Rating SLNA foreign players this season

At the beginning of the season,SLNARegularly playing with the three foreign players Peter Samuel, Alagie Sosseh, Gustavo, center back Gustavo is the player with the most experience in V.League, this is his 3rd season playing on Vietnamese football field.Compared withDamir Memovic's blocking ability is somewhat limited, but in return, the ability to cover for teammates is a strong point of this defender.

Successful foreign central defender

Striker Felipe will shine in his second season playing for SLNA. Photo SLFC

The greatest success of center back Gustavo was successfully guiding Thai Ba Sang during the time he replaced captain Hoang Van Khanh. Many opposing strikers "avoided" Gustavo by deliberately playing close to Thai Ba Sang, but this foreign player still kept an eye on him to support when needed. With an average successful ball recovery rate of 10-12 times/match and a long pass accuracy rate of 90%, Gustavo was rated higher than Bui Tien Dung, Que Ngoc Hai (Viettel), Memovic (HAGL), Diakite (HCMC). Scoring 8.5 points for this foreign player, a valuable contract.

Foreign player Alagie Sosseh has the worst Instat index of V.League 2020. SLNA's Gambian foreign player after 10 matches only had 4 shots, all of which were off target, no goals, no assists. This foreign player's dribbling success rate is only 42%, Alagie Sosseh's passing accuracy rate is 71% but he has no successful passes into the 16.5m box.

The ability to participate in defense is also extremely poor with a success rate of only 44%. One of the reasons why SLNA had to compete in the reverse final is that the two foreign players in the Nghe An team were slow to warm up. It is difficult to give Alagie Sosseh a score of 4 and the SLNA recruitment board will have to think about why they chose a player who only knows how to run and run into the squad this season.

The burden on the shoulders of SLNA's coaching staff

Striker Felipe will shine in his second season playing for SLNA. Photo SLFC

Foreign player Peter Samuel is quite a headache for SLNA's coaching staff. It seems that the technical parameters such as dribbling, passing, shooting... of this foreign player are not inferior to Bruno (Hong Linh Ha Tinh), Chevaghn (HAGL), players who have up to 10 goals. But playing for SLNA 16 matches, 1440 minutes but he only has 2 goals is a pity. It was not until the match with Hai Phong at Vinh Stadium (15th match) that this foreign player had his first goal. He is the strongest player, with better fighting ability than any foreign player in V.League 2020.

With the philosophy of not losing, Peter Samuel was asked to drop deep to participate in defense. When he had the ball, if he attacked, SLNA's front line would have no players for him to pass the ball to his teammates. If he returned the ball to his teammates in the middle of the field to move forward without the ball, then Peter Samuel himself would be starved for the ball. Heading is not the strong point of this foreign player, and when it comes to small coordination in the 16.5m area, Peter Samuel has no satellites to support him.

Peter Samuel's strengths in breaking through and pressing the opponent to dribble the ball need to be promoted in the next season. Especially when Tuan Tai left SLNA, the Vinh team's attack depends a lot on foreign players. Peter Samuel is given 6.5 points because although he is a striker, he has only played a defensive role from afar rather than scoring, disrupting or creating.

Striker Felipe's scoring efficiency in the second season is not high either. If last year after 10 matches, 556 minutes playing for HAGL, striker Felipe had 3 goals, this season after 7 matches, 623 minutes playing for SLNA he has 2 goals. But due to Covid-19, they could not recruit foreign players and Felipe's pairing with Peter Samuel was not too bad, so SLNA had to quickly sign. Score 7.

In fact, how effective he is in next season depends a lot on how SLNA's coaching staff use their players. Currently, whenever Felipe and Peter Samuel have the ball, they usually only have one attacking option, which makes it easy for the opposing defenders to neutralize. These two foreign players need passes into the gaps of the opposing defenders to press and overtake.

The loss of striker Tuan Tai, who scored 8 and 5 goals in the V.League in the last 2 seasons, forced SLNA's coaching staff to quickly come up with suitable strategies for the above foreign players.