Image credit: thaileagueonline.com
The photo above really does say it all. Raj sank to an abysmal low with a humiliating defeat by fellow strugglers Chula Utd in a home game.
Both teams began looking determined but literally within minutes, the confidence began to drain from Rajpracha and appeared to fill Chula players.
Rajpracha's well documented (by yours truly) lack of muscle was further compounded by the absence of defender Wulumpah and the midfield - like England the night before - was almost non existent. Chula United's clone of Peter Crouch in their midfield picked up anything Raj played through the middle. Such easy sweeping allowed Chula to play three forwards and they ran Raj's disorganised and poorly positioned back line ragged over and over again.
Two of Chula's three first half goals were due to appalling positioning and communication by the Raj back line, leaving Chula strikers in shocking amounts of space.
At half time, coach Prapan brought on Tammasee and Phuntong to no avail. Phuntong is a skillful player but he epitomises the problems of his team; he is easily muscled off the ball, is low on confidence and - when the team is struggling - he needs a leader on the field to urge him on.
The second half continued in the same vein as the first and before long it was five - nil to Chula, with the fifth goal coming from an undeserved penalty. Rajpracha players looked lost, with nobody willing to take responsibility to make something happen. Sideways passes went astray, soft overlapping play was easily cleared by Chula's two lanky midfielders and high balls to the small forwards reaped no rewards.
Raj's consolation goal came after they went six-nil down. Credit must be given to Chula United who looked far from the ex-Premiership team in freefall I expected them to be. If they continue to play like this, they will move up the table fast.
Alarm bells have been ringing for Rajpracha since the five goal thrashing three weeks ago. Today marked a real low and it must surely, surely leave resignation as the only option for the coach. The players looked devoid of ideas, energy, drive or - crucially - confidence. The substitutions made by the coach appear random and lacking in benefit. Why is our best striker - and the only one over five foot something in height - only ever used when we are already losing? The midfield have absolutely nothing going through the middle and the lack of muscle makes it so easy for other teams to win 50-50 challenges.
Don't get me wrong, as a lightweight myself, I value the skill and speed of the smaller players. But a whole team of Michael Owens would not cut it in any league, let alone a tough league like TD1. For every pint sized poacher, you need a clogger backing him up.
What is needed is a new coach to restore confidence and self-belief in the players, a target man in the strike force, a midfielder with muscle who is not afraid to do the dirty work in scrappy games and some serious training exercises on build up play that goes further than overlapping on the wing. As neat as our wide play is, teams have caught on to it and we have absolutely no other build up plan.
Finally, perhaps the Thunderdome is not the best place for us to play home games. Its capacity is 21,000 , our crowds are less than 300. Surely another, smaller, stadium is available for us to use where we can generate more atmosphere?
If rumours of players turning up late for training are true, than that must be punished, too.
Rajpracha are still very much the same squad as last season. They are a talented bunch of players who play good football when they can. But with such a young average age in the squad, they can easily lose their way and they need someone to get them back on track. If we find ourselves back in Division Two, it won't be so easy to get out of it next time.
The tough decisions need to be made now, while there is still time left.
Today's team:
1 - Yen Emile
2- Guparang
4- Wisarut
5 - Boonsopit
14 - Sintupan
11 - Jaroompom
20 - Sittitanyakit
23 - Somat
8 - Intharalak
17 - Sulaiman
19 - Poltawee
16 - Tammasse and 21 - Punthong came on in the second half.
