Coach Kiatisak reverts to four-man defence
National football coach Kiatisak Senamuang says he will revert to a four-man defence when his side launch their title defence in the upcoming Asean Championship, even though the back-three system helped them earn their first point in the last-12 Asian World Cup qualifying.
With barely any time to savour Tuesday’s 2-2 draw with Australia at Rajamangala National Stadium, Kiatisak and his men boarded a flight to the Philippines yesterday for the biennial tournament, starting on Saturday.
Kiatisak’s decision to employ the three-man defence paid handsome dividends against 40th-ranked Australia, who escaped with the draw courtesy of captain Mile Jedinak’s two penalties.
However, the former national striker insists he will play with four defenders at the back during the regional championship, where the Kingdom is the joint most successful country along with Singapore with four titles.
“We have three formations to choose from at the moment but I think we’ll use the 3-4-1-2 system for the remaining five games in Group B in the last-12 World Cup qualifying round next year.
“Against Asean opponents, we’ll play either 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, the two formations with which we’re more familiar. We could be more efficient, both offensively and defensively. More importantly, every member in our travelling party has experience [at international level].”
The 43-year-old coach preferred Koravit Namwiset, who sat out the Australia fixture due to suspension following his dismissal against Iraq last month, over Nattapon Malapun in the only change he made to his 23-man squad for the tournament, better known as the Suzuki Cup.
“After discussing it with my coaching staff, we decided to play with only two central defenders in the Suzuki Cup. All four centre-backs we called up can play with one another.
“I spoke to Nattapon and he’s happy with the chance he got against Australia. I told him to look after himself and maintain his form. He could play for us again next year.”
Tana Chanabut, whose goal in the 3-1 loss away to UAE last month was Thailand’s first in the last-12 round, again missed out on a place in the team after the Port FC striker failed to recover from an injury that forced him to miss the game against Australia.
Thailand will fancy their chances of defending the title and earning bragging rights as the most successful team in the Championship. But Kiatisak, who steered the country to the trophy two years ago, warned his players against complacency.
“Our target is to win the title but we can ill afford to be overconfident. We must give it our all in every game. All the lads have a good understanding of our tactics after the training over the past two weeks. Some new faces have come in but we still have the old guard.
“We are likely to play as many as eight games [the Australia game plus seven more if they reach the final of the Championship] so I told the boys that they need to be extremely fit. This is another chance for us to put a smile on people’s faces,” Kiatisak told reporters before leaving to catch the plane.
Thailand have been drawn with Singapore, Indonesia and hosts the Philippines in Group A, while Myanmar will host Group B that also features 2014 finalists Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia.
The Thais will begin their title defence against Indonesia on Saturday.
