Coach Phan Thanh Hung: 'Phi Son makes Than Quang Ninh's defense suffer'

(Baonghean.vn) – Playing completely inferior to SLNA and having to rely on the home team’s defensive mistakes, Than Quang Ninh was lucky to get 1 point at Vinh Stadium. Coach Phan Thanh Hung admitted that SLNA midfielders had a great match.

» 'Westerly handicap', SLNA shares points at the last minute

The joy of Phi Son and his teammates was short-lived when they continued to lose victories at home. Photo: Duc Anh.

Once again, SLNA dropped points in the last minute despite Phi Son playing the hero role in opening the score in the 68th minute. The 1-1 draw in a winning position could not satisfy SLNA coach Nguyen Duc Thang. However, for coach Phan Thanh Hung of the away team, it was truly a gift.

In the press conference, coach Phan Thanh Hung explained the reason why his players played rather poorly in the first 45 minutes: “The Vinh pitch was a bit hard, the weather was not favorable. That made it difficult for Than Quang Ninh to coordinate. I was not surprised when the home team was pressured. However, the draw had its reasons and the score reflected the true quality of the two teams.

Coach Phan Thanh Hung highly appreciated SLNA's midfield in the match of round 14. Photo: Trung Kien.

Today, defender Van Khoa played quite well. However, in the situation where Phi Son made a mistake to score, it was entirely due to the excellent performance of the SLNA midfielder and the home team's wing. Especially Phi Son, he caused a lot of trouble for the Than Quang Ninh defense.

As for coach Nguyen Duc Thang, although he regretted that his team only got 1 point against Than Quang Ninh, the Nghe An coach still calmly accepted the final result. He said: “In this match, we were missing many important players such as Van Vinh, Van Khanh and a quality foreign player. In the situation that led to the goal, the entire defense and Nguyen Manh were not decisive, allowing the away team to have the opportunity and take advantage of it successfully.

Once again losing the victory in the final minutes, coach Nguyen Duc Thang's face could not hide his regret. Photo: Trung Kien.

After 2 months of training, we have improved a lot. My students entered the game with great emotion and desire to win.

We always rely on a collective style of play. Phi Son plays spontaneously and he creates breakthroughs, playing an important role in SLNA's style of play. We are sorry to lose at the last minute but that is football."

In addition, SLNA's head coach is still not really satisfied with the home team's strikers in today's match: "The problem that we are most concerned about is still the strikers. The road is still long, everything has just begun. Today Phuc Tinh held the ball and handled it well but still did not have the necessary strength.

Currently, SLNA's coaching staff has targeted a number of foreign players, but needs more time to test them."

PV Group