Saddil: What’s Next?
The notorious jokester is getting serious on his pursuit of European football.
Saddil Ramdani’s journey is a non-linear one. Born and raised at the Muna Island, dozens of miles away from the Southeast Sulawesi shore, Saddil grew into a splendid player in the junior level, and managed to impress Aji Santoso, a coach known for his reputation of nurturing youngsters into quality players.
We had been told that there’s a quality player from Kendari (Southeast Sulawesi’s capital). He came to Asifa (Aji’s academy), and it is evident that he’s a very talented player. — Aji Santoso
Coach Aji decided to train Saddil in his academy, developing him into a prolific goal-getting winger, a role that he retains during his stint in Timnas (Indonesia NT’s nickname) and Persela Lamongan. In his two seasons with Persela, Saddil managed to score 4 goals and 6 assists in 30 appearances, a remarkable feat for an 19-year-old player. A move to Malaysian Sri Pahang follows, where he scored 2 goals and 3 assists in 22 appearances before moving back to Indonesia, joining Bhayangkara FC.
COVID-19 halts the league, limiting Saddil to only 3 appearances with The Guardians, and he moved back to Malaysia, joining the rebuilding Sabah FC. The pandemic didn’t hold Saddil back from reaching his potential, where he helped Sabah to finish 3rd in the league, an impressive feat considering their previous 9th place.
Saddil’s performance in Malaysia attracted a lot of teams, especially from Europe. According to his agent, Saddil has been targeted by 10 European teams, most notably from an Austrian Second Division team that handed him an invitiation letter.
Saddil has received an invitation letter from an Austrian team (…) There are 10 European clubs (that put an interest to him) (…) We have set our priority (for Saddil) at these four leagues: Greece, Spain, Switzerland, and Serbia. — Alexander Talpes
With plenty of European teams targeting him, Saddil is definitely a talented player with a lot of potential. To dig deeper on this statement, we first have to look on Saddil’s role in Sabah, his individual ability, and the footballing demands at the European level.
Under the tutelage of Datuk Ong Kim Swee, Sabah played in a 3–4–3/3–4–1–2/3–5–2 formation shape. Saddil is most often utilized as a winger, and occassionally a central attacker or an attacking midfielder. Examined even deeper, Saddil’s attacking and defensive role has varied throughout the season, considering his unique abilities. First, we’re going to take a look on the attacking part.
Attacking-wise, Saddil’s primary role is to “bridge” between the defensive and attacking line — and either progressing the ball by passing to the player upfront/wide or using penetrative dribbles to bypass the opposing defensive line, while his secondary role is to exploit the gaps in behind the opposing defensive line and/or initiating 1v1s out wide.
This newfound role has mould Saddil into a more all-round player; he has considerably improved in terms of positioning himself according to the situations surrounding him (ball, teammates, opponent, space). Saddil could drift wide, move forward to occupy the opponent’s last defensive line, running in-behind the defensive line, or positioned himself in-between the lines as a passing option. For some Timnas watchers that hasn’t yet accustomed to this new aspect of his game — or grew accustomed to his style of play in Timnas, this video compilation is a perfect way to start:
Positioning alone, however, doesn’t guarantee a player to be good on progressing the ball further forward. A player needs to be tactically adept, thinking two (or multiple) times ahead of his opponent and executing the pre-planned actions flawlessly. Saddil has also shown improvement on this aspect:
Moving on to individual technique, an explosive winger is a fitting description on Saddil’s main playing style; his speed, feint, aggresiveness, and dribbling allows him to be a formidable inner/inverted winger akin to the ones we see in Hulk or Robben. Saddil is able to break the opposing defensive line and charge forward, bypassing them effortlessly.
While the description above is more likely to imply selfishness in Saddil’s game, the evidence on the pitch says otherwise. He is a master on pass and moves, knowing on when to release the ball after previously creating separation between him and the marker, and then implementing smart movement depending on the situation around him.
Saddil’s passing technique is also becoming considerably sharper; his passes are more accurate and progressive, that could be attributed to his vision, an ability to choose the most beneficial passing option. Depending on the situation, he could also adjust the weight of his passes, making his teammate more comfortable on receiving the ball while making sure that the opponent won’t intercept it.
Saddil also has exquisite ball control. Having decent “feel” — ability to manipulate the ball’s trajectory into one’s preferred position — on the ball, he is able to smoothly switch into the next passage of play.
As we take a look on the stats, Saddil is a productive player; he amassed 4 goals and 6 assists (10 G/A) in 17 matches for Sabah (per Transfermarkt). Saddil’s productivity on assisting is mostly attributed to his increasing crossing and ability to create separation with the ball….
while the goalscoring one are mostly created from set-pieces (2 free-kicks and a penalty) and a solo run. In other words, Saddil’s goalscoring record for this season is not representative of Saddil’s finishing ability as a winger — in other words, too random to be analyzed.
Summing up the atttacking aspects, it is obvious: attacking-wise, Saddil has both the brains and the brawns to be an integral piece of Sabah. His individual aspects are able to complement the attacking role assigned to him, adding enormous value to Sabah’s attacking department as a whole.
Moving on to the defensive aspect, Saddil is given a versatile role, where he is often tasked to defend in various situations, starting from defending in a high block, pressing the CB-on-ball; medium block, containing the opponent or doing backward press to congest space; and low block, covering for the WB that jumps out to press (if playing as a wing) or stopping the opponent from circulating the ball backwards and covering the 8 (if playing as a centre-forward).
Although Saddil is given a lot of responsibility defensively, he is somewhat inconsistent on his defensive effort. While he had a solid defensive performance against Negeri Sembilan, aggressively stopping them from progressing the ball forward…..
he also had a lacklusture one against JDT, which showcased both of his inconsistencies in defending and — probably — lack of defensive experience as a centre-forward. There were moments where he’s unable to cover spaces in-between the lines, mark a player near him, and letting them circulating the ball easily.
Saddil’s aggression, an aspect that helps him a lot on the attacking aspect, could be a double-edged sword defensively. His eagerness to press back and tactically fouling his opponent is worthy of praise, and on the other side, his tendency of overcommit pressures and unnecessarily fouling his opponent could harm Sabah.
Comparing to other wingers in the league, Saddil is an all-rounder, mostly being over the 50th percentile in all aspects. In the passing section, he is the best crossing winger in the league, versatile with his passing options, and able to execute passes in-between the lines. Saddil is also one of the most dangerous creator in the league. His assist rate has been excellent, creatively creating chances for his teammates. Considering the progression numbers, Saddil, obviously, is an effective dribbler. However, his other numbers — disregarding the dribble success considering his risk-taking tendency — are mediocre.
Defensively, Saddil, with his small stature, wouldn’t be a threat aerially. Although his defensive effort has increased in recent years, Saddil’s defensive numbers lands on average. This is probably caused by variance on Saddil’s defending duties and — on a smaller scale — his inconsistencies.
European football is far more challenging than everything Saddil has experienced at this point. Every aspects of the game, starting from tactical to psychological, should be executed at a much higher level while, not mentioning that he has to maintain the intensity throughout the game.
To delve even deeper on the demands of European football, I tried to watch an Austrian Second Division match. The first match is available in YouTube — although with low resolution since it was recorded, and the second one has better resolution (more recommended to watch).
- The winger needs to have good close control, ability to feint, alongside fast acceleration. With the marker being physically more imposing and agile, the ability to mislead the marker, shift the ball to open space and outrunning them is essential.
- The winger needs to be defensively sound, knowing on when to jump out to press, close passing lanes to the nearest player, or balancing out a 1v2 situation, to limit opponent’s progressive option. Also, being focused throughout the game, no matter how taxing the demand of the game is.
- The winger needs to be decisive; decisions are made in split second due to faster tempo of the game.
Will Saddil able to make the jump to Europe smoothly? It is more wise to elaborate Saddil’s current abilities and his suitability for European football-level before giving a definite answer. Attacking-wise, Saddil is tactically, technically, and physically able to play in Europe. His intelligence on reading plays, decisiveness in the final third, and his refined technique (from passing to dribbling) makes him compactible to a higher-paced, technically more sound game.
Defensively, Saddil still have to be more consistent, since maintaining intensity and focus throughout the game is getting even more necessary in the European level; opponents will run you over if you don’t pay attention. Also, Saddil still have to be more mature on managing his aggression; channeled properly, he would be a tough cookie that won’t be intimidated by any players. If done correctly, he could be a valuable asset for the team (collectively) and becoming a reliable two-way player (individually).
Saddil’s journey from an explosive, soloist winger into a high-value, versatile, and more mature player has been none other than impressive. His abilities are suitable to meet the demands of European football, in spite of several — fixable — problems. With time and hard work, Saddil could grow into a player we haven’t yet seen before.
