Highlights of Song Lam Nghe An's second win at V.League 2023-2024

Beautiful farewell 2023

Having to play away at 19/8 stadium, the coaching staff of the Nghe An team arranged a low formation to ensure stability on the home field. The 5-3-2 formation can be transformed into 5-4-1 when necessary.Lam River Nghe Anhas limited a lot of danger in the home team's sideline attacks.

However, Khanh Hoa Club still occasionally had notable attacks. Fortunately, on a day when he was chosen as the main goalkeeper, goalkeeper Tran Van Tien had good reflexes and reasonable moves to help the home team stand firm.

When many spectators were thinking about a goalless draw at 19/8 Nha Trang Stadium, young defender Mai Sy Hoang suddenly entered the penalty area to score the only goal of the match. This important victory helped Song Lam Nghe An temporarily rise to 10th place in the rankings with 9 points after 8 matches.

With this victory, the Nghe An team had a beautiful farewell to 2023, a year of many storms for the Vinh team. Hopefully, in the new year 2024, Song Lam Nghe An will have strong steps forward to achieve even more success.

Impressive defense

It can be said that this was an impressive match for the Song Lam Nghe An defense. First of all, it was left-back Mai Sy Hoang. This defender born in 1999 had a match that was not only excellent in defense but also scored the only goal of the match to bring victory to the home team. Therefore, Mai Sy Hoang was the best player of this match.

Besides Mai Sy Hoang, we cannot fail to mention center-back Mario Zebic. This Croatian center-back has been in good form recently. He has always been one of the most stable players on the Nghe team. In the last 3 matches, under the direction of Mario Zebic, the Song Lam Nghe An defense has played quite tightly and firmly, making the opposing team's strikers unable to score. Hopefully in the new year 2024, Mario Zebic will continue to be in good form to help the Nghe team have successful matches.

The pragmatism of coach Phan Nhu Thuat

In the last 3 matches, Nghe An fans can easily see a different face of Song Lam Nghe An. The Vinh home team often plays with a rather low formation and slow pace, sometimes creating a rather boring feeling for the audience.

These are the changes in the playing style of coach Phan Nhu Thuat since the 4-4 draw against Quang Nam Club. This pragmatic playing style helps "save" the players' physical strength and "easier" to bring points to the Nghe An team.

That was demonstrated through the two wins against Hoang Anh Gia Lai and Khanh Hoa Club. These were two matches in which Song Lam Nghe An took full advantage of the opportunities they had to finish off their opponents. Meanwhile, the players were no longer out of breath at decisive moments, causing their team to lose victories.

Even in the loss to Ho Chi Minh City Club, coach Phan Nhu Thuat and his team almost succeeded with this pragmatic style of play. Unfortunately, an "unfortunate accident" caused Song Lam Nghe An to leave Thong Nhat Stadium empty-handed. It can be said that in the current context of the Nghe An team, the pragmatism ofCoach Phan Nhu ThuatIt is completely reasonable to help the home team get the best results.

19/8 Nha Trang Stadium is so bad

The recent heavy rains have made the 19/8 Nha Trang stadium look very bad. Before the match between Khanh Hoa Club and Song Lam Nghe An, there were pictures of the 19/8 stadium being sprayed with paint to make the grass greener.

However, this could not improve the quality of the 19/8 pitch. With the muddy pitch, the players continuously had unfortunate slips that affected the quality of the match. Fortunately, in this difficult situation,Nghe An football teamstill got 3 points to leave the field on 19/8.

After round 8, V.League will take a break for more than a month for the Vietnam team to compete in the 2023 Asian Cup and the Lunar New Year holiday. This will be an opportunity for coach Phan Nhu Thuat and his team to improve themselves to come back stronger.