SLNA and the Olaha Michael problem

(Baonghean.vn) - SLNA's coaching staff is having a headache after 6 rounds have passed.Olaha Michaelstill silent. Olaha story has the appearance of the Ivory Coast strikerSolia BabaLast year, if that was true, it would have been a sad thing for the Nghe An team..

» Priest Nguyen Dinh Thuc incited parishioners

For several seasons now, the Nghe An team has been having problems recruiting foreign players, only choosing the right players close to the registration deadline. There is not much time to assemble the team, so last year it was Baba, and this year it is Olaha, who have been playing for a long time but still have not scored. When they have started to integrate into the V-League atmosphere, the tournament has ended. The Nghe An team is rushing to recruit new foreign players, the cycle continues like this year after year.

Water up to the foot... don't jump

Honestly, only those who understand the internal situation of SLNA can share the difficulties of the coaching board in selecting foreign players. First, because the North Asian investor gave the "club the right to be autonomous in everything except money", it was very difficult for Duc Thang and his colleagues to quickly carry out the work of selecting foreign players. Usually, after selecting the players, the coaching board would use the FLC Thanh Hoa prize to assemble the squad, but SLNA used this prize to "check the legs and feet" of the foreign players but it was not successful. A few hours before the closing time for foreign player registration, the Nghe An team had just completed the foreign player registration procedure, so the audience's saying "when the water reaches the feet, they still refuse to jump" was not unfair.

SLNA's coaching staff is having a headache with Olaha. Illustrative photo

SLNA recruits foreign players mainly in the traditional way, based on the introduction of familiar brokers, combined with resumes, competition clips and visual performance on the field. With a relatively short time, the coaching board does not have enough conditions to evaluate ability and depends a lot on "luck".

Last year, Baba was not a strange name to fans of the Vinh team when in the second leg of the 2015 season, he played for SLNA. In 10 matches, Baba scored 6 goals but the following season he only scored 5 goals. Talking about Henry Shackiel - a player introduced by his colleague Hector, a former SLNA player, who is playing for the W Connection Club (Trinidad & Tobago National Championship) as soon as he debuted at Vinh Stadium, fans saw his class. In reality, the ability to seize opportunities of this player wearing the number 45 shirt has been proven.

Meanwhile, Olaha Michael is a young striker (born in 1997) and can play in the position of a withdrawn striker thanks to his superior ability to maneuver, finish and especially support defense from a distance. In the profile, Olaha Michael is a pillar of the Nigerian U20 team, so the SLNA coaching board has spent a lot of effort negotiating with the Abia Warriors FC club. But in reality, Olaha is having a lot of difficulty scoring against mid-level teams of V-League 2017 such as: XSKT Can Tho, S.Khanh Hoa or Quang Nam.

Solution

Up to now, only 6 rounds have passed but Nghe An audiences are no longer interested in SLNA's ranking, because the outcome has been predicted. The problem now is that the audience will witness their favorite young players on the field demonstrating their professional abilities. The audience all understand that at the end of this season, a series of pillars Phi Son, Ngoc Hai... of the Nghe An team will have their contracts with the club expired, not to mention the "veterans" Van Vinh and Minh Duc also saying goodbye.

So, if SLNA’s coaching board considers using Olaha Michael for a long time, they need to continue giving the Nigerian player a chance. In particular, they need to experiment more in the left midfield position (left-footed) or even defensive midfield, not just confining him to the attacking midfielder position as he is now.

Olaha himself does not understand why he has not scored after 6 rounds. Illustration photo

If we keep Tuan Tai on the bench forever, trust a foreign player for a season like we used Baba, and in the end, both of them score 5 goals/season, it is a waste of calculation by SLNA's coaching board. Maybe, each coach will have a different way of evaluating players, but the fact that coach Huu Thang still trusts Tuan Tai in the national U23 team more than Quang Hai and Duc Chinh is also a problem for SLNA's coaching board to think about.

Last year, Quang Truong trusted Baba, at least because he had tried his hand at the Vietnamese football field the previous season and was considered successful. Meanwhile, Olaha Michael was just getting used to the football field for the first time. If he had the chance to play and then moved to another club because SLNA did not have enough money to pursue him, it would be like "the crane catches the bird and the stork eats it".

It is time for SLNA’s coaching board to make a decisive decision on how to use Olaha. If we continue to give Olaha the opportunity to prove that the decision to buy this player is correct, it will narrow the playing opportunities of SLNA’s young strikers, sometimes “the benefits outweigh the harm”. Even if we trust Olaha, we still have to change the way this player plays, because 6 matches is not a short period of time for a foreign player to show himself. Perhaps, the match with SHB.Da Nang will be an opportunity for coach Duc Thang to find the answer about his coaching ability./.

Catcosan Vinh