 deserves praise, Stange's side lost a more meaningful qualifier to the same opposition, also 2-1, at the Singapore National Stadium last November.

He was an advocate of the modern pass-and-move game. He was displeased when a journalist once referred to it as "Bernd Stange's style of play", insisting that it was the same tactics being employed by teams like Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

Nonetheless, the best coaches play to their players' strengths, which was what made Raddy so successful at Southeast Asian level.

He had aerially dominant players like Baihakki Khaizan, Aleksandar Duric and Safuwan Baharudin. There were intelligent schemers like Shahril Ishak, Hariss Harun and Fahrudin Mustafic and pacy attackers who excelled on the break like Noh Alam Shah, Khairul Amri and Qiu Li. So, why shy away from playing the long ball and counter attacking football?

For all his preaching on the short-passing game, it was also interesting to see that when things were not going the Lions' way, they would often revert back to route one football. Sometimes, that did actually produce a positive outcome.

One area in which Stange does deserve some credit is his willingness to put his faith in youth.

In the 2014 AFF Suzuki Cup, which was his sole major tournament, 14 of his 22-man squad were below the age of 24. That included the then-inexperienced likes of Faris Ramli, Sahil Suhaimi, Shahfiq Ghani and Amirul Adli.

Other up-and-coming players like Izzdin Shafiq, Adam Swandi and M. Anumanthan were also handed their first caps by the former Iraq boss.

Overall, does Stange get a pass mark? The jury is still out on that.

5. The future: Who is the next in line?

It has long been suggested that either Fandi Ahmad and V. Sundramoorthy, Singapore football's two favourite sons, will take over when the German's time comes to an end.

Both have done enough of an apprenticeship, having served as Stange's assistant coaches, to feel they deserve a shot at the big time.

Fandi tasted success as a coach with Warriors FC, then known as SAFFC, and was the man to lead Young Lions to their highest-ever S.League finish of third place in 2004 and 2006.