"Million dollar version of Song Lam Nghe An" facing difficulties?
(Baonghean.vn) - In his second year as the manager of Ho Chi Minh City Club, Cong Vinh is determined to build this team based on the core of Nghe An players and expensive foreign players. After 4 rounds, especially the confrontation with SLNA, it seems that this plan is facing obstacles.
In the structure of the Ho Chi Minh City football team, Dinh Luat, Van Thuan, Phi Son, Tavares, Gustavo and Gonzalo are the backbone, playing the role of pillars in the lines. With a newly assembled squad, with players like Van Thuan and Tavares joining the team close to the opening day, the playing style of Ho Chi Minh City Club is facing many difficulties.
No adhesion
After 4 matches, 2 losses and 2 wins, it seems that the real ability of the team led by Coach Miura has not been properly evaluated. Except for the victory over Saigon FC, in other matches, Ho Chi Minh City Club has shown a spontaneous playing style.
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| The coaching staff of Ho Chi Minh City Club still has a lot of work to do. Photo: TA |
Due to the fact that coach Miura was not able to have the services of foreign players Gustavo and Gonzalo due to injury, in the match against S.Khanh Hoa, after scoring a goal from the 11m penalty spot after a foul by the opponent's defender, the players of Ho Chi Minh City played defensively.
The way Coach Miura's players played, dropping the ball and hitting people, earned them 6 yellow cards from referee Tran Dinh Thinh, and that's ignoring many other situations.
In the match against SLNA, without Phi Son, Gustavo and Gonzalo, the home team’s style of play became even more monotonous. It must be admitted that Van Thuan was still the “worker bee” running tirelessly all over the field but still could not save the “million dollar version of SLNA” from losing right at home.
On the SLNA side, just pushing back and separating Van Thuan and Tavares without giving enough time and space to organize attacks will make the HCM City players become deadlocked. The long, high passes of these two central midfielders are not difficult enough for the front line, even when Phi Son is still playing.
The two midfielders Van Thanh and Hai Anh were not worthy opponents of Xuan Manh and Dinh Hoang of SLNA. Even though the S.Khanh Hoa players played with a 3-5-2 formation, they still could not penetrate.
Slow defense
The 7 yellow cards in the first round make-up match were all for Nghe An players, 3 for the home team and 4 for SLNA. Au Van Hoan's yellow card for his junior Van Duc at the end of the match was a sign of the deadlock in the defense led by Dinh Luat.
Both Van Hoan and Dinh Luat were at fault for the two headed goals conceded by this million-dollar team. Van Hoan was closely marking player Van Duc, 3 centimeters shorter and unable to jump, so he had to watch his junior score the opening goal very early.
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| Midfielder Tavares (Center) alone cannot carry the attack. Photo: TA |
Center back Dinh Luat, 35 years old, used all his strength in the match 4 days ago with S.Khanh Hoa so he could not do anything to Ngoc Hai, who has the same height of 1.80m.
Center back Ngoc Thinh is a player with good physique and strength, strong in the air, but his persistent knee injury has left him helpless watching Olaha, Van Duc, and The Cuong race. SLNA's coaching staff has "diagnosed" the home team's defense very well to come up with the right lineup and tactics.
Coach Miura is trying his best to protect his players in difficult times. That is the quality of a professional coach, but when the defense is loose, when Quang Nam cannot score when facing goalkeeper Vu Hai, the "million dollar version of SLNA" team will still face many difficulties.
In the away match at Thien Truong Stadium of Nam Dinh, with the team at the bottom of the rankings and without a win, coach Miura will certainly have to make many adjustments.
