Hanoi - SLNA (4-0): The "king's" authority!

Contrary to expectations, coach Chu Dinh Nghiem only used Oseni Ganiyu and Pape Omar Faye in the starting lineup. With the goal of getting 3 points, Hanoi used 3 strikers, Oseni played as a striker while Thanh Luong and Omar played on the wings. Three national players Quang Hai, Hung Dung and Duc Huy played as midfielders, in which Quang Hai was allowed to move freely.

"Death" was foretold

SLNA arranged the pair Sy Nam - Dinh Hoang to play on the right wing to prevent Thanh Luong from attacking, because the coaching staff of the Nghe An team thought that this would be the main attack direction of the home team. Not to mention, in addition, Serbian center back - Damir Memović, also played on the right wing to cover for defender Dinh Hoang.

However, SLNA only did well in the first 13 minutes, still with the same attacking direction but coach Chu Dinh Nghiem added Quang Hai, the away team's defense was shaken. Clearly, Thanh Luong and Quang Hai showed their class in the breakthroughs on the wing that neither Dinh Hoang nor Sy Nam could stop. Thanh Luong had a free foot to fire a powerful shot, goalkeeper Nguyen Manh could not catch it so Oseni shot close to the goal to score an early goal.

The "King" returned to the top of V.Laegue after a 4-0 victory. Photo by Duc Cuong

The second goal was again a quick run by Oseni on this wing and then a cross for Omar to score. This was a move that showed the speed of Hanoi's foreign players, a move that few V.League teams at this time have.

The third goal showed why Quang Hai deserved to be the best player of the match when he suddenly sneaked down, chested a long pass from his teammate and made a V.League masterpiece.

In this match, SLNA changed the right winger position 3 times, including Sy Nam, The Cuong and Phuc Tinh, but when the whole team could not press, it was predicted that they could not withstand the home team's attacks. But clearly, Hanoi's tactical adjustments showed that they had studied SLNA quite carefully.

The reason the match only ended at 4-0 was because in the second half, the home players mainly played around with the ball, not allowing the opponent to attack rather than focusing on scoring. If coach Chu Dinh Nghiem had used all 3 foreign players and naturalized players, Hanoi's strength would have been even more terrifying.

Question mark for SLNA?

In the last 10 minutes, the home team only had Hoang Vu Samson left, but SLNA still could not attack. Coach Duc Thang pushed Khac Ngoc up to play as an attacking midfielder right behind the foreign duo Olaha and Marcio Dos Santos, but still could not improve the situation.

Many people questioned why Santos was recruited when his personal technique was quite poor, he was slow to turn around and often lost the ball in counter-attacks. Apart from the long-range shot that hit the crossbar, Marcio Dos Santos was almost harmless throughout the 90 minutes on the field and was the "bottleneck" of SLNA's attacks.

Quang Hai and Thanh Luong made SLNA's right wing shake. Photo: Duc Cuong

As we have stated, SLNA is not strong when facing a situation where they have fewer attackers than their opponents because they do not have individuals capable of breaking through. This signals that they will not only have difficulty facing Hanoi but will also have difficulty breaking through the net of equal teams such as SHB.Da Nang, TP. HCM...

Losing to Hanoi at this stage is not a big problem, the important thing is what SLNA's coaching staff learns from this match.