Ex-Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac faces familiar criticism in Thailand

Former Black Stars Coach Milovan Rajevac is facing a familiar criticism in his role as Thailand manager.

The 63-year-old, who led Ghana to the quarterfinals of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, has always been bashed for being too defensive in his approach.

A mindset that he holds till this day, but Midfielder Sanrawat Dechmitr says Rajevac’s defensive policy has turned his side into a more systematic team, after Thailand scored a record 15 goals in the group stages of the AFF Suzuki Cup.

Sanrawat agrees with the Serbian’s tactics, which he says he was initially not fond of. “As a player who loves to play an attacking game, I didn’t understand why I had to play defensively. But if you understand the coach well, you realise he’s just attempting to help in the areas where we need to improve. So I accept what he’s trying to do,” said the 29-year-old, who has assisted on four of the goals scored by his team.

“We may not play beautiful, attacking football but we have been more systematic as a team,” Sanrawat said. “We haven’t conceded as many goals, even as our opponents tried to intensify their attacks, and we can counter-punch at any time. This is a new dimension in Thai football.”