Song Lam Nghe An: Missing the 'old man' Michael Olaha and the question of foreign players

Striker Michael Olaha when he played for SLNA. Photo: VPF

Striker Michael Olaha joined the Nghe An team from V.League 2017. The Nigerian player also did not get into the rhythm well in the first matches. However, at the end of that season, he still scored 7 goals (5 goals in V.League), began to show confidence and affirmed his ability to play with technical skills when he made 126 dribbles with 73 successful times, reaching a rate of 58%.

In the 2018 season, Micheal Olaha showed his integration and visible progress with 8 goals in the V.League. The number of goals of the striker born in 1996 in the 2019 V.League was 5 goals. However, Olaha's contribution was huge, in terms of defense, organization and attack.

Saying goodbye to SLNA at the end of the season, Olaha joined Hapoel FC in the Israeli Premier League. After 4/9 starts, playing 429 minutes, the former SLNA striker has not scored any goals for the new team, but has received 3 yellow cards. Obviously, Olaha has reason to regret not being able to play in the V.League - where he has been attached for 3 years.

Professional statistics of the most recent match of center back Gustavo. Graphics: TK

For SLNA, the Nghe An team brought in 3 foreign players: center back Gustavo Santos, two strikers Peter Onyekachi and Alagie Sosseh. Among these 3 players, the Brazilian center back is considered the most stable player when he and the SLNA defense kept a clean sheet after 2 matches. However, compared to the old player Damir Memovic, this player is still quite far away.

According to Instat statistics of the SLNA - B. Binh Duong match, center back Gustavo Santos had 18/23 accurate passes, reaching a rate of 78%. As a defender, Gustavo only committed 2 fouls, had 1/3 successful tackles and his successful contest rate was 7/15 (47%), aerial combat was 4/8 reaching a rate of 50%. With 3 ball losses, Gustavo successfully recovered the ball 8 times.

In the opening match against Saigon FC, the striker pair Peter Onyekachi and Alagie Sosseh did not have a single shot on target. In the 1-0 win against B. Binh Duong, the statistics also proved that this pair did not really integrate and work well together.

Professional statistics of Alagie Soseh's latest match. Graphics: TK

Specifically, Alagie Sosseh made 18 passes, 13 accurate, achieving a rate of 72%, including 3 back passes, 5 times losing the ball. The successful contest rate of the foreign player of Gambian origin was 14/22 (64%). His successful dribbling rate was 100%.

However, Alagie Sosseh's shooting quality was very poor with 2 shots throughout the match and both were off target. This is a disappointing number for a striker. In addition, Alagie Sosseh's effective rate was only 64% (32/50).

Compared to Sosseh, Peter Onyekachi was much more active with 22/31 accurate passes, reaching a rate of 71%. However, Peter's number of back passes was 9 and he lost the ball 20 times. His successful competition rate was 18/48, reaching only 44%. In particular, Peter's ability to compete in the air was very weak in the last match, 2/11 and reaching only 18%.

Peter Onyekachi's latest match statistics. Graphics: TK

The Nigerian player's dribbling success rate was 57%, compared to 20% in the first half and 78% in the second half. Peter was even better than Sosseh as he also had 1 successful tackle. Peter only had one shot on target in the entire match, which was a shot on target in the final seconds of the match.

However, the biggest mark of the rookie born in 1994 was the breakthrough that caused a foul from the B. Binh Duong defender, creating an opportunity for Phan Van Duc to score. His successful performance of 56/90 (62%) also shows the aggressiveness of this player. Both had only 1 pass that created a scoring opportunity.

After the past two matches, coach Ngo Quang Truong admitted that SLNA's organization and attack were not good. What happened on the field and the number of goals SLNA scored spoke for themselves. The 2020 V.League suspension period is an opportunity for the Nghe An team to improve these weaknesses.

Heat map of the operating areas of Gustavo, Peter Onyekachi and Alagie Sosseh respectively. Photo: Instat

If compared to what Michael Olaha has done for SLNA in the past 3 seasons, or the achievement of scoring 5 goals/5 matches for Than Quang Ninh this season (2 goals in V.League, 3 goals in AFC Cup) of the former player Jeremie Lynch, then the two foreign players of SLNA at this time will have to make a lot of effort to fill the void of missing their old players.

Foreign player Peter Onyekachi: 'Ho Tuan Tai is the best player at SLNA'

(Baonghean.vn) – As one of two players coming to Vietnam to compete for the first time, striker Peter Onyekachi (Nigeria) shared many interesting sideline stories at his new team Song Lam Nghe An.

Trung Kien