Thailand coach Akira Nishino is mulling ways to solve the War Elephants' striking conundrum in time for their second 2022 World Cup Group G qualifying game in Jakarta tomorrow.
Assistant coach Totchtawan Sripan yesterday admitted that the Thai national team players need to improve a number of things before they square off with the Garudas at daunting Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.
"The coach [Nishino] is working on finding a remedy for our inability to score in the first qualifying match," said Totchtawan, referring to Thailand's goalless home draw with arch-rivals Vietnam on Thursday.
The Thais arrived in Jakarta on Saturday and have had several training sessions so far in the Indonesian capital.
Totchtawan said Nishino is assessing the "character of each player" to work out tactics for tomorrow's clash in which both Thailand and Indonesia, beaten 3-2 at home by Malaysia on Thursday, will be gunning for three points.
"It was a very disciplined perfor- mance by the team against Vietnam, so we are not worried about that," added Totchtawan, a former Thailand midfielder.
"The positional play was OK as well, but we did notice that there were some problems with our combination play which affected our performance."
Totchtawan said at this moment the staff coaches were more concerned about the players' fitness.
"It was a tough game against Vietnam and it took its toll on a number of players. We are trying our best to help them recover before the match against Indonesia."
Totchtawan was a member of the Thai squad that edged Indonesia in a penalty shoot-out in the 1997 SEA Games final after which violent rioting erupted at the same venue, when it was known as Senayan Stadium.
The stadium was the scene of crowd trouble again on Thursday, prompting Indonesia's Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi to tender an apology.
"I have been here before and I know how it feels like to play in front of a hostile crowd of more than 80,000 people," Totchtawan said.
"I have been telling the players to try to ignore whatever is happening in the stands and concentrate on what is going on the field alone."
In the other Group G game tomorrow, Malaysia will host the UAE.