SLNA foreign players: "Avoid the watermelon rind, meet the coconut shell"?

(Baonghean) - At the beginning of the season, SLNA signed contracts with Bosman and Abubakar, but both were big disappointments. Therefore, before the end of the first half, SLNA had to liquidate. Preparing for the second half, SLNA signed contracts with Baba and Abdul. But through the matches in the National Cup and V.League, SLNA is facing the risk of "avoiding the melon rind and hitting the coconut rind". This reality is giving Quang Truong a real headache when after 3 consecutive recent matches in the V.League, they have only won 1 point.

According to SLNA's coaching staff, Baba (Ivory Coast) and Abdul (Nigeria) are both players with "good records". One scored 20 goals in the Thai professional league, the other played for one of Nigeria's top clubs last season. During their trial, both made a strong impression with their physique, physical strength and good pressing ability. SLNA's only concern is that Baba and Abdul lack a bit of finishing flair.

SLNA's foreign players are a big disappointment!

Finally, the Nghe An team decided to sign the contract with the reason that the team has many domestic players with technical skills, this combined with foreign players with strength and speed will complement each other and therefore, there is something to hope for. In the first few training sessions, the two foreign players above showed that they integrated quickly and were very impressed with the strength and speed exercises.

Previously, in preparation for the 2015 season, SLNA had to spend 1.5 billion VND to bribe Bosman, not to mention the salary of 7000 USD/month. In addition, Abubakar also cost the Nghe An team a considerable amount of money. However, before the first leg ended, SLNA was forced to liquidate these two foreign players because they did not meet professional requirements. Therefore, when Baba and Abdul appeared and impressed with their professional skills, many people were very happy and hoped that SLNA would have more attacking solutions in the second leg, when they had these two new players.

Right in the recent National Cup quarter-finals against B.Binh Duong, after completing the necessary procedures, Quang Truong sent Baba and Abdul onto the field. Although they were very aggressive in showing themselves, the two foreign players did not leave much of an impression. In many situations, Baba and Abdul were even booed by the audience, demanding to be replaced.

According to the assessment, apart from physique and physical strength, the two new foreign players of SLNA have nothing special. Even their finishing ability is very bad, when they met B.Binh Duong, they were given many opportunities but could not convert them into goals.

A match that did not say much and Nghe An fans continue to wait with the hope that in a more important playground, the V.League, the foreign players in the squad will be able to show themselves. In the match against Than Quang Ninh in Cam Pha, Quang Truong sent Baba onto the field from the start. However, just like the match in the National Cup, Baba did not leave much of an impression. Throughout the 90 minutes of the match, this Ivorian striker almost disappeared. The attack did not leave much of an impression and in the second half of the match, SLNA paid a heavy price when the home team scored the only goal of the match, causing SLNA to leave Cam Pha empty-handed.

Only 1-2 matches but looking at the way Baba and Abdul performed, there is not much to hope for. This is making Quang Truong feel like "sitting on fire" when in the last 3 matches at V.League, SLNA could not win. The Nghe team from 2nd place on the rankings has now been knocked out of the Top 4. There is a "decline" from the Nghe team and if there is no improvement, everything will become worse when the level of competition in phase 2 is very high.

According to experts, the reason SLNA has had poor results recently is that they do not have quality strikers. While Tuan Tai and Phuc Tinh show that they are inexperienced, the foreign players are not much better. After Abubakar and Bosman, Baba and Abdul have not shown any significant progress.

The upcoming challenge is at Go Dau and coach Quang Truong is really having a headache with foreign players, when the list has been finalized and nothing can be changed anymore.

Vinh Liem