Song Lam Nghe An: The attack is a difficult problem

The defense of the Nghe An team up to this point has been playing quite stable and solid. Although there is no service of goalkeeper Nguyen Manh, Dinh Hoang has just returned after more than a year of injury, but Ngoc Hai and his teammates are doing their job quite well.

Putting the number of 8 goals conceded/7 matches at the present time next to the number of 13 goals conceded/7 matches in V.League 2017, it is enough to see that SLNA's defense is not the reason for the home team's poor performance.

Thus, the weakness in scoring is the main reason why SLNA did not get positive results. With an efficiency of 1 goal/match (7 goals/7 matches), the Nghe An team is still not the team with the worst attack in V.League 2018, after the first 7 rounds (Nam Dinh 5 goals/7 matches, Quang Nam FC, Hai Phong and S.Khanh Hoa 6/7 matches).

However, if we consider the ability to convert opportunities into goals, Olaha and his teammates are completely justified in being criticized.

Although he has scored 3 goals, Van Duc often misses good opportunities. Photo: Duc Anh

Witnessing the recent matches of the Nghe An team, experts and fans have to admit that SLNA's strikers have had very poor finishing. A series of golden opportunities were created in front of the opponent's goal, often wasted by Olaha, Van Duc, Tuan Tai... in a regrettable way.

After being blocked by the opposing team's excellent goalkeeper, the goalpost and crossbar became obstacles, and the unbelievable misses of Van Duc and his teammates pushed SLNA into a miserable situation.

Looking at the statistics table of the match SLNA - Nam Dinh (0 - 1) that took place on May 4th, it is clear. During the 90 minutes of competition at Vinh Stadium, the home team launched a total of 12 shots, of which 9 shots hit the goal of goalkeeper Quoc Thien Esele (Olaha hit the post twice).

On the other side of the battle line, Nam Dinh only had 9 shots in total, 5 of which hit the goal of goalkeeper Van Tien. As a result, coach Nguyen Van Sy and his team still left Nghe An with 3 full points, with the only goal scored by Sy Minh (minute 53).

SLNA's loss to Nam Dinh had many similarities with the 0-1 defeat (recorded by Ti Phong) against S.Khanh Hoa in round 2 (March 18). Coach Nguyen Duc Thang and his team were the better players, controlling the game and creating a series of delicious opportunities.

Unfortunately, the shots of Van Duc and his teammates, if not blocked by the excellent goalkeeper Tuan Manh, were either inaccurate or were denied by the crossbar or post of Khanh Hoa's goal (Van Duc hit the goal post of Khanh Hoa twice).

SLNA (yellow) lost to Nam Dinh because they could not successfully take advantage of the opportunities created. Photo: Duc Anh

The current achievement of 7 goals/7 matches of SLNA’s attack is much lower than the 10 goals/7 matches they achieved last season. This comparison shows that the ineffectiveness in scoring goals of Olaha and his teammates is contributing to SLNA being stuck in the second-to-last position (13) on the rankings.

With foreign player Osmar Moreira still not knowing when he will recover from his injury, the burden of scoring goals depends on Van Duc, Olaha, Tuan Tai, Phuc Tinh...

With the current situation, the SLNA coaching staff can only hope that their players will find their scoring luck again and that bad luck will no longer haunt the team. Hopefully, the Nghe An team will escape the danger zone in the next round. The Nghe An team's attack is truly a difficult problem for coach Nguyen Duc Thang and his colleagues./.

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