Defending champions and hosts Singapore was knocked out of the AFF Suzuki Cup after winning just one out of three games in the tournament.

Singapore coach Bernd Stange had come under fire for the Lions' poor performance, including calls for his dismissal from fans, commentators and football players.

Stange's comments in the media so far have been rather strange. He said that there will be "no big changes" to the team even after such an inept tournament performance.

If there are "no big changes" to the team, should we expect "big changes" to the coaching staff then?

Anyway, here are seven remarks that show how Stange only knows how to talk a good game:

1. "Singapore can win AFF Suzuki Cup". - at the press conference, 21 Nov.

On 21 Nov, Stange said that Singapore can win the Suzuki Cup.

Channel NewsAsia, 3 Dec

Nine days later, Stange said that he did not promise that Singapore will win the tournament, highlighting that even host Brazil did not win the World Cup this year.

Let's check his statements.

Stange 21 Nov: "We are going to win this tournament. Of course there is no excuses to say we are underdogs. I think we should do that and we should keep the pressure. Brazil hosted the World Cup. They have to win the World Cup. And if Singapore hosts this Suzuki Cup, of course the expectation is high".

Stange 30 Nov: “Personally, I am very disappointed because we could not achieve what we wanted. (However) you can never promise in sport to win competitions … even Brazil couldn’t do it in Rio de Janeiro (at the World Cup)." TODAY

Will the real Stange stand up?

Our conclusion: Singapore under-performed. Period. Brazil as World Cup hosts under-performed too, but Brazil was at least in the semi-finals, remember?

2. “All the programmes that I have got over the last three months, it’s a conflict with our world ranking...We are 165th and we have to improve this position." - at his first press conference as coach.

Source

When he was appointed as coach, Stange declared his aim to improve Singapore's world rankings. Singapore is now ranked 158th in the world.

Our conclusion: Stange improved our rankings by seven spots but is this good enough? We are behind almost all our regional neighbours - The Philippines (128th), Vietnam (138th), Myanmar (140th), Thailand (144th), Malaysia (155th), Indonesia (157th).

3. "It happens in every team, players who are not selected create conflicts, but I can promise you this team for the future is completely intact in terms of morale, spirit and attitude," - Stange, in a Straits Times interview, 1 Dec.

28-year old Isa Halim from Lions XII was one of the experienced players dropped.

According to Straits Times Sports Editor Marc Lim, "close to half the 22-member squad, including key players, expressed unhappiness about national coach Bernd Stange, from how he conducts his training sessions to his man-management abilities."

Our conclusion: Stange is wrong to accuse the players not selected to be disgruntled. It is the selected players who are unhappy with his training sessions.

4. "After my experience of 132 international caps (managing), to build a national team takes at least, at least, half a year. At least." - Stange's remarks to the media last August following the defeat to Oman.

Source

Our conclusion: It has been a year and three months after Stange's remarks and Stange is still re-building the team.

5. “I have a question to all journalists who asked me these stupid questions." - Stage on the media questioning his selection process, Jul 21, 2013.

“These players are 34 and 35 years old and they had their chance to make the World Cup qualification, but did they do it? No, they lost all [the] matches".

“Did they qualify for the Asian Cup? No, they did not. Do you give me the guarantee that a 35-year-old player will now make a big jump [in performance]? No, it [they] is not our future."

Our conclusion: At least the bunch of "oldies" won the AFF Suzuki Cup.

6. "We picked the best players...The game is faster and faster now, just look at Vietnam and Thailand. I believe it is a young man's game, and not for those deep in their 30s." - Stange, The New Paper, 2 Dec.

First, he omitted the foreign-born because they are old.

Then Stange made an about-turn in last Saturday's post-match press conference and said that his team "lacked backbone that Singapore had in the last two to three years with the foreign talent."

Now he pontificated in The New Paper this Monday and wish these foreign-born players were younger.

Stange said, "when I said we didn't have a backbone in this team, I meant we didn't have a backbone with the quality of players who grew up in other countries, and got their development in Australia, Bosnia, England and China, and have high levels of skills and ability. We missed this quality in the team"

Our conclusion: The Stange of last week disagrees with the Stange of this week. Stange's twists and turns are even better than Cristiano Ronaldo's football skills.

7. "We failed to achieve our goals (of qualifying for the semi-finals), but we didn't fail in going on our way to achieve our football - this is part of the process of rebuilding the national team." - Stange, in The New Paper interview, 1 Dec.

We long for the quiet, grumpy Raddy.

Did the Singaporean football fans miss the memo?

When did the Football Association of Singapore decide that the defending champion and host's objective is just to "achieve our football"?

Our conclusion: If we know that the Lions' aim is just to "achieve our football", whatever that means, we would have stayed home this tournament to watch the Premier League instead.

Top photo from FAS Fan page.

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