Ho Tuan Tai - the bright spot of SLNA in round 16 of V.League 2019?

In the match between SLNA and Saigon FC, Ho Tuan Tai jumped high and headed the ball into the visitors' net, raising the score to 2-1 for the home team. This was Ho Tuan Tai's 4th goal this season.

Since Vinicius joined SLNA, many people believe that Ho Tuan Tai's chances of being used will not be many. Tai is a striker playing in the center position, the most difficult position for domestic players. For a long time, V.League teams have only focused on using foreign players with superior physique and physical strength. This abuse has unintentionally caused Vietnamese football to always be in a state of scarcity of good strikers. Ho Tuan Tai is no exception.

Ho Tuan Tai will be given more opportunities when playing in his new position. Photo: Xuan Thuy

In the match against Saigon FC at Vinh Stadium, Coach Nguyen Duc Thang unexpectedly put Ho Tuan Tai in the starting lineup when the team had the foreign striker duo Olaha and Vinicius. That shows that the coaching staff of Vinh Stadium seems to want to give Ho Tuan Tai a new opportunity. In the 4-4-2 formation that Coach Duc Thang often uses, Olaha and Vinicius will definitely be prioritized to play in the highest position, which means that if Ho Tuan Tai is used, he will have to play as an attacking midfielder on the left or right wing, similar to Phan Van Duc's playing style.

In fact, in the matches between Da Nang in round 14 and Thanh Hoa in round 15, coach Duc Thang also pulled Ho Tuan Tai to play in this position, even though in those matches he only entered the field from the bench. This experiment seemed to have achieved the desired effect and in the match against Saigon, coach Nguyen Duc Thang immediately put Ho Tuan Tai in the official lineup.

Although playing as a winger, Ho Tuan Tai was given a lot of freedom, he was able to move quite widely and often appeared in the opponent's penalty area as a real striker. This was probably an important and very reasonable change for a striker who was used to playing as a center forward like the player from Hung Nguyen. Ho Tuan Tai was the one who had many moves that made the Saigon defense struggle the most. In such a situation, Ho Tuan Tai succeeded with a header to raise the score to 2-1 for SLNA.

Ho Tuan Tai was the most impressive player in the match between SLNA and Saigon FC. Photo: Xuan Thuy

“We still have to prioritize foreign strikers with good physique and strength in each match. Therefore, using Ho Tuan Tai to play freely and on the wing like that is reasonable in the situation where SLNA's attack is not really effective at this stage. Playing with 2 foreign strikers and a winger who tends to move up like that will create 3 attacking blocks: Ho Tuan Tai, Vinicius and Olaha. I think if he continues to play like that, Tai will maximize his ability. I highly appreciate Ho Tuan Tai in this match,” Coach Nguyen Duc Thang shared after the match against Saigon FC.

Phan Van Duc's inability to play in the remaining stages of the season has caused SLNA's attack to lack innovation. The Nghe An team always has to struggle with this problem and currently, placing Ho Tuan Tai as a left winger like Van Duc is probably the most optimal solution.