HAGL: Before the turn, change generals 'mountain town style'

After coach Minh Chien of B.Binh Duong, coach Duong Minh Ninh is the second coach to leave the game when V.League 2019 entered the acceleration round. The fact that Mr. Lee Tae-Hoon and Duong Minh Ninh changed places in the technical cabin was predicted.

First of all, the presence of Mr. Lee Tae-Hoon, born in 1961, who was the head coach of the U23 team and the Cambodian national team from 2010-2012, 2013-2017 in the Mountain City is part of Mr. Duc's plan. In name, Mr. Lee Tae-Hoon is the Technical Director of HAGL Club, but in reality, he is a member of the coaching staff and is now given greater authority.

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Coach Duong Minh Ninh officially led HAGL from the 2018 season, helping the mountain town team to rank 10th overall. Van Toan's brilliance in helping HAGL have their first victory 3-2 against Quang Ninh at home only helped Mr. Duong extend his title as HAGL coach for exactly 1 round.

Van Toan's brilliance in helping HAGL have their first victory 3-2 against Quang Ninh at home only helped Mr. Duong extend his title as HAGL coach for exactly 1 round. Photo: VPF

There are many reasons for the fact that after 6 rounds, HAGL has only 6 points (2 wins, 4 losses), ranking 11th on the overall table, only 3 points more than the bottom team Thanh Hoa. The fact that a series of players such as Korean central defender Kim Bongjin, Van Thanh, A Hoang, Hoang Lam, Chau Ngoc Quang, Trieu Viet Hung... are injured makes coach Duong Minh Ninh not have the strongest squad.

But the fact that in the last 6 matches, HAGL has conceded 12 goals in every match shows that the mountain town team has problems in its defense system. However, names like Duc Luong, Anh Tai, Trong Sang always play like they are "sleepy" even though they only have to face the middle group of V.League.

Coach Duong Minh Ninh used a defense of 3 defenders, then 4 defenders, but goalkeeper Sietsma still had to go pick the ball out of the net. The victory over Quang Ninh was because the offense played better, but the defense still conceded 2 goals. The addition of Mr. Huynh Ngoc Anh, an "old player" of HAGL, did not significantly change the team.

This season, HAGL is determined to change with the goal of top 5 even though Cong Phuong and Xuan Truong have gone abroad. Coach Duong Minh Ninh brought to Pleiku many new contracts, including 3 players in the defensive position: goalkeeper Sietsma, central defender duo Kim Bong-jin and Pham Hoang Lam. But the most obvious thing is that HAGL always makes systematic errors and individual mistakes in matches.

HAGL style substitution

After the loss to Quang Nam, head coach Duong Minh Ninh still reassured HAGL fans by calling on everyone to patiently wait for the return of Van Thanh and the injured players. But just a few hours later, he wrote a resignation letter after accepting personal responsibility for the team's performance?

HAGL changes general or just "changes position" on the coaching bench. Photo: VPF

It seems that the trust in coach Duong Minh Ninh has fallen too low and the two matches at Plei-ku with Thanh Hoa and Nam Dinh will decide the fate of the team, so Mr. Duc had to take action. If HAGL cannot get at least 4 points after these two matches, it is likely that HAGL will have to replace the two names mentioned above, standing at the bottom of the rankings.

But what surprised many HAGL fans was that Mr. Duc chose the “new bottle, old wine” strategy by still keeping Mr. Duong Minh Ninh in the coaching staff. Not many teams use this tactic, unless they just want to “change the spirit” and not give full power to the new person.

Certainly, the presence of Mr. Duong Minh Ninh will make it difficult for Mr. Lee Tae-Hoon to innovate in training, tactics and direction in matches. Meanwhile, coaches Duc Thang of Thanh Hoa and Van Sy of Nam Dinh are not amateurs in these types of "6-point" matches.

At the beginning of the season, HAGL surprised everyone by saying goodbye to Technical Director Chung Hae-seong and now they are surprising V.League 2019 by arranging a rather strange lineup on the coaching bench. That explains why Van Toan and his teammates are still having poor results in V.League even though the first batch of players this season used to be the great hope of HAGL fans.