Football in focus: Thai Premier League mid-season review

BEC TERO SASANA
FOR the first quarter of the season, Tero were having a great time. With Bryan Marcar as chairman and Peter Butler as head coach, the farang-led Fire Dragons were riding high in the division and playing in front of their biggest crowds for years. But in early April, talismanic attacker Teerathep Winothai (‘Leesaw’) suffered a broken leg in a match against Chiang Rai United. Shorn of the quality and inspiration Leesaw provides, Tero just haven’t been the same team and have lost seven of their ten games since he sustained the injury. Shortly before the mid-season break, Marcar’s itchy finger pulled the trigger and the man that Leesaw had described as “the best coach I have ever worked with” – Peter Butler – was fired. A promising season seems to have stalled for Tero and another mid-table finish seems likely.

MUANGTHONG UNITED
BUT for an unsettled start to the season, reigning champions Muangthong could have been right up there with PEA at the halfway stage. However, sacking two head coaches before the league season had even started undoubtedly had an effect on the team; an effect which led to heavy away defeats at Army United (0-3) and Osotspa-Saraburi (1-5!). Those defeats, combined with the failure to beat PEA at home (0-0) allowed a gap to open up that the Twin Qilins haven’t yet been able to close. Once third-coach-of-the-year Henrique Calisto managed to sort out a few defensive frailties, it’s been pretty much business as usual for MTU: undefeated at home, through to the quarter-finals of the AFC Cup and looking capable of a second-place finish.

It shouldn’t be forgotten how far MTU have come both on and off the pitch in a short space of time before words like “crisis” and “underachieving” are thrown around. A runners-up spot and a cup or two would represent another great season for Bangkok’s (ok, “Nonthaburi’s”) best club.

BANGKOK GLASS
AN idiosyncratic season from BG thus far. The same side that can comfortably beat Chonburi at home and put five goals past Police United is also capable of putting in dire performances and losing to the likes of TOT and Sisaket. On the whole though, the Glass Rabbits do seem to have turned things around after a poor start and coach Arhan Srong-ngamsup has now found a settled starting eleven. Sarayoot Chaikamdee is banging in the goals once again, and BG are looking like the side that many predicted them to be before the start of the season.

The title is of course well beyond them; indeed, some may argue that BG haven’t really progressed on the field since 2009 when they were genuine title contenders for much of the season. However, a top-three finish and a first ever domestic cup would answer those critics or, depending on your point of view, at least cover the cracks in the Glass.

THAI PORT
MUCH has been written about Port’s off-the-pitch problems, a lot of it in this magazine (see March and June issues), but on the pitch the orange and blues have looked pretty solid, though they had trouble finding their shooting boots in the early stages of the season. Coach Sasom Pobpraserd gradually found consistency and the Port Lions, who had been looking over their shoulders at the relegation zone for the first couple of months, now have hopes of a top-six finish. But, and it’s a big but, the coach and four of his best players, including highly-rated midfielder Jirawat Makarom, have jumped the Port ship and moved to TPL-bound Buriram F.C. But “pushed” may be a better word than “jumped” as these moves are apparently not unrelated to those boardroom wrangles between the Port Authority and Super Rich Co.

How well Port can perform post-Sasom remains to be seen. But here’s hoping Bangkok’s most colourful, controversial and compelling club can continue to be competitive on the pitch. And another memorable cup final appearance when the Suphachalasai Stadium is invaded by the Khlong Toey masses and gets painted orange and blue for the day wouldn’t go amiss either.

POLICE UNITED
THE Police were looking good for a surprisingly high top three finish until a run of four defeats leading into the break caused a drop to sixth place. The Coppers are a solid, defensive, unspectacular outfit as evidenced by their scoring of seventeen goals in seventeen games – just five of those goals have come at home. Indeed, the Police haven’t found the net at the Thammasat Stadium since April 17, and those four defeats in a row all came against the teams around them in the division: Bangkok Glass, Thai Port, Muangthong and Osotspa. A quick return to form and more goals are needed if the Police are to become a top three challenger again.

TOT SC
TOT have recovered well after losing their first five games without scoring a goal and now sit just outside the relegation zone. The signing of former Chonburi and Muangthong striker Koné Mohamed was a minor coup, but the Ivorian has only found the net three times for TOT. If he can start banging them in for TOT as he did for the Sharks and for MTU, then maybe the light blues can survive in the TPL for another year. A planned return to their true home stadium in Cheang Wattana, Lak Si for the second half of the season is a plus. They had been ground-sharing with Muangthong, but the return home will give them an opportunity to finally start building their own supporter base within Bangkok.

ARMY UNITED
THE Army got off to a great start in their new incarnation as Army United by taking eight points from their first four games. Muangthong were on the wrong end of a 3-0 defeat at the Army Stadium, and anything seemed possible for the Soldiers as a quintet of Brazilians, but Leandro in particular, powered the greens up the table. Reality has bitten since then though, and some decidedly average form has seen them drop into mid-table. They are still unbeaten at home, but had to wait until the final game of the first leg to pick up their first away win. A mid-table finish now seems probable and realistic, but they could still record a top six finish if Leandro can rediscover his shooting boots and the team can improve their away form.