TPL
Singhtarua 1-3 Chonburi
PAT Stadium
Saturday 3rd May, 2014
My post match interview with Singhtarua fan, Shots.
Q - What were your pre match expectations?
With the number of important 1st team players we had missing and my pre-conceived superiority of Chonburi they weren't high. I have seen Chonburi play Singhtarua a few times and we have rarely done too well, so just keeping the unbeaten run going with a draw maybe would have done for me.
Q - What were you thinking after going two down in the first ten minutes?
I really thought that it would turn into a rout, we seemed to have little to suggest that we would be able to stop Chonburi, not necessarily because they were so good but because the replacement keeper seemed a series of accidents waiting to happen and we seemed totally overawed and appeared to be looking for player to get hold of the game.
Q - What were your thoughts when you immediately pulled a goal back?
Joy, obviously. It was nice to see that what I had thought for the previous 12 minutes may have been a huge over reaction and that maybe we could do something in the game. As after the goal it certainly seemed possible for us to rescue something from the game, ensuring that we didn't allow Chonburi a shot at our keeper or we didn't pass back to him either, basically we would have to try and keep the ball as far away from him as possible.
Q - How did you think you played in the first half?
After our goal I felt it was a pretty decent enough performance, we certainly seemed to be lacking the inspiration that some of the missing players often provide for us and we seemed a little straight forward and easy to predict without much guile or creativity but I felt that we had a chance of matching Chonburi who appeared a little shell-shocked after our immediate reply.
Q - And the second?
The second can be divided into two parts; the part where we had a genuine chance of competing and the part when it seemed all over for us, this was caused by the sending off of Lee Sang-Ho, as I felt he had played very well for us as that shield for our less than convincing defence and he also pressed forward well and when he went it was game over. Even the 1st Chonburi sending off failed to really convincingly give us a chance as we appeared stilted and clueless. The third goal for Chonburi was probably inevitable.
Q - Which Singhtarua players most impressed you?
Lee Sang-Ho did the combative work that he does which really helped us, Sirachai was a revelation but appeared absolutely knackered for most of the game which may explain his previous limited time on the pitch, rarely have I seen a player who resembles my own level of fitness as much as he did. Suradej suggested that he should be playing more than the error-prone Jakkapong. Otherwise some the players seemed out of their depth, Joo Sung_Hwan still makes me believe that even if he carried on playing by himself during half-time the best he would manage would be hitting the woodwork, not a convincing definition of the word "striker" for me. Also I felt Sarawut, who is a favourite of mine, missed an opportunity to stake a claim to a regular first team place.
Q - Which Chonburi players impressed you?
The claims about the missing players Chonburi impressed me more than any players on the pitch as they sounded really good, but no Chonburi player really stood out as outstanding, Pipob On-mo looked lively, you could tell that Anderson Dos Santos was a Brazilian, but others looked decidedly dodgy, like Fode Diakite as he appeared Singhtarua's best hope of a meaningful attack. Jaime Branganca was amusing but didn't really produce many of the dives I've heard so much about and was sadly missed when he was taken off.
Q - What did you think of Chonburi's performance?
Chonburi were clearly better than Singhtarua on the day and sparseness of what Singhtarua had to offer suggests that Chonburi will definitely have enough to finish far higher than Port. However they will have to be a lot better against superior opposition if they hope to challenge for the title which I think based on this performance is beyond them.
Q - What did you think of the three sendings off?
Sang-Ho's sending off was completely deserved and was alarmingly despicable. I was and still am, to a lesser degree now, a fan of him as a player but having watched the Singtarua Police game in T.V. I became aware of just what an unpleasant player on the pitch he was; nasty digs, constant barracking of the ref and back-biting with opposition players makes him a liability. His playing performance was excellent but having been booked during the corner the further infringement was inexcusable and then his reaction was nothing less than shameful and farcical. The image of him being dragged to the changing rooms by several staff and then reappearing again before being hauled back in again would have been funny had it not been so embarrassing. His response was ridiculous in the extreme and makes wonder how he would have acted had he be allowed to confront the ref. Such behaviour is unacceptable, and though unlikely to occur, I would like to see him sanctioned not only by the F.A. but also by Singhtarua. The Chonburi sending-offs seemed harsh, Jakkapong certainly made the most of any contact with Pipob and maybe Chonlatit was sent off to try and ensure the ref made it out the PAT alive.
Q - What did you think of the penalty award?
If you swing your leg like a golf club near a striker in the penalty area, sadly whether much contact is made or not a penalty is likely to follow these days. I wasn't surprised by it and capped off a woeful performance by Jakkapong.
Q - What did you think of the referee's performance?
He seemed very excitable and seemed to enjoy the drama of rushing up to players to deliver a card, the conduct of the players rarely help and the Thai F.A. really must start protecting referees from what, if it occurred in the street, could be considered assault, any player attempting to put their hands on the ref should be banned for at least 6 games, which could certainly thin out Singhtarua's squad even more than it is presently.
Q - Do you think it was a fair result?
As soon as we got the goal to make it 1-2 I thought we might deserve a draw but the Port sending-off settled the result and we really didn't create enough to justify anything more.
Q - What are your expectations for the rest of the season?
I always thought that this season was all about staying in the shrinking premier league, and the good start we made hasn't really changed that and I think we are more 20 points closer to survival rather than 20 points closer to the title. There are clearly better equipped teams in the league and we need to hope that we can find something or someone that is going to replace the threat of Leandro as the performance against Chonburi showed that manager doesn't really seem to have any strength in depth. His reluctance to make any changes showed that he doesn't have much faith in the players on the bench. We have played very much a similar team throughout the season so far with only a few substitutions, which suggests we have a mere 16 or 17 players who the manager appears to trust out of a squad of approximately 30 odd. The question is why? This doesn't bode well as if plan A doesn't work, what happens? Hopefully we can scrap enough points to stay out of trouble but I think we will be looking down rather than up for the rest of the season.
Q - On the evidence of Saturday, do you think Chonburi are genuine title contenders?
I think Chonburi are a top 4 team but would struggle to win the title unless further quality can be added to that team I saw play today, they have good players but it is sometimes hard to find better players that can replace a collection of good players, they strike me as a team like Arsenal, lots of good players but not enough world class players.
Q - Anything else you'd like to add?
My opinions are based on the games I have seen live or on T.V. but I did miss 5 league games; Samut Songkhram, Chainat, Suphanburi, TOT and Buriram due to being in England.
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