Should SLNA use other local players?

However, in the new steps of the Club during the restructuring period, it is very possible that the above "tradition" will be broken, meaning that in the coaching staff or in the SLNA first team, there will be new faces, not to the extent of a "United Nations" army, but there will certainly be people who have to learn how to say: tau, you, mo, te, rang, rua... in daily life as well as in training and competition?

Actually, there were times, seasonsSLNAhad to borrow and buy players from many domestic clubs and all received positive results. It is worth mentioning that when joining SLNA, the "respect" of these players increased significantly, some even won the Vietnam Golden Ball 2001 like goalkeeper Vo Van Hanh. Recently, SLNA also invited players from Nghe An from other training centers, other teams and created conditions for them to develop their abilities, including being called up to the national team like goalkeeper Van Hoang...

Although the road ahead for SLNA this season is still very difficult, with strong changes from the sponsor and the team, Nghe An fans can believe that in the near future SLNA Club will create new miracles. Photo courtesy of Duc Anh

That is to say, the story of renewing the squad and SLNA framework to suit the competition needs is not new. Is it true that with new thinking, new strength and especially new ambitions of the leaders and coaching staff, SLNA's identity will be supplemented and perfected with many new, more advanced and modern points besides the existing achievements?

Serving the new ambition requires advanced training methods to be constantly updated, techniques and tactics will be trained to be more "standard", the playing style of each individual and the team will be more diverse and more effective. One of those contents is the requirement for a versatile player model that will be focused on training and nurturing in addition to promoting the unique skills of each player.

In the past, SLNA did not have many versatile players. Fans know that Trong Hoang can play right wing or central midfield, can play fullback or anything else; know that in Thuong Chau, Mr. Park Hang-seo sometimes pulled Xuan Manh from the wing to play center back for U23 Vietnam, while at SLNA this player can play fullback or right wing midfielder; or accidentally discovered and then swapped Nguyen Manh from striker to goalkeeper and Ngoc Hai, the center back, can put on gloves and stand in the goal when needed...

Can this young coaching staff revive the sinking ship SLNA? Photo courtesy of SLNA Club

From the basic core, the basic framework will build a new, more flexible and less "conservative" playing style than the present one. Of course, the "hard-nosed, iron-chopping" style of play will be left behind, but the enthusiasm, fearlessness of collision and dedication of "men on the field" will not be abandoned.

It's not just about disrupting the opponent's play, but also about imposing the play, keeping the ball more, exploiting set pieces better, having better free kick skills... That means depending on the reality of the field and not completely sticking to the defensive-counterattacking tactics as before.

If the team plays well and has good results, it is the result of building and forming a strong SLNA identity from the right individuals and meeting the requirements of the team's coaching staff. Barcelona's tiki-taka style of play was developed and perfected on the basis of the Catalan training ground, but without players from Brazil or South America, other European stars... it still could not have had the resounding success we know.

Head coach Nguyen Huy Hoang has not been the head coach of SLNA for long, but he has set a goal for the Nghe An team to successfully stay in the league, so he wants the players to practice actively and complete all the training plans in each training session set by the coaching staff. Photo courtesy of Duc Anh

The same goes for SLNA's identity, it cannot lack talents born from the youth training center, but if it is supplemented with talents from other centers, regions, and areas, they will be beautiful flowers contributing to the brilliant colors and fragrance of "Park No. 4 - Dao Tan". That is to enrich the identity, not to dilute or fade the identity as some people think?

That is the right thing to do, must do in the general trend of professional football. Didn’t the Vietnam team have to give up against the UAE thanks to the deadly passes of the naturalized player Fabio Lima, only 1m65 tall, from Brazil?

Because the reality is that not every season, every year, youth training is fruitful. And even in a fruitful season, there are still positions that are inferior when compared to other training centers, other places. Therefore, if you want to go far, there is no other way but to buy, supplement the force, serve the goals and ambitions of the team.

Anyone who works in coaching knows that as long as a team has a weak position, the whole team will be at the mercy of the opponent who is determined to dig deep into their "Achilles' heel" and then defeat is inevitable. And of course, no one is willing to accept the situation where all their efforts end up in vain because of shortcomings in a certain position, at a certain time...