Opening Day: 2016

TPL

Chonburi 2-1 Pattaya Utd

Chonburi Stadium

Sunday 6th March, 2016

Attendance Unknown 

Gate Receipts B578,560

Merchandise B238,049

Programme

Photos

Match Preview

by Brian Enever

The PLT finally gets under way this weekend. I must admit the (sometimes) farcical off field problems have left me realizing just how amateurish the administrators running the game in Thailand really are. It has really drained me of any real enthusiasm for this coming season.

Likewise, our own pre-season hasn't exactly inspired any confidence for the months ahead, either for the players or the fans. This is our worst pre-season that I can remember. I must admit that, when Therdsak was first appointed, I felt we might struggle defensively but thought, with his playing knowledge and experience, we would be well organized in the middle and going forward. Unfortunately, so far it just hasn't worked out like that.


Defensively we have been terrible and have gone backwards from last season. There doesn't seem to be any shape or pattern there at all and it's almost impossible to see what formation we are supposed to be playing. I fear that we are relying too much on Dos Santos to get us out of trouble.

Due to players leaving we have got to start with a new central midfield which isn't ideal but I thought that against Yangon Kim Chul Ho, Prakit and Narong worked well together and, given time, could combine together to give us a fairly good midfield three. For whatever reason  they haven't played together in a match since then and other players that have been tried in those positions haven't really gelled. So it's impossible to assess the progress (if any) our midfield has made from the pre-season we've had.

Up front Rodrigo has worked hard to show us he can upset defenders with his strength and movement. He just needs a couple of goals to show us he can replace Thiago.

One problem for me is that we don't seem to have a natural leader and organizer in the side. When we're struggling there's nobody to organize the players to get our shape and balance back. A lot of the time we have looked like eleven individuals with no organized formation to play to.

Therdsak is an icon at Chonburi and is adored by all the fans. Those fans will turn out in their numbers to support him and he fully deserves all the time he needs to get things right. I sincerely hope he can turn us into a successful side capable of challenging for the title again. The systems etc he's tried during pre-season simply haven't worked out at all though. I just hope those pre-season failures have given him a much clearer idea on what side to pick and what formation he wants them to play on Sunday. From what I've seen so far though I don't have a clue what sort of team Therdsak will put out.

There's more questions to answer this Sunday than there has been for any opening day fixture since I've been watching Chonburi. I just hope we can perform well enough for us regulars to see a light at the end of what seems at the moment, a long dark tunnel.

Being local rivals, Pattaya won't be easy opponents Sunday. Although newly promoted they will want to establish themselves right from the start of the season, plus the knowledge that we were soundly beaten by them in a cup game at their ground last season will not do their confidence any harm.

One constant over the pre-season has been our very poor defence. Even Dos Santos can't perform miracles and I can't see us going ninety minutes without conceding at least one goal against any PLT  side at the moment. So we'll just have to hope that Therdsak's guile and knowhow going forward will be enough to match the goals we concede.

It's impossible to predict a result for Sunday but I'll stick my neck out and say a 2-2 draw.