Newin makes a damning assessment of Buriram
Buriram United president Newin Chidchob described his side’s 6-0 hammering at the hands of FC Seoul in their opening AFC Champions League Group F match as the “worst pain” in his life.
The Thai Premier League champions, who established a stranglehold on Thai football over the past couple of years by clinching back-to-back domestic treble, suffered a disastrous start to their campaign in the continent’s elite club competition, looking completely out of their depth against the visiting South Korean side.
Tuesday’s fixture at the I-Mobile stadium began ominously for the hosts as their key striker Diogo Luis Santo, who netted 45 times in all competitions in their treble-winning campaign last year, went off early after a challenge by ex-Buriram defender Osmar Ibanez.
It then went from bad to worse once Carlos Adriano put the visitors in front just before half an hour, with the Brazilian forward going on to score three more goals to condemn Buriram to their worst defeat in the tournament.
Having watched his side implode in front of an expectant home crowd keen to see the team make an impact at the continental level, outspoken Buriram president Newin pulled no punches as he rounded on his men by questioning the team’s character.
“There’s no excuse and we just need to do better. It’s the worst moment of my life in football. We need to go back to the drawing board. It would be really tough in our remaining five games if we are to make it to the next round.
“It’s fine if we can’t fight [with them]. But, in the second half after we went down to 10 men, we showed no will to fight. This is the pressing issue that we need to address urgently. It will be acceptable for me if we fight and then lose. “But, I was at loss to explain when we seemed afraid to fight. I just would like to apologise to all the Thai fans,” said a dejected Newin.
Buriram coach Alexandre Gama believed the loss of Santo and the second-half dismissal of captain Suchao Nutnum were the main reasons behind his side’s miserable evening against the KLeague outfit, who top the standings ahead of China’s Shandong Luneng on goal difference. “Before we lost Diogo, I think we played well. But after he got injured, our game was messed up so we changed our tactics, but it didn’t work. We also conceded goals and got a red card. This totally changed our game and made us play harder.
“So from now on, we have to start again and come back to fight. We still have a long way to go. We will do our best,” said the Brazilian trainer.
Yesterday, it was confirmed that Buriram forward Santo suffered a dislocated shoulder that would keep him on the sidelines for up to three weeks, meaning he is likely to miss the TPL champions’ next ACL outing, a trip to Shandong Luneng on March 3. JLeague side Sanfrecce Hiroshima is other team in the group.
