Fairness in evaluating SLNA coaching staff

After 9 rounds of V.League 2019, SLNA is temporarily ranked 3rd with 16 points (4 wins, 4 draws and 1 loss). This is an achievement that not many SLNA fans thought of before this year's season officially started. In addition to the habit of "starting slowly", the Nghe An team is also plagued by injuries.

SLNA's coaching staff is having a headache with the personnel problem. Photo courtesy

Since the beginning of V.League 2019, the SLNA coaching staff has never had the best "cards" in hand. Typical examples are the two long-term injuries of the national team duo Phan Van Duc - Pham Xuan Manh. This shows that the "cutting the rice according to the fish sauce" and "patching up the shoulder" skills of coach Nguyen Duc Thang and his colleagues during the past time are very admirable.

Unfortunately, some SLNA fans did not realize or were not satisfied with that. Witnessing the team's consecutive draws against Nam Dinh, Viettel and Hai Phong (all with the score 0-0), some SLNA fans criticized the tactics of coach Nguyen Duc Thang and his colleagues. They said that the over-reliance on Olaha and Ho Khac Ngoc made SLNA's playing style very monotonous and easy to predict.

Their comments are not wrong. It is true that the Nghe An team’s playing style (attacking) is heavily dependent on the talent and performance of the Olaha – Ho Khac Ngoc duo. However, in football, it is quite normal for a team’s playing style to revolve around and depend on its best players. Aren’t Barcelona, ​​Juventus, and Chelsea also dependent on Messi, Ronaldo, and Hazard?

Phan Van Duc (left) is still recovering from his injury and has no return date yet. Photo courtesy

The importance of Olaha and Ho Khac Ngoc in SLNA is similar to Messi in Barcelona, ​​Ronaldo in Juventus and Hazard in Chelsea at present. Therefore, SLNA's playing style revolving around Olaha and Khac Ngoc is completely reasonable. Unfortunately, the satellites around these two players did not take advantage of the opportunity to complete the assigned tasks.

At this time, Pham Xuan Manh has returned to play and soon Ho Tuan Tai, Phan Van Duc... will also "reappear" one after another, SLNA's playing style will be more fluid, diverse and much more dangerous.