Lessons for young SLNA players after the first loss at V.League 2020

Paying the price for excitement

There was no sign of complacency from SLNA players after the victory over Hanoi. Instead, the way the Nghe An team entered the game seemed inappropriate when their opponent was Ho Chi Minh City Club - the team that had just defeated Viettel 3-0. Remember, Viettel has a defense consisting of many national team players.

In fact, Coach Quang Truong's students were more excited, having clear opportunities in the first 20 minutes instead of sticking to a defensive counter-attacking style of play.

Striker Peter had a chance to score early in the match. Photo: Duc Anh

Without needing to use Hoang Thinh and Phi Son, the away team still possessed a central midfield capable of controlling the rhythm and forcing the young SLNA midfielders to be drawn into their style of play. In the first goal, the SLNA defense may have been unlucky in the situation where the ball found Pham Van Thanh after a tackle by Gustavo Santos, but before that was an inexperienced move by Dang Van Lam.

If SLNA's coaching staff were more meticulous and loyal in their defensive play and arranged more midfielders for defense, SLNA's ability to keep a clean sheet in the first half would still be very high. The excitement of SLNA's young players unintentionally made them impatient in each shot as well as in organizing defense.

Class difference

Ho Chi Minh City FC is clearly a team with a much better squad quality than SLNA, even coach Chung Hae-seong is a top-class coach. In terms of foreign player quality alone, the current runner-up last season is superior to SLNA names like Gustavo Santos, Peter Samuel or Alagie Soseh.

Foreign player Sosseh is a big disappointment for SLNA. Photo: Duc Anh

Although Peter Samuel still had an energetic match in this match, his finishing ability was not perfect. Meanwhile, Amido Baldé was both cunning and had the ability to take advantage of good opportunities. When losing, SLNA's coaching staff was forced to send in Alagie Sosseh, but SLNA's number 9 player did not have a single situation, turn around, or successfully shoot the ball.

If the third goal came from a lack of concentration and somewhat unlucky defense when the ball found Amido Baldé, the second goal showed the difference in class and skill between the two teams. Ho Chi Minh City players were too experienced in organizing counter-attacks and breaking the offside trap.

While SLNA had 8 counter-attacks, all were in vain because of the timely traps set by the opponent's defense. It is also easy to sympathize with SLNA's defense because captain Van Khanh is currently injured and Ba Sang has talent but still lacks a lot of battle experience.

Cong Phuong's high performance

It can be said that the difference of this match is also the difference of Phan Van Duc - Nguyen Cong Phuong. If Van Duc - the only name capable of creating a breakthrough on SLNA's side was marked and blocked, Cong Phuong played an extremely good match and scored a goal for himself thanks to a smart move.

This is the second consecutive match that Cong Phuong has scored for Ho Chi Minh City and also the second consecutive match that President Nguyen Huu Thang's team has scored 3 goals against their opponents. With this form, it will certainly please Coach Park Hang-seo and the coaching staff of the Vietnam National Team.

Striker Nguyen Cong Phuong also scored a goal. Photo: Duc Anh

The most beautiful image in the match at Vinh Stadium was the situation where Cong Phuong scored but did not celebrate the goal even though he had never played for SLNA. With SLNA, the Nghe An team will have to find more attacking options instead of just depending on Phan Van Duc.

This quick defeat can be said to have come at a relatively timely time. It helped the young SLNA players know where they stand and what they need to improve. They still have many opportunities to correct their mistakes in the 7 matches ahead of the first leg. According to statistics from the last match, SLNA had 49% ball possession, 3/5 shots on target while TP HCM had 5/10.

However, SLNA has also created an interesting phenomenon in V.League 2020 based on a squad of "young" players.

Header to score the equalizer for SLNA. Photo courtesy of Thanh Cuong

Accordingly, SLNA's record this year is 480 minutes of clean sheet, losing only 1 match. The number of 4 goals after 6 matches also shows that SLNA's attack is the worst among 14 teams. This achievement is equal to Hai Phong, Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh and even worse than the bottom team Nam Dinh who has 5 goals.

Of the 4 goals scored by SLNA, 2 were scored by Phan Van Duc, 1 by midfielder Dang Van Lam and 1 by Gustavo Santos. This means that all 4 goals did not come from the center forwards. If this cannot be improved, SLNA will face many difficulties in finishing the match or accumulating points.

Contrasting emotions of Cong Phuong and Van Duc on the day coach Lee attended Vinh stadium

(Baonghean.vn) - On the day that assistant Lee Young Jin - coach Park Hang-seo's right-hand man attended, Cong Phuong had an impressive performance against his hometown team while Phan Van Duc was quietly saddened by the loss.