Thinking about the 4th red card of Song Lam Nghe An

Up to this point,Lam River Nghe Anreceived 4 red cards, only behind Binh Dinh with 5 red cards. Nghe An players who received red cards included 3 defenders Que Ngoc Hai, Tran Dinh Hoang, Thai Ba Sang and foreign player Olaha. 23-year-old central defender Thai Ba Sang, in addition to the red card on the Quy Nhon field, also received 4 yellow cards, belonging to the group of players who played rough in V.League 2022. In this match, in addition to the goal conceded and the red card of Ba Sang, Que Ngoc Hai also received a yellow card and will be absent from the next match because he had received 3 yellow cards.

Thai Ba Sang received a second yellow card, making SLNA's chance to score points against the home team Binh Dinh impossible. Photo: Chung Le

The home team Binh Dinh, dubbed “Vietnam’s PSG”, is considered to be stronger than Song Lam Nghe An. At the beginning of the season, even at Vinh Stadium with high spirits, coach Huy Hoang and his team still lost 1-2, but at the end of the season with unstable performance, not many people thought of an away win.

But at the beginning of the match, the physical strength was still good, and they were focusing on defending in large numbers, but in the end, the away team Song Lam Nghe An had to concede an early goal from a high ball situation. The Nghe An team's defense consisted of many national players and former national players, concentrating 7-8 players in yellow shirts within 16.5m but still let Xuan Nam score.

Van Duc still showed his form but on an unlucky day he could not help Song Lam Nghe An score a goal in the match against Binh Dinh. Photo courtesy of Chung Le

This is not the first time this season that Que Ngoc Hai and his teammates have conceded goals in such situations. This has made it impossible for Song Lam Nghe An to maintain their form, right after the resounding 3-0 victory over Binh Duong, they were empty-handed at Quy Nhon Stadium. Up to now, the only team from Nghe An has only had 2 consecutive wins against Ho Chi Minh City and Hong Linh Ha Tinh, the rest of the victories were disappointing matches. Surprisingly, coach Huy Hoang, who is known as a tough-playing central defender of the national team, has not been able to control his players when he was in charge.

In the 35 yellow cards that Song Lam Nghe An players received since the beginning of the season, there were many situations where the defenders were in the wrong position and did not have enough speed to compete with the opponent, forcing them to commit fouls. There were many confrontations where Song Lam Nghe An players maliciously tackled the ball in unnecessary situations, with Thai Ba Sang being a typical example. Being promoted to the first team quite early but "meddling" in many non-professional matters, so this player's professional level has stagnated and become the weakest point in Song Lam Nghe An's defensive system.

Losing to a strong team like Binh Dinh is not too worrying, but how to avoid losing to Hai Phong and Nam Dinh is something that the coaching staff of Song Lam Nghe An must consider. It is known that after this season, the defense of the Nghe team will have many changes, but first they must urgently patch up the defense. With the current situation, although they are 11 points away from 3rd place, if they want to enter the top 5, the players of Song Lam Nghe An need to make a lot of effort.

An Thanh