What other 'treasures' does SLNA have?

Quang Truong has gone to Hai Phong, and Huu Thang has gone to the South. Nghe An has only used a Brazilian foreign coach once for a short time. This shows that the only way to save SLNA is to send out the "treasure".

Change generals, behead soldiers?

The first leg has not ended yet, but the teams at the bottom of the V-League table this season have all changed their players and generals. The most drastic move was FLC Thanh Hoa, bringing Duc Thang to lead the team and after 5 V-League matches, they said goodbye to 4 veterans.

The two teams at Thong Nhat Stadium simultaneously invited their bosses, if Ho Chi Minh City Club invited Huu Thang, Saigon invited the former head of the V-League organizing committee, Duong Nghiep Khoi. Both are considered to be in charge of the Vietnamese football field, Huu Thang once "rescued the private" Hanoi team of Mr. Hien.

The greatest treasure that SLNA needs is “mental strength”, both for the coaching staff and the players. Photo: To Minh

Most likely, the 3 domestic players who have just left Thanh Hoa will join these 2 teams and make both Saigon and Ho Chi Minh City stronger than in the first leg. Nam Dinh has also replaced foreign player Benjamin and is preparing to bring new names to Thien Truong Stadium for the escape from the position back to the First Division.

It can be said that while SLNA has not seen any "movement", almost all the bottom teams are operating at full capacity to "search" for both foreign and domestic players.

In fact, SLNA has a tradition of not hiring outside coaches, and has limited the purchase of players from other provinces. In fact, coaches from Nghe An who have professional skills and qualifications, are well-liked by sponsors, manage the team well, are respected by colleagues, and have good relations with the press and fans are few, if not none. Quang Truong has gone to Hai Phong, Huu Thang to Ho Chi Minh City, and Thanh Cong is working as an assistant to Tai Em at Saigon FC.

Three solutions

It seems that SLNA can only rely on foreign players. Olaha is a striker who plays defense quite well, but in his second year playing for SLNA, his scoring ability has not improved much, only 2 goals so far.

Foreign player Osmar is even worse, injury prevents him from playing and the number of 1 goal is too little compared to the requirement. The fact that foreign players only have 3 goals, accounting for 25% of the total goals of the Nghe team is also the reason why they are ranked 13th. That is not counting, Olaha also has 1 own goal at Hoa Xuan stadium of SHB.Da Nang.

But in recent years, SLNA's coaching staff has not been able to recruit good foreign players, Danko last year was a typical example. So most likely, they are only looking for a striker to replace Osmar while Olaha is still playing as a striker.

If they don’t buy domestic players, SLNA’s only option is to try out the players they have. Compared to last year, this year Ngoc Hai is stuck in the central defender position because Van Khanh cannot create trust in the context of goalkeeper Nguyen Manh being injured.

In fact, the Nghe An team had 8 matches where they were behind, luckily they were able to equalize 4 times, but with the fact that the central defender also scored 2 goals, equal to striker Olaha, it shows that the SLNA coaching board needs to consider the possibility of pushing this number 4 higher.

National team player Xuan Manh is usually placed at left back, Manh Hung and Ngoc Duc are just reserve options. The match against Saigon at Thong Nhat Stadium showed that when promoted to play midfielder, Xuan Manh becomes stronger. This certainly gives Duc Thang and SLNA's coaching staff a new attacking plan, especially when SLNA is in the current situation.

Audiences still stand by SLNA football team in difficult times. Photo: To Minh

Vu Hai was the reluctant choice when goalkeeper Nguyen Manh was injured. In fact, this goalkeeper on loan from Hai Phong has not created trust for his teammates when coming in and out inappropriately. This goalkeeper's strength is his reflexes, but catching high balls is a weakness that is difficult to fix.

Certainly to get points, the goalkeeper is the position that coach Duc Thang really needs to pay attention to improve both mentality and decisions. Unfortunately, standing in the SLNA goal is not Buu Ngoc, who is the number 3 goalkeeper of FLC Thanh Hoa.

The biggest treasure that SLNA needs is “mental medicine”, both for the coaching staff and the players. The professional level of SLNA players is not bad, but the fact that they cannot win every match makes them stiff.

At each moment, especially when we are behind, we do not see the role and clear mark of the leadership of the Nghe An team. Be confident, this is not the most difficult moment!

Dong Hung