Totchtawan ready to BATTLE Eriksson
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Muangthong United coach Totchtawan Sripan says he has enough time to study the style of his team’s next opponents Chinese Super League runners-up Shanghai SIPG in the AFC Champions League playoff round next week.
The Thai Premier League runners-up set up the playoff tie against the Shanghai team, coached by former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson on February 9, after going past Johor Darul Ta’zim on penalties in the one-off fixture at home on Tuesday evening.
Muangthong’s laboured win over the Malaysian Super League outfit, who won the continent’s second-tier competition AFC Cup last year, was something predictable. The three-time TPL champions are yet to begin their domestic league campaign and still finding their feet under the 44-year-old Totchtawan, who was appointed less than two weeks ago.
After watching national keeper Kawin Thamsatchanan produce heroics by keeping out the Malaysian visitors’ all three spot kicks in the shootout, former national midfielder Totchtawan reckoned his side was not in good shape yet.
“I just wanted to make them feel confident by saying positive things about the team before the game. In fact, we had only one week to prepare for the match. It will take more time to make the team better.
“They were not inferior to us. They won the AFC Cup and had several Malaysian internationals in their ranks. They were strong and teamwork exceptional. I need to give my team credit for lasting for 120 minutes.”
Muangthong coach also leapt to the defence of the club’s close season signing Junior Negrao. The Brazilian striker had an evening to forget on his competitive debut for the club before being replaced by national forward Teerasil Dangda, who received roaring cheers from the home crowd when he came on at the start of the second period of the extra time.
Totchtawan said the 27-year-old Teerasil, who had a brief spell at Spanish club Almeria, was not fit enough to start the game but suggested that he would be on a flight to China to take on Shanghai team for a place in the lucrative group stage.
“Negrao still needs to build confidence and adjust to the team. It’ll take time for him to develop the understanding with his teammates through training.
“As for Teerasil, he has been unable to train properly since I took charge of the team due to his back injury. We included him in the team to play in the last five or 10 minutes of the game. We did use him but he still did not play at his usual level.
“It’s difficult to say [whether he would be among the starters in the next match]. But, we’ll take him with us,” said Totchtawan, formerly known as Tawan.
Chonburi FC, the other TPL representatives, were also made to work hard before securing a 3-2 victory after extra time against Myanmar’s Yangon United. They will travel to Japan to take on J-League outfit FC Tokyo in the one-off tie next Tuesday.
