SLNA - S.Khanh Hoa: Home team ready to win the first 3 points

The fact that the Nghe An team left key players like Que Ngoc Hai, Ho Khac Ngoc, Phan Van Duc and Michael Olaha at home, Dinh Hoang entered the field, and Osmar Francisco was ready made the Nghe An audience somewhat reassured.

Must have points

Due to the postponement of the first round, SLNA is the only team that can play 2 consecutive home matches at the beginning of the season against S.Khanh Hoa and Than Quang Ninh. The first match leaving Vinh Stadium is against FLC Thanh Hoa, the strongest candidate for the championship. Therefore, SLNA's coaching board decided to focus on getting 3 points against S.Khanh Hoa, the opponent considered the easiest to play in the first 3 matches.

Tactical diagram of the SLNA - Khanh Hoa match. Photo: AT

Including the match against Quang Nam for the Super Cup, SLNA had 5 warm-up matches before facing coach Vo Dinh Tan's team. Except for goalkeeper Nguyen Manh who suffered a long-term injury, only Manh Hung suffered a minor injury, leaving open the possibility of him playing.

To fill Manh Hung's position, SLNA's coaching staff can use Ngoc Duc or Xuan Manh. In our opinion, to confront Lam Ti Phong, promoting Xuan Manh is more reasonable because physical strength is the strong point of this U23 player.

On the right wing, Dinh Hoang will face national team player Quoc Chi. This is a big challenge for a player who has not played for more than a year. Therefore, Van Duc needs to drop back to support his teammates in situations where the opponent attacks on this wing.

Question mark

How Osmar Francisco and Michael Olaha will coordinate is the big question that S.Khanh Hoa players must find the answer to. Almost all last season, Olaha played behind, participating in defense from a distance rather than performing the task of scoring goals. With good physical strength and aggressive play, Olaha did a relatively good job of blocking, but his ability to score and create goals was only average.

The question that SLNA fans are interested in is, when Osmar plays as a striker, where does Olaha play?

Khac Ngoc will play the role of conductor. Photo: Internet

Choosing the wing midfielder pair Xuan Manh and Van Duc will help SLNA's attack line become stronger, supporting Osmar Francisco and Michael Olaha more. But if Olaha is asked to play higher, it means Khac Ngoc will have to worry more about defense.

Xuan Manh and Van Duc are both wingers but have different playing styles. Van Duc tends to find ways to penetrate the 16.5m area with technique, while Xuan Manh uses speed. Compared to Van Duc, Xuan Manh shoots from afar and crosses the ball more. If he can improve the trajectory of the ball, this is a dangerous attack.

Duy Thanh and Hoai An are players who are familiar with SLNA, they are both simple midfielders but can appear and disappear quickly. Meanwhile, young player Tan Tai is more inclined to block and support the defense. To exploit SLNA's left wing, coach Dinh Tan also has assistant coach and player Trong Binh - who often has passes into the 16.5m area with a very annoying roll.

It is not difficult to know that S.Khanh Hoa will hang a lot of balls into the 5.5m area to "test" goalkeeper Van Hung and create conditions for foreign player Toure to compete for high balls. This style of play makes the teamS.Khanh Hoa was not pushed too high and in fact SLNA paid the price many times.

S.Khanh Hoa is not a strong team but they have captain Vo Dinh Tan who has been fighting in V-League for many years, the coastal city players play aggressively with the intelligence of the senior players.

The Vinh stadium will be packed with spectators in the opening match of the season. If Van Duc and his teammates can get 3 points on the field, there will be no greater joy. It has been a long time since SLNA has had such a high position at the beginning of the season.