TPL
Chonburi 3-2 Sukhothai
Chonburi Stadium
Attendance: 3,795
Sunday 21st May, 2017
Match report
by Peter Reeves
A home match against one of the surprise packages of the season Sukothai. Surprise because they are languishing in the relegation places which surely is a false position given one or two decent players in their midst. That has been suggested all season so far, just a temporary blip, but they are still there, we are halfway through and they are now 6 points adrift of safety. Someone better wake up and quick.
Looking at the league table it should be a comfortable afternoon for the Sharks but it rarely works out that way. Most Thai teams are fragile to say the least, ask Muangthong, and it’s a league where anybody can beat anybody, and often do. Looking at the team sheet though with the likes of Baggio, Diouf and Anton around there’s no room for complacency.
The first minutes were uneventful until a break through the non-existent (again) Sharks defence allowed Diouf the chance to give the visitors the lead. You’d really think by now someone would have recognized the failings in this area but I suppose not. It is quite clear to me as just an observer of football, that the full backs just push up way too much and no one covers their position, thus leaving gaping holes everywhere. No discipline. No intelligence.
It didn’t take long for Chonburi to level things up. A free kick played in bounced through half a dozen players and was finally headed in. This is not even schoolboy football I’m afraid. Totally shambolic and if this is an example of Sukothai’s defensive capability then they can say hello to T2 for next season. My internet connection collapsed at this point for a few minutes and it re-joined me for the replay of the penalty that gave Chonburi the lead so I cannot comment on whether the referee made an almighty howler, but it was dispatched well.
Despite the threat of Baggio and Diouf, Chonburi were worth their lead, though you could see from the visitors approach play at times they have players that can play a bit. They just weren’t. Just before half time another Sharks effort rattled the bar emphasizing they really should probably have been further ahead.
The second half was more of the same. Chonburi looking like they were heading for the win but Sukothai still putting a few decent passes together. At times they looked better than Chonburi in this part of the game but it all broke down anywhere near goal. It seemed the game had been wrapped up when Nurul got in on the right side and his low cross was turned in by a defender. The Sharks though often feel sorry for opponents and like to give them a bit of encouragement by giving a goal away and so they did.
A decent effort from a visitor’s free kick hit the inside of the post and came back into a ruck of players. In amongst the seven or eight all in there you had those that just stood and watched, those that panicked and one who took an almighty swipe at it only to connect with his own player. The ball dropped nicely for Sukothai and 3-2. School caps on, everybody.
The visitors sensed an equalizer and some sustained pressure on the home goal in the last few minutes conjured up one up, but disallowed. Couldn’t see why. Replay showed it wasn’t offside and I couldn’t see any infringement, other than players making contact with each other in an effort to get to the ball. It finished 3-2 and in retrospect, it probably should have been a bit more. Chonburi shouldn’t have been relying on a disallowed goal to secure the points and should have finished the game off earlier.
Chonburi? Another three points, and points they deserved but one could hardly have called the performance inspiring or effective. As always just no defensive formation at all and apart from Nurul no real visible threat. I read a very good comment by Steve Darby, former coach of the Laos national side, who said ‘formations are just telephone numbers, if you haven’t the technical skills to execute them’. How true that is and how applicable to Chonburi and most of the others in this league. Perhaps that’s why Therdsak doesn’t bother. There’s no point. Having said that I saw Gary Stevens in his brief sojourn at Port at least organize his defence of very ordinary players so it at least resembled a football team. Improvements are possible.
Sukothai? Well in Baggio the best player on the park but a player who has forgotten his strengths and lost his way. Trying to do too much on his own, someone should remind him of exactly what he’s good at and then play him in a position where he can utilize his strengths.
I was able to get a few matches in this weekend, both here and in Europe and I know I will be criticized for making unfair comparisons but if Thailand is ever to become a reasonable footballing nation (not good, just reasonable) there have to be changes and some of those changes are in attitude. Attitude of players which at times is a disgrace and toughness, coupled with a bit of understanding, by officials.
To give you an example I watched Korat play Chiang Rai. There were quite a few incidents of both. Players running behind players and just tripping them (a Korat player did it 4 times but only one card). A Korat player who stamped on a Chiang Rai players Achilles from behind. Very dangerous. Weak or blind referee.
But the crowning glory was a player who got down the right side of Chiang Rai’s defence was tackled fairly and went probably 2 metres off the pitch and then crawled on all fours back on the pitch just to get the game stopped in case Chiang Rai broke away. Absolutely disgusting. His injury? He was clutching his wrist. I would suggest that other activities might have caused a sore wrist rather than any tackle.
Big changes are required, forgetting the technical and then tactical failings. That coupled with pictures of owners screaming at their coaches during the match sends out the message of what football is really all about here.
I suppose though at least one team didn’t tell another team to kick the ball out of play on 26 minutes so they could have some form of presentation to a retiring thug. Who has the power to make that happen? Well like Trump’s decision to sack the very man who was investigating him, it could only have come from the very top. A Russian.
Thailand has its own problems in football but it hasn’t sunk that low. Let’s hope it never does.
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