Thai Port 1 Muangthong United 2

This game was as weak a first half performance from our boys as I’ve seen all season. I can only guess this was a way above-average from Thai Port as they certainly did not look like a side weak enough to go down.

The second half was an improvement and although still below-par, we did enough to win. That’s yet another example of a quality side.


My Man of the Match for MTU was Weerawut Kayem, who was so involved down the left side of the pitch.

Commiserations to Thai Port. Although we’ve had problems in the past, the club have a genuine local appeal and some great, passionate fans. This is the sort of club that represents a passionate and exciting national league.

The final game of the season is away to BEC Tero and we’ll need to be at our best one last time to protect our undefeated streak against a very good side.

After that, we’ll be looking at the MTU Blog awards.

Thai Port preview

(futbol24.com)

MTU take a very, very intriguing trip to Thai Port this weekend in a match with much at stake for both teams. The Quilins aka the 3 time champions are bidding to become the first team to go undefeated throughout an entire TPL season and are just two games away from that goal. The coach has already pledged to play a full strength side.

Thai Port however are fighting for a very different cause - survival. The problems of last year have haunted he teama nd they've struggled to get a run going all this term. A defeat for Port and wins for teams around them such as Chai Nat could spell doom.

Adding further fuel to this potential fire is a history of incidents involving  a small number of TP fans and Muangthong United. Although things have calmed greatly in recent matches, a small part of me still worries how certain sections might react if Muangthong effectively relegated the Port Lions on their own turf.

Let's hope that doesn't happen. Of course I want MTU to win every game but I also want TP to stay up, they are a "real" club with local roots and fantastic supporters. Here's hoping MTU win but Chai Nat - complete with a truly mind-boggling amount of "fortunate" decisions by officials in their favour at home games - also lose and go down.

The table today (thai-fussball.com)

MTU blog awards of 2012

There's no actual prize apart from praise, but I always enjoy my awards.

Last season it was Teerasil. The season before it was Kawin.

This year the choice is so hard I'm going to run with two awards: best Thai player and Best Foreign Player, as well as my usual run down of each position.

MTU fans or keen observers, please let me know your votes. You can comment on this blog, reach me on twitter or email me, but please don't vote for each award by more than one method, as I may accidently double-count :-)

So far we have a clear leader in the foreign player category.

The BP video

N-Zone and Ultra Stand

Cheering and jeering for SCG Muang Thong United

When I saw this headline in the BP I feared another piece of Tor Chittinand "journalism", but it turns out to be an interesting video with good translation.


http://www.bangkokpost.com/multimedia/vdo/317524/cheering-and-jeering-for-scg-muang-thong-united

I covered this a long time before the mainstream media picked up on it. I know both of the supporter's group leaders in the video and I think they both make very good points. Its interesting that the Ultra leader i particular clearly isn't happy with the opposing view but because he's Thai, doesn't directly criticise individuals or name names. What it boils down to is this - do N-zone fans go beyond acceptable behaviour? Having been in the n-zone for well over one season, I can honestly say I've never, ever seen any violent behaviour beyond one internal punch up that lasted one minute. However, I've heard reports from fans of other teams that they've had items thrown at them, etc. though these reports have never, ever to my knowledge been supported by any evidence. I stand to be corrected. Jeering and taunting opposition fans or players is not very nice but it is part of the game in many countries. If home fans don't like this, they have any zone except the n-zone to sit in. However, any kind of behaviour that is remotely physical or threatening is simply wrong and shouldn't be allowed. most n-zoners I know, including the leaders, agree with me on this.

Chula United 1 Muangthong United 8

It's Murphy's Law, the game I was forced to miss - couldn't even watch it on TV - is a 1-8 victory away from home.
Sadly, Chula are now relegated.
MTUR has a few details. The interview is fairly straightforward, Teerasil says he enjoyed the game and feel great to score his goals. He felt the penalty was well deserved and he expects full-strength sides to play the remaining two games as the club really want to stay undefeated.

Do not adjust your sets, this is not a mistake

More photos

Here's just a small selection of pictures from last nights jubilation. They can be seen in full on the club's FB page.

The champions are back

Chai Nat didn’t make this easy and in fact they had the better of the opening minutes of his game in my opinion but a clinical header from Teerasil after a cross by Buntao - who’s had a great season - clinched it in the end. Muangthong United now have the longest undefeated streak in TPL history.

How did we make the switch from unsuccessful and tired title-defenders last season to the superb outfit we see today?

1 Stability.

No, this list is not in random order. By far our biggest liability of 2011 and earlier was the constant chaos off the pitch, most visible through the merry-go-round of coaching changes that occurred amidst a background of discontent in the boardroom. No club could realistically be expected to mount a serious title push when going through four coaches in one season, especially when one of those coaches was a liability on the pitch and uncaring off of it. Disputes concerning Siam Sport and possible conflicts of business interests certainly didn’t help, either. There were even concerns that people in control might be making rash moves to threaten the future of the whole club.

Relief came in a partial buy-out from SCG: Siam Cement Group. As stabilising influences go, you couldn’t ask for more than a part of the Crown Property Group with a ludicrously high turnover and efficient management strategy. And so it proved. Surely it’s no coincidence that our return to TPL form coincides with a season in which we kept the same (excellent) coach throughout, minimised off-field disputes as best we could and the boardroom remembered to keep a relatively low profile. In summary: Slavos has been allowed to do his job and he's done it very well.


Good coaching

Slavisa was allowed to do a great job

 On that note, Slavisa has brought the club back to the standards Rene used to demand. All reports say coaching sessions have been first class and Slavisa has got the best from players like Jakkaphan, Buntao and Ekapoom, who all struggled to assert themselves initially. When players don't fit his plans, he's had the good sense to know what to do about it.

Smart transfers

Of course all the stability in the world won’t be enough to win the league if your squad isn’t up to scratch. Luckily we made some excellent transfer moves. Mario Djovski, Adnan Barakat, Ri Kwang and the Thai Port trio all brought something extra to the club and showed total dedication and passion for their football. Promising youngsters like Kayem were given cover as Piyachart was recalled and some of the fringe players were released. Meanwhile, the core of a title winning squad - Kawin, Panupong, Datsakorn, Teerasila and Siaka were - kept on. Quality throughout the side. Pure quality.

One word: super

What’s that? You’re pointing a gun to my head and demanding I state which transfer was the most important? Well then I’d have to say Mario, for while we all expected a good player in this eastern-European, I don’t know if any of us expected a player that could probably hold his own training with a UEFA Cup side and show the amount of passion for Muangthong as this guy has.

Wise business

It’s a sad but true cliche that football these days is a business. When Buriram United won the treble last year the perception was that they were the new financial powerhouses. Actually we outspent them on transfers even last year, although I’m sure the cost of building their new stadium more than equaled our transfer budget. But this year our merchandise, marketing and planning have all been first class. Shirt sale revenue is the highest in the Thai league, plans are in place to expand what is already a very high quality SCG Stadium and for an entire olympic village style construction in future and wage budgets are set to capture players with the quality needed to take us to the next level. With the financial backing of SCG, I don't see how any other club could outspend us in the foreseeable future.

Of course, one bit of business that I’m relieved did not go according to plan was the signing of Del Piero. I’m convinced this would’ve been a repeat of the Robbie Fowler debacle and the money will be far better spent elsewhere.


Not playing in the ACL

As Buriram discovered this year, playing either of the Asian tournaments during a league campaign places a strain on club and players that I honestly believe is overlooked by a large number of people.  The mental and physical fatigue is clear to see in players by the halfway point in the season and in my opinion it definitely takes its share of league points away from any team. This is something we’ll have to be ready for next season but this season it was actually a refreshing break not to have extra tournaments on the fixture list.



So there you have it. From third place back to champions in five not so easy steps.

Massive credit has to go out to everyone involved at Muangthong from the directors, to the players to the rest of the staff for the unity, passion, commitment and intelligence they’ve shown this season. We’ve become - in my eyes - even stronger than the 2010 championship side. We no longer look like a club striving to punch above its weight in Asia but a club that looks ready to make a serious push for the recognition it deserves. In a season where everyone thought that Buriram’s only downfall could be the ACL distraction, we’ve actually looked far better than them or Chonburi, (though the 'Sharks' pushed  us almost all the way despite their own ACL campaign) and could yet go the entire season undefeated. That's something that’s never been done before as far as I can recall.

The only disappointment was that we still haven’t captured either of the cups but there’s always next year for that. The biggest prize is always the league title and that has come home to where it belongs.

Muangthong United are the best team in Thailand. Thank you to everyone involved.

More pictures of the incredible full time scenes to come when available.

We are the Champions

TOT SC 1 Muangthong United 1 - report

Our battles with TOT this season have all been entertaining, hard-fought, dirty and unpredictable. This one was no different.

No doubt details of Chonburi’s loss at Esan United filtered through at half time to the players  who all gave 110% in this encounter. Mario and Adnan combined to score a superb goal that was disallowed but the pressure continued until Mongkul inexplicably lost his discipline and headbutted a TOT player directly in front of the ref. Said player naturally went down from the very soft connection as though he’d been struck with Batman’s batarang and Mongkul walked.

We continued to match TOT for possession but a clinical finish from former Rajpracha player Prakit Deeprom put TOT ahead. It must have been a day of mixed emotions for the player as his former club were effectively relegated from D1 the same night.

We equalised quickly with a Siaka header from a corner. Siaka went in with one hand raised and Weera - on loan from us protested furiously that it was handball. It wasn’t. Weera was a possible MOTM contender tonight and almost certainly was the main reason TOT defeated us in the TLC and he is, technically, an MTU player. Why did we not insert a simple ‘can’t play against us’ clause in the loan contract?

Still on the subject of Weera, he yelled in the ref’s face, pulled his shorts, ostensibly demonstrating what had been done to him but doing so aggressively and gestured aggressively in the ref’s face. The punishment? The yellow card the ref had already told him he’s get before his tantrum.

Another card surfaced when a TOT player caught Teerasil’s calf muscle for his second yellow. He clapped sarcastically several times towards the ref (no further punishment) but luckily the remaining cards were for late but innocent challenges by MTU players.

Both sides had chances and the script really seemed written when Teerasil took a shot in the dying seconds of injury time but it went just wide. It means we need just one more point. It was a brave effort from the lads today and their hard work should pay off at home to Chai Nat on Sunday.

Man of the Match 
Adnan Barakat showed some superb touches today. He's been in and out of the side more than other players but that is actually paying dividends now, as he looks less tired than some of the squad and is starting to shine.

Photos: Jirawat, via the OS

MTU 3 Esan Utd 0

From such games are titles won.

We looked a little tired, not at our best and occasionally shaky at the back, yet we still got a very comfortable win against a decent Esan side. An own goal and a brace from my Man of the Match Paulo were the difference makers. Other impressive performances included Jakkaphan Pornsai who has really lifted his game this season and another battling show from Siaka, whom my gut instinct says will head out at the end of the season despite being one of the group chosen for a five year contract one year ago.

A strong rumour suggests Mario is being offered big money for a long term contract.


In other news - the club are launching a pre-pre-season ticket reservation package in which, basically, season tickets can be reserved early.


If we beat TOT away tomorrow and Chonburi lose to Esan, we have the title.
Great work, guys, keep it up, we're almost there!

Photo: Jirawat (more crowd shots here)

FA Cup exit - Army Utd 3 MTUTD 2

It was fatigue or complacency that cost us our FA Cup push at the hands of Army United this week. Paulo’s strike looked to have sealed the deal after Teerasil had already struck for us, but Army player Bjorn Lindemann lead the charge for a 3-2 turnaround. Congratulations to Army who deserved their win. MTUTD are home to “Esan’ United this Saturday.