Song Lam Nghe An: Where does the real concern come from?

Except for Than Quang Ninh Club, which is not taken care of by the province and whose sponsor has abandoned the players, causing great disappointment to fans of the mining land, the other clubs are actively adding players and facilities to prepare for their ambitions in the new season.

For SLNA, the appearance of a new sponsor allows the team, even when the fate of V. League 2021 is still unknown, to be one step ahead of other clubs, especially in terms of strengthening its force. That is the story of the top stars staying to serve their hometown team with peace of mind, the "return" of senior stars and foreign players who played well for the Vinh Stadium team before. In addition, many young talents are called back, called up to the first team, ready for a necessary replacement in the near future, the distant future...

SLNA is at the bottom but will not be relegated. Photo courtesy of Duc Anh

Looking at other clubs, such as Hai Phong, T. Binh Dinh or Ho Chi Minh City..., we will see the fierce race of ambitious bosses who do not lack money, only lack achievements, seem to not focus on depth but first worry about "reaping the fruit". Maybe some of the above clubs will soon achieve some results, but football is not, has never been a matter of "not sowing" but "reaping". Not to mention the question of whether buying many good players from unlucky teams will immediately create a satisfactory team, playing well, contributing? It is only 50/50 when bringing in a good coach to quickly change the ranking of a mediocre team, just returning to V. League?

To see, before the new season, while the opponent did many necessary things, SLNA also did a lot of things. The opponent added more players, SLNA also had more than enough... In the current general level of player quality, in general, SLNA is not at the level of having to run around or fear any opponent of too high class, too superior, whether it is HAGL or Hanoi FC, T. Binh Dinh with hundreds of billions in hand each season or Ho Chi Minh City specializing in making earth-shattering things in the transfer market but the results are still very poor...

But withSLNA, it cannot be said that everything has been, will be smooth sailing, smooth sailing, will be smooth sailing. Van Duc, Xuan Manh are not in the best form as before and it is easy to see that after a period of maximum service to the national team, they will have to have time to... recharge at the club? Will Trong Hoang recover soon if he agrees to return home and achieve the same efficiency as he has had for a long time? Will foreign players like Olaha, Memovic... achieve the same performance as before when the clubs do not renew their contracts, and then accept to return to their old teams? And the biggest worry, the most real is that the ability of the coaching staff led by Huy Hoang has not been specifically verified?

There will be many big changes for SLNA Club in the new season. Photo courtesy of Duc Anh

The V. League playground will not be a fertile land for inexperienced, unskilled, and powerless coaches in front of opponents, students, and the team that holds the scales and measures... Huy Hoang only has "one defeat" in the V. League, while talented and experienced coaches such as Phan Thanh Hung, Duc Thang, Chu Dinh Nghiem, Truong Viet Hoang, Tran Minh Chien... have "eaten the chopsticks of the world", and are more than capable of predicting their juniors after half or the end of a match to impose or turn the tide? Of course, they were also young coaches, and have also done what the world calls "the young are formidable". Can Huy Hoang do the same? Assistants Nhu Thuat, Van Quyen... have "shining records" as young players and in youth tournaments, while the V. League is a fierce tournament with many difficult stories to tell... whether they can help the head coach much or not is still an open question.

So, I think, if there is any concern related to SLNA before the new season, it is obviously the concern in the team's technical area? Perhaps, besides the team's trust in Huy Hoang as the best choice at the moment (not "buying" a good coach, different from the traditional way), it is necessary to have some effective support from experienced coaches who are SLNA's people such as Van Thinh, Ky Phuong, Quang Truong, Dinh Dung... Of course, there must be a mechanism to prevent the "too many teachers, no one listens to anyone", leading to failure. The main thing is to nurture, to help the juniors grow up, for the team, for the tradition of progress of the homeland...

Phan Van Duc has agreed to re-sign with SLNA on a 3-year contract. Photo courtesy of Duc Anh

Relieving the pressure from big opponents, relieving the worries from the coaching position, SLNA will have the opportunity to regain what they had, what they regretfully lost when they fell to the bottom of the table in an unfinished football season that no one wants to mention again. "Without a teacher, you can't do anything", good teachers have good students are old things that are always new, always true in life, in football. Hopefully, this is an unnecessary worry, an unnecessary worry, because Huy Hoang and his colleagues have and will do their best in the assigned work, will answer with the reality of the field in any context, any opponent so that SLNA always reaches the finish line as expected?