SLNA: The worry named Henry

(Baonghean.vn) - The streak of scoreless matches of main striker Henry has extended to 4 matches, which is making SLNA's coaching staff and fans worried.

Henry's lackluster performance in the match between SLNA and FLC Thanh Hoa on the opening day of V. League 2017 made Nghe An fans worried about the quality of their team's foreign players this season.

In the past, SLNA had to suffer many bitter consequences from “bad contracts”. That confusion was somewhat relieved after the Trinidad – Tobago striker scored consecutive goals against XSKT Can Tho, S. Khanh Hoa, Long An, Quang Nam.

Henry's performance of 5 goals in the first 5 matches in V. League 2017 is an extremely impressive achievement. With the goal against SHB Da Nang in the 7th round, the striker born in 1994 has a total of 6 goals and shares the number 1 position in the list of players with the most goals in V. League this year.

Witnessing Henry's brilliant form, especially his ability to score goals, SLNA fans couldn't help but be happy. Anxiety and doubt quickly disappeared and were replaced by great expectations.

After 4 matches, Henry still hasn't scored his 7th goal. Photo: Trung Kien

However, things did not go as expected by the coaching staff, SLNA fans and Henry himself. Over the past 4 rounds, the player playing highest on the Nghe An team's attack line has not been able to increase his goal tally to 7.

Since scoring in the 80th minute of SLNA's victory over SHB Da Nang on February 26, Henry has gone over 380 minutes (including injury time) without finding the back of the net. Clearly, putting that statistic next to the 6 goals/7 matches at the beginning of the season is a terrible difference in Henry's form.

If we compare Henry's performance after 11 rounds of V. League 2017 with the performance of the striker who left many disappointments in last season, Odat, it is really worrying. According to statistics, in the first 11 matches of V. League 2016, Odat scored 7 goals for SLNA. Thus, with the same number of matches, Henry is exactly 1 goal behind his predecessor.

Everyone knows that the poor performance of the Nghe An team last season was partly due to the harmlessness of the attack. That is why SLNA did not renew the contracts with Odat and Baba.

Back to Henry’s “goal thirst”. Observing recent matches of coach Nguyen Duc Thang and his team, the striker wearing the number 45 shirt is still assigned the highest spearhead position in the attack. This foreign player is still a regular target from passes from his teammates.

It seems that after a period of explosive performance, Henry has lost his remarkable ability to score goals. Many times the 23-year-old striker missed delicious opportunities because of inaccurate finishing. In the last 4 matches, Henry had no less than 3 favorable situations to convert into goals but all ended in regret and disappointment.

Needless to say, in SLNA's draw with Hai Phong nearly a week ago. In the first minutes of the second half, young midfielder Phan Van Duc made a delicate pass that eliminated the entire Hai Phong defense, creating an opportunity for Henry to face goalkeeper Van Phong in an open position. Unfortunately, the Trinidad - Tobago player's shot was too weak, missing the opportunity to increase the score to 2 - 1 for SLNA. If they had successfully taken advantage of that move, it is likely that the Nghe An team would have left Lach Tray with maximum points.

V. League 2016, striker Odat scored 7 goals for SLNA after 11 rounds. Photo: Trung Kien

After all, it is impossible to put all the responsibility on Henry. At the beginning of the season, the defenses of the teams did not pay much attention to the striker born in 1994, so the marking and blocking were only moderate. When the surprise was no longer there, Henry had more difficulty facing the siege of the opposing defenders.

In addition, SLNA's coaching staff has adjusted tactics to take advantage of Henry's ability to move widely, turning this foreign player into a "decoy" so that his teammates around him have more space and scoring opportunities.

The assist for Olaha in the match against HAGL and the delicate header that created conditions for Phan Van Duc to score against Hai Phong in the last 2 consecutive rounds are typical examples of Henry's new role. Of course, mixed with that joy is concern about the effectiveness of the Trinidad - Tobago assassin's finishing moves. Because, the most important task of a striker is to score goals.

The team's performance is often proportional to the number of goals scored by the strikers. And SLNA is no exception, the 10th place after 11 rounds of V. League 2017 of coach Nguyen Duc Thang and his team is clearly showing that. Therefore, SLNA's coaching board cannot be subjective with Henry's "goal thirst". It's a red alert./.

Thanh Hung