Cardoso confirms sacking after heavy defeat, but will see out the season- Lee Man 4 Kitchee 0

Written by Adam O'Domhnaill

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Another shambles of a performance saw Lee Man condemn us to our fifth league defeat of the season, and our heaviest loss in the HKPL era. Everton Camargo continued his good form against us, opening the scoring early on, while Dudu evaded poor Kitchee marking at a free kick to double the lead. Around the hour mark the result was confirmed, two more Everton assists for Anier (his seventh goal in seven against Kitchee) and Paulissen (a pretty good goal to be honest, as painful as it is to admit, and it was met with ironic cheers from the Kitchee fan base). The last half hour was painful to watch- Kitchee still offered very little, and Lee Man could and probably should have had two or three more. The match was summed up by Helio going down injured towards the end (not for the first time this game), and Kitchee being too slow to get Jason Kam on (for what would have been only his second appearance of the season) so they finished the game with ten men. After the game Cardoso confirmed to the media that has been sacked, but will see out the end of his contract and Kitchee's final four games.

Team news

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Juninho came back into the starting lineup, with Cheng Chin-lung dropping back to the bench. Law came in at right back for Bae. Leon Jones and Jay Haddow remained out. Welthon was on the bench but unused, suggesting a lack of fitness, and Poon Pui-hin once again was left out of the squad.

Talley; Law (Bae 64), Helio (c), Dantas, Jordan; Machado (Hin 75), Ngan, Rey, Fernando; Juninho (Lung 75), Temirov

Unused subs: Wang, Welthon, Buddle, Tuscany, Slattery, Jason

Match events

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Kitchee hopes of a good start were extinguished as Everton and Anier helped Lee Man cut through Kitchee's left hand side like a knife through butter, with Everton beating Talley at the near post. Juninho forced a save from Chan Ka-ho, and Talley kept out a Paulissen header. Just after the half hour, Dudu was left wide open in Kitchee's box from a free kick, and the first half ended 2-0. Fans were unsurprised to see no half time changes, and at half time the few Kitchee subs that warmed up appeared to only be playing long balls across the pitch, seemingly in direct contrast to the free flowing football favoured by the coach.

Temirov went close to pulling one back, forcing a save after meeting Law's cross with his head. But around the hour mark, Kitchee collapsed again. Everton easily skinned Kitchee's left hand side, making a simple pass to Anier to convert for 3-0. And two minutes later it was four. Juninho played a pass straight to Everton in the Lee Man half, and for once Kitchee prevented a goal on the counter, instead giving up a corner. Everton played it straight to Paulissen on the edge of the box, and after faking the shot initially fired home. Everton should have made it five on the counter attack, but Talley made a good save. Temirov almost got a consolation, continuing to chase the ball with little reward. Machado hit the bar before being withdrawn, but Kitchee offered very little. The end was very dull; Helio went down injured a couple of times and by the time the coaches had prepared Jason Kam to come on Lee Man kept the ball in play and ensured we finished the game with ten men.

Fan feedback

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What more can be said? Another game with the same tactics and personnel clearly not working, and a lack of ideas off the bench. Law had been one of our better players on the day, but he was withdrawn as the first sub, and it took until Machado and Juninho were basically walking aimlessly around the pitch to be brought off. Helio showed his age and went down injured, and with the lack of trust in Jason Kam it took until Helio could not walk at all at the end for Jason to be prepared to come on, but alas too late given Lee Man kept the ball in play.

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Yet again, our squad look shattered and the attitude is abysmal. There is very little hunger or desire, and players are walking around the pitch. Playing a 38 year old Fernando week after week for close to 90 minutes is stupid, and he cannot offer us much, especially when it comes to helping out Jordan Lam deal with threats down the Kitchee left hand side. Helio has no pace at all, and it is really affecting Kitchee defensively. There is no physicality in midfield or up front, and Kitchee are often out-muscled. The lack of depth up front and in midfield means that the same players are playing virtually ninety minutes every week and looking knackered. Aaron Rey has played over 80% of Kitchee's minutes this season, with Matheus Dantas, Luis Machado, Jordan Lam, Ngan Cheuk-pan, Fynn Talley and Sherzod Temirov all over 70%. In such a high-intensity playing style, there needs to be more substitutes made.

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Poor recruitment and while injuries are a part of football. In a bilingual statement confirming Cardoso's post-season departure, chairman Ken Ng bemoaned Kitchee's lengthy injury list. Tan Chun-lok, Ruslan Mingazow and Jay Haddow have had long periods of time on the sidelines and despite opportunities to bring in replacements, these have not been taken. This then leaves you with a situation like Saturday, with only nine substitutes. Of these nine subs, two were goalkeepers and one was an unfit Welthon, with Buddle, Slattery and Jason having less than 250 minutes combined. At 4-0 down after an hour, there was a great opportunity for Cardoso to chuck the fringe players on for half an hour, with little pressure. They couldn't have done any worse and could have benefitted from the exposure.

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In lengthy post-match interviews with a host of media outlets, Edgar Cardoso confirmed he will be departing the club at the end of the season. Whether that's an outright sacking or not renewing the contract is irrelevant, he is gone, although some fans see no point in him managing the last few games of the season. It has been a shambolic campaign from start to finish, starting with poor recruitment leading to a lack of squad depth in key areas, and a stubbornness to stick to a tactical philosophy that does not work, with limited changes in personnel both before and during games. The lack of gametime for fringe players is concerning- a number of the regular bench players have not featured at all in the league, and those that have are restricted to very short cameos. In these short cameos, they have limited opportunities to impress, and therefore the cycle of distrust continues. In the short term, Kitchee are playing tired players at less intensity and fitness than expected, and in the long term these younger players (likely to play a bigger role next season) do not build up confidence from minutes.

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It has been a record-breaking season for Kitchee, and not in a good way. The 4-0 loss was Kitchee's heaviest in the league since December 2007, and the fifth defeat in the league (also a HKPL record for Kitchee). Previously Kitchee lost six games in the 07/08 season, and based on current form look set to equal or beat that in the weeks to come. Kitchee have conceded 22 goals so far this season, their worst since 2012/13. Strangely despite this, Talley is joint top for clean sheets with five (tied with Tse Ka-wing), and the fifty goals Kitchee have scored is joint top in the league with Tai Po. As has been alluded to by fans and journalists, teams no longer fear Kitchee, knowing that the quality of the starters and the strength in depth is nowhere near that of previous seasons.

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There have been games this season where Kitchee have shown great attacking quality in comprehensive victories (8-0 vs Rangers, 4-0 vs HKFC, 6-1 and 5-0 vs Kowloon City, 5-0 vs North District, 3-0 vs Eastern and Southern,, as well as showing grit to get over the line either against tough opponents or when Kitchee were far from perfect (2-1 vs Tai Po and Rangers, 3-1 vs HKFC). But the dropped points against weaker teams has really cost Kitchee- two draws with Southern, a defeat and a draw with North District and a loss to Kowloon City. Another big rebuild awaits, with a host of players expected to follow Cardoso (and possibly some/all of his coaching team) out the door, after a first trophyless season in well over a decade.

What's next for Kitchee

Two weeks until the next game, when we take on HKFC at Mong Kok on the 26th in our penultimate home game. Perhaps we see a return for some of our injury absentees. Naturally as the season comes to a close the club and fans start to look ahead to next season. After another disappointing campaign, we can expect a number of players to move on. On the other hand, sources say two current HKPL players are likely to join in the summer, with eagle-eyed fans spotting one in the stands. Kitchee have only won one of the last eight games in all competitions (including six defeats) so will be hoping to put on some positive displays.

Match highlights

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