Tran Nguyen Manh vs Dang Van Lam: Who is better?

(Baonghean.vn) - Van Lam's ability has been shown in V.League and after the Vietnam national team's match against Jordan, but that is just the beginning of what Nguyen Manh has experienced as a goalkeeper.

Let's put these two excellent goalkeepers on the "scale" to evaluate them on many aspects.

Bodybuilding

In terms of height, the first factor of a goalkeeper, Dang Van Lam has an advantage over Nguyen Manh. The goalkeeper of Hai Phong is 1m88 tall. Meanwhile, Nguyen Manh is only 1m77 tall. The physique of a goalkeeper is one of the factors that makes the opposing striker "hesitate".

Van Lam has an ideal physique for a goalkeeper. Photo: Internet

Competition mentality

Goalkeeper Van Lam has only started one match for the Vietnam national team and has not played many important matches. Goalkeepers are often under heavy psychological pressure in big matches, leading to mistakes.

Nguyen Manh has made two mistakes in his international career. The first time was at the AFF Cup 2014 when he let the ball slip past him, the most recent time was at the AFF Cup 2016 when he failed to control a harmless cross from an Indonesian player. Despite making mistakes, Nguyen Manh still tried to get back up and be himself.

Reflex

Goalkeeper Nguyen Manh is highly regarded for his reflexes. Standing at 1m77 tall but weighing just over 70kg, Nguyen Manh is quite flexible. In international and V.League matches, the SLNA captain has frustrated opposing strikers countless times.

Goalkeeper Van Lam is also a goalkeeper with good reflexes, but in terms of quickness, Nguyen Manh is still rated higher.

Nguyen Manh is highly appreciated for his excellent reflexes. Photo: HT

Select location

The ability to choose positions of Nguyen Manh and Van Lam is similar. Both are trained systematically. Perhaps, Van Lam's height will give him an advantage in aerial disputes.

In V.League, Van Lam had many situations where he rushed out to block like a center back to save the day. That was when Van Lam played the role of a sweeper center back.

Launch an attack

Having trained as a striker, Nguyen Manh's legs have better basic techniques. And the SLNA goalkeeper's attack initiations are somewhat better and more accurate.

Penalty Block

From the youth team to SLNA, Nguyen Manh was considered an expert in blocking penalty kicks. Being able to predict the striker's intentions requires innate qualities and battle experience.

Commander of the defense

Nguyen Manh, although the captain of SLNA, still has some problems in commanding the defense, causing the Nghe An team to concede silly goals.

However, it must be said that SLNA's defense cannot compare with Hai Phong's defenders like Le Van Phu. That is Van Lam's advantage in V.League. But in the national team, more time is needed to verify.

Competition experience

For goalkeepers, in addition to avoiding mistakes, battle experience is extremely important. Nguyen Manh has 6 seasons of playing in the V.League, the number of times Nguyen Manh has worn the national team jersey and the painful experiences are things that Van Lam has not experienced.

Current form

At the moment, Van Lam is rated higher in terms of performance. Especially in the match against Jordan, Van Lam had 4 obvious saves. At the club, the number of goals conceded by Hai Phong is 12 compared to 20 by SLNA.

Of course, the above assessments are for reference only. The selection of a goalkeeper for the Vietnam National Team depends largely on each person's own efforts and the criteria of goalkeeper coach Vo Van Hanh as well as head coach Nguyen Huu Thang.

Trung Kien