FA Cup
1st Round
Ayutthya Utd 3-2 Chonburi
Attendance 1,244
Wednesday 21st June, 2017
Match report
by Peter Reeves
Don’t tread on the banana skin.
Oh the glory and misery of the Cup. Heroes are made, reputations destroyed, memories linger. Maybe some of us have been lucky enough to have been with our ‘little’ club on a ‘Cup Run’. Our webmaster certainly has with his Oldham Athletic on a number of occasions but one that sticks in my mind was the 90’s and being seconds from beating Man United in the FA Cup semi-final before an injury time equalizer denied them. With myself, QPR as a third division team winning the League Cup at Wembley in ’67 and then later in ’82 as a second division team to the FA Cup Final to face Tottenham.
Cup matches can be tricky against lower opposition especially away. They have nothing to lose and team selection and tactics are important. Get them wrong and the proverbial banana skin is just waiting to be trodden on.
Therdsak put out a much changed team from the weekend giving some players opportunities. Too many was my initial thought. You need to win the game remember but ok, put one or two in to start but the rest are the first team and when you’ve got your 3 goal lead then bring a few more on. Therdsak seemed to do it the other way round, starting the reserves and having the first team on the bench in case of emergencies. That indicates bring them on if there’s a problem. It’s often too late by then.
So Ayutthaya from Division 3 against Chonburi near the top of the PL. Do the home team need firing up for this one? Course not. Therdsak’s final instructions…keep it tight for 20 minutes and don’t give too much away and especially don’t give away silly free kicks near the box when you have Noah Chivuta in the other side. He can hurt you.
After 20 minutes it was about even but Sharks looked the more composed and are doing ok. Passing neatly, Prince leading the line ok, it only looked a matter of time. Ayutthaya working very hard and relying on a breakaway. First real chance came on 25 minutes and a good shot was pushed away by the home keeper. On 30 a decent chance for Ayutthaya but not taken.
Nurul had to come on to replace an injured player so one option for a late substitution is already gone. He made an impact and started causing problems down the right side. It was his free klck that went into the box causing panic in the home defence and via a few touches ended up in the net. 0-1. Ok here we go, resistance broken. On 44 Nurul again down the right and a cross turned home easily by Prince. That’ll do. Half time. 0-2. But Mr Therdsak and your team, the job is only half done. Maybe the team talk should have reminded them of that.
Ayutthaya had done ok. They had competed, worked hard and in the bald Japanese midfielder a tireless worker who reminded me of Adul. New boy Chivuta was settling in to the match and was always a potential threat. Chonburi though had a two goal lead and had not really been in any trouble. They’d made some neat combinations and Prince leading the line looked a lot better than Marques who is often static. Over a half time cup of tea I hoped that Chonburi weren’t going to run up a cricket score as the home side deserved better than that.
As the second half moved past the initial stages, warning lights were flashing for me. The home side still enthusiastically going about the job, but the Sharks had taken their foot off the pedal and were coasting. Midfield challenges were being lost, and gaps appearing that allowed United’s midfield to play balls round the Chonburi defence. Suddenly with a 2-0 lead the Sharks seemed to be hanging on.
A free kick out on the left and a good ball in allowed a United attacker to get it under control turn through a lazy defence and shoot home. 1-2. He did well to finish it but where was the challenge on a player 4 metres from goal as the ball came in. Ball watching defence.
That was just what the home side and their fans wanted. Chonburi looked shaky and unsure, lacking experience in vital areas of the team they panicked. United urged on by their home support poured forward. Still I expected Sharks to get another on a breakaway as United left gaps in their pursuit of an equalizer. Nearly came on 70 minutes as Prince went round the keeper only to see his goalbound effort cleared off the line by a defender. Good defensive play.
The writing though was on the wall. Therdsak had got his tactics and team selection wrong and they were in serious trouble as United sensed blood. 78 minutes, penalty. Rather a soft one but after the weekend Chonburi could hardly complain. Well put away. 2-2. The third division team had come from two down against their illustrious opponents to level it up. From here you wouldn’t bet against them. Diakite and Marques on were supposed to make a difference but what you needed here was a cool head in midfield, Diakite is not that , and someone who can give you options up front and Marques doesn’t do that either.
On 83 United went through a now laboring Chonburi defence but the keeper did well to scramble it away. Sharks were hanging on and extra time was looming. Therdsak didn’t seem to understand United’s approach to this last 15 minutes. The home side packed the midfield to make sure they got and kept the ball and had options. They didn’t all pour forward, they left the assault on goal to a couple of runners coming from deeper and then followed up to support them. Clever tactics. The answer, maybe Chonburi to play a little deeper to draw the home side forward and freeing up midfield a little. Keep the ball back there and make them come and get it then maybe you go over the top for Nurul or Prince.
Chonburi tackles were getting desperate and one such lunge by Diakite resulted in a free kick on the right near the corner of the box. “Noah’s ball” I said to my partner watching with me. The perfect position for him. How many times have I seen him use that left foot to bend one in right in front of the keeper. There are very few better in Thailand than him in this situation. Chonburi had better be awake here. They weren’t. He delivered a wonderful free kick straight into the danger area, bending and dipping, the keeper and a defender got in each other’s way and it wasn’t cleared but was touched home in a scramble. Cue the celebrations.
4 minutes of injury time and United broke through the Sharks defence again and almost made it 4 and the whistle went to ‘cup tie’ scenes of joy for the home side and disbelief for the away fans.
Always blame will be attached to such defeats. I thought the team did ok for 20 minutes in the first half and at half time were coasting, but as I have said so many times here, the club are papering over the cracks of problems they have and tonight they became chasms. Therdsak got his tactics hopelessly wrong. Yes, give opportunities to fringe players but only when the game is safe.
Ayutthaya had spirit and showed tremendous effort and in the end were deserved winners. They showed character and have some decent players and with the acquisition of Chivuta may well be in Division 2 next season and with the right management off and on the field I can see them going forward to better things.
Chonburi? Well there are problems aren’t there, at just about every level. But as a great coach once said to me in conversation, “you must learn to see the problems and then know how to fix it. But first you must recognize there is a problem”. I don’t think Therdsak sees it at all, even though a lot of other people can see. I have said before, he needs help. He has no coaching experience. He was a player, a good one. That will not make him a good coach. He needs to learn but there is no one there to teach him.
I don’t think the management see it either, that they have a problem with how the club is run. Some fans don’t care how the club is run as long as they have success but club’s that are run badly never get long term success. The English leagues are full of them. The same applies here. It’s easy to say sack Therdsak but you need to look further up the hierarchy than that. The whole functioning structure is wrong and seems to be built on an illusion, enforced by an inflated league position to allow people to believe it’s all ok.
Just in two critical areas, have the club established and developed a real affinity with their local community? No they haven’t = half empty stadium. Have they instigated programs to raise the funds to maintain team quality? No they haven’t= no money. Chonburi are in Thai terms a ‘big’ club, one of the biggest historically. A league position achieved in the main through some dodgy penalties and extreme good fortune has blinded people to the fact that it’s just not right in there somewhere.
Therdsak did get it hopelessly wrong on the night but it is a little about the spirit and fight when the chips are down and Chonburi lacked that. As Noah said to me after the game, “They thought the game was over after 45 minutes but it lasts for 90” How very true. And that extra 45 proved to be littered with banana skins.
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