Should Song Lam Nghe An stop 'experimenting' with foreign players?

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Coach Truong Viet Hoang and his team's away form this season is not good, they have lost 6/10 matches when leaving Lach Tray Stadium. Before coming to Vinh Stadium, they lost 2 matches in a row, including a humiliating defeat against Saigon, the team with the worst performance in V.League at the moment, right at home. To avoid being chased by S.Khanh Hoa, who is at the bottom of the table, the goal of earning 1 point at Vinh Stadium of the Hai Phong team is quite clear.

To do that, coach Truong Viet Hoang decided to use the central defender pair Hoang Vissai and Adriano Schmidt, in which Vietnamese-American Schmidt had not played for a long time. Up front, they used 3 foreign players Diego Fagan, Joseph Mpande, Jeremie Lynch to harass SLNA's defense. In which, Diego Fagan and Jeremie Lynch were no strangers to the Vinh team's playing style because they used to play for SLNA.

SLNA's strikers played ineffectively. Photo: Duc Anh

The Hai Phong team and the home team SLNA have a close relationship. In addition to Technical Director Ngo Quang Truong, who is the former coach of the Nghe An team, Le Manh Dung, Dau Thanh Phong, Nguyen Van Hanh, Nguyen Viet Nguyen, Nguyen Phu Nguyen and Nguyen Van Duc all came from SLNA. Le Manh Dung even wore the SLNA shirt at the beginning of the season, but only in the second leg did he join the team from the city of phoenix flowers.

So almost the inside story and playing style of both teams were exposed, and Hai Phong knew that foreign players Michael Olaha and Joel Vinicius played quite badly. If they stopped the "explosive" Ngoc Toan and Tuan Tai, the home team's chance of scoring would seem to be extinguished.

In the absence of Khac Ngoc and Van Binh, Quang Tinh was given the responsibility by coach Nguyen Duc Thang to lead SLNA's playing style. Photo: Duc Anh

Up front Joel Vinicius is alone, there are many situations where he has the ball but no teammates around, his ability to cover and handle things independently is not good so he is easily neutralized by the opponent.

The goal was to win 1 point but when the home team's attack was not good, Hai Phong players boldly attacked. There were at least 3 situations where goalkeeper Nguyen Manh faced strong shots from Xuan Hung, Hoang Duong and a close-range shot from Diego Fagan.

Foreign soldiers fade away

Throughout the 90 minutes, the biggest mark of SLNA's attack was Olaha's hammer-like shot from a free kick. A run from home by Dinh Dong but the finish was too soft from too far away. Tuan Tai when switching to the left wing also had a commendable solo but the pass was back to Joel Vinicius.

“Penalty specialist” Joel Vinicius seems to have a hard time adapting to the Nghe An team’s playing style. This foreign player is lazy to move, and his aerial ability is not his strong point, so he often runs out of balls when playing as a center forward.

Foreign player Joel Vinicius has yet to score another goal for SLNA. Photo: Duc Anh

The late formation and poor foreign players have made SLNA have a rather disappointing season. In the club's V.League history, this is the first time the number of goals scored by the three foreign strikers Dos Santos, Michael Olaha, Joel Vinicius is only equal to Tuan Tai, and the reserve player is only assigned to play the role of midfielder. It is truly "lost money, suffered"!

Difficulties await SLNA when in the next round they have to travel to the 19/8 stadium of the team at the bottom of the table, S.Khanh Hoa. This is the time for SLNA's coaching staff to express their opinions. In our opinion, coach Duc Thang should boldly leave out the "wooden leg" foreign striker and be determined to use domestic players to conquer the top 7 goal. That is the way to free the coaching staff and players from the current vicious mentality and unconvincing performance due to "fear of losing".