Be brave, coach Huy Hoang!

When he was still playing,Nguyen Huy Hoangis one of the most passionate players of Song Lam Nghe An and the Vietnam National Team. This steely center back has shed blood many times after his aggressive plays. After moving to coaching, in any role, this 40-year-old man puts all his heart into his work to bring the team to the best results.

Since taking over the first team of Song Lam Nghe An, to revive a dilapidated Song Lam Nghe An after the 2021 V.League season, the hair of the strategist from Nghia Dan has turned a lot gray.

Coach Huy Hoang. Photo: Archive

With the strong investment of Tan Long Group and the reform of the coaching staff, the Nghe An team has had obvious changes. The first thing that is easy to see is that the fighting spirit of Song Lam Nghe An is increasingly improved. It seems that coach Huy Hoang has tried to ignite the players so that they enter the field with the highest fighting spirit. In the first 20 minutes of the past matches, Song Lam Nghe An has always been a very good team, the Nghe team has scored 6 goals and not conceded any goals during this time. Even in the recent loss to Dong A Thanh Hoa, Song Lam Nghe An also created 2 good opportunities at this time, unfortunately Dinh Tien and Olaha could not take advantage.

However, after this exciting first period of play, the Nghe An team somewhat slowed down in the following minutes of play. The familiar scenario of conceding goals and losing matches took place in matches against Topenland Binh Dinh, Viettel Club, and Dong A Thanh Hoa. It is clear that coach Huy Hoang has not yet come up with reasonable tactical plans in these stages. In other words, Song Lam Nghe An did not have time to react when the opponent had caught up with the match. Coach Huy Hoang must also be sympathetic when the Nghe An team's midfield lacks a leader who can control the match's tempo. Although Xuan Manh still does a very good job of blocking, he and his satellites such as Mario or Dinh Xuan Tien still cannot help.Lam River Nghe Ancontrol the midfield.

In the second half, Song Lam Nghe An showed even more signs of being out of breath. Conceding 10 goals and scoring only 6 goals showed the problem of the depth of the Nghe An team. If not counting the cases of forced substitutions, Song Lam Nghe An's squad only has about 15-16 people who can play "fully" in all positions on the field. In a long race, that is too small a number for coach Huy Hoang to use and rotate. Not to mention when the pillars are injured or suspended, the difficulty is even more compounded.

In the match against Dong A Thanh Hoa, Oseni had many opportunities in the second half, however, he could not score against the opponent. Photo: Chung Le

For example, the attack line of Song Lam Nghe An, looking up and down, there are only 3 names: Olaha, Oseni and Phan Van Duc. Playing continuously and not having quality reserves to compete has made the trio on the attack line gradually fade away. It seems that the opponents have figured out coach Huy Hoang's moves before the match even started.

In the match against Dong A Thanh Hoa, coach Huy Hoang boldly pushed Oseni to the bench and sent Tran Dinh Tien onto the field from the start. This was a bold move by the 40-year-old coach. This move took advantage of Dinh Tien's desire to compete to alert Oseni's performance. Playing from the start, Dinh Tien played very aggressively on the right wing of the Nghe An team. He had a close-range shot, however, the home team's defender cleared the ball right on the goal line. Oseni was also sent onto the field by coach Huy Hoang from the beginning of the second half to take advantage of the Nigerian striker's strength and agility to sweep through the Thanh Hoa team's defense. The intention of the Song Lam Nghe An Coaching Board was somewhat transformed when opportunities continuously came to this striker wearing the number 91 shirt. However, bad luck continued to haunt Oseni when he missed two great opportunities and when he put the ball into goalkeeper Thanh Diep's net, it was disallowed due to offside.

The other striker who has also been in poor form recently is Phan Van Duc. After his super goal against Hai Phong Club, the striker from Yen Thanh has not left much of an impression on Song Lam Nghe An's playing style. It has been a long time since Nghe An fans have seen Phan Van Duc, who once thrilled fans in the club's jersey as well as the Vietnam National Team. If he continues to play like this, Duc Cot may be the next one to be friends with the bench. The problem is whether the Coaching Board of Song Lam Nghe An has the courage to make this decision when Phan Van Duc is one of the symbols of Nghe An football today. And who will replace Phan Van Duc then?

Phan Van Duc in a training session with his teammates. Photo: Duc Anh.

In addition to the human problem, Nghe An audiences can easily see that Song Lam Nghe An uses too many long passes in their playing style, especially when the opponent is leading. Fans rarely see them give up beautiful passing situations to penetrate the opponent's defense, but instead use lucky crosses from the wings. With that style of play, it is very difficult for the Nghe An team to create breakthroughs against their opponents. In addition, Song Lam Nghe An players often have cumbersome handling phases that take about 3 or 4 beats, missing the opportunity to counterattack quickly or putting themselves in a difficult position.

In modern football, many average and weak teams are willing to “sacrifice” to build a passing style of play right from the home field. They bravely coordinate with each other to create pressing escapes to switch the state from defense to attack. Of course, this style of play is not built in a day or two, it is a process of training and cultivating of the whole team on the training ground as well as in matches.

The loss to Dong A Thanh Hoa may not have a big impact on the goal of entering the top 3 of the tournament.Lam River Nghe An.However, this defeat will be a big lesson for the players and coaching staff of the Nghe An team to look back at themselves. Without positive changes, the top 3 finish seems too far away for Song Lam Nghe An.